I think in games like Diplomacy and even Game of Thrones, you need to develop a pretty high level of trust to ally with someone which takes time and often initial acts of goodwill to grow. When that nurtured trust is betrayed it can be very jarring for some people that haven’t played a game like that before.
One of my friend’s wives was a regular participant in our game nights. She played GoT with my game group one time and was the victim of a particularly nasty stab by one of the players towards the end of the 3-hour game.
I think in games like Diplomacy and even Game of Thrones, you need to develop a pretty high level of trust to ally with someone which takes time and often initial acts of goodwill to grow. When that nurtured trust is betrayed it can be very jarring for some people that haven’t played a game like that before.
One of my friend’s wives was a regular participant in our game nights. She played GoT with my game group one time and was the victim of a particularly nasty stab by one of the players towards the end of the 3-hour game.
She uh, doesn’t join our game nights anymore :<
Setting expectations for a game like that is important. And if you know someone is not in to betrayal mechanisms, steer them clear.