Djeheuty said:
Yes and no... there is no victory or loss in a EU2 game. It's up to the players to judge their own success. That's one of the great things about it, IMHO.
I don't see what's so bad about playing a game to have fun, rather than being obsessed about winning. But each to his own...
Because it is fun and exciting to play for winning. LOL Art, you have discussed this with me before so you should know better by now. There exists no difference between us in regard to the
basic aim of both of us: we want the fun and excitement, you do and I do.
Besides you fight like a devil when you are in war, aiming to
win it, just like anyone else. The difference between you and me is not that we generally view the aim of the game differently but that you and your alikes permit yourself to focus your competitive spirit to some aspects of the game while I fight on all fronts. You are like a football forward that becomes very eager when he gets the ball betwen his feets but is very lazy when the ball is somwhere else. I fight all over the area trying to do my best while you do not. That makes me into an opponent that it is a challenge to beat for you. The opposite is not true. To beat you would give me no sense of the basic aims, the fun and excitement, because I know that you have not given your best. You have tied one hand on your back and then gone into the fight. To state
"But each to his own...."
means you view this game basically a SP game where you do not interact with other players. You cannot let each have his own in a game where you interact with other people if you want all to achieve their aim with the game. Only in Solitaire you can allow that.
The ideal world would be one where we would have no trouble filling all slots in campaigns for your type of player and other where we had no trouble filling the slots with my kind etc. Unfortunately I doubt we have that many players and it also takes some time to get to know what type the other players belong to.
Just the other day I heard of a player who tried to avoid losing a war. He got 8% inflation in an 14 year session in the early 16th century because of this. I do not want to have that kind of player in a campaign I am participating. He does not play for the longterm benefit of his nation. He only fights to avoid defeat in a war, a defeat his ego apparently is not fit to accept.
To each his own, yes but not at the same time in the same campaign. I would say: to each kind of player his own kind of campaign.