Do we have to be mean?

[Xander9009]

I played my first game today, specifically Munchkin Pathfinder.

I have two questions, but I'm putting them together because they've very closely related (I think).

1: When Player B asked me (both being the only new players of the 6 involved) more than twice if I'd help in combat they couldn't win on their own, the other players got very upset about us not playing mean enough, claiming that unless we were intentionally actively hurting as many other players as possible, then we weren't playing the game right. Not just that we were not playing the way we were expected to, but that it should actually be disallowed and considered cheating. Do we HAVE to play in a mean way, even when it is actually detrimental to us, or can we be more passive and helpful (especially when it benefits ourselves)?

2: Sort of related to that (I'll put it in its own thread if necessary) is this one. It's a bit complicated.

Player A is a Pathfinder and it's the start of her turn. She looks at the top two cards.
While she's looking at them, Player B decides to curse her with a card that makes her give a card to the weakest player and a card to the strongest players (Player A is the ONLY player who is neither the weakest nor the strongest, the others are all tied at the top and bottom, so it would be 4 cards that she has to give away).
Seeing this, and the fact that one of the options (she'd asked for clarification and revealed the cards, we were new, remember), I offered to cancel the curse if she would fight the bigger one and give me 3 of its 4 treasure.

Would this be considered cheating? If so, would it still be considered cheating if the large creature she was going to fight was one that was already out rather than only being known about because she'd asked for help?

[offsides]

Originally Posted by Xander9009

I played my first game today, specifically Munchkin Pathfinder.

I have two questions, but I'm putting them together because they've very closely related (I think).

1: When Player B asked me (both being the only new players of the 6 involved) more than twice if I'd help in combat they couldn't win on their own, the other players got very upset about us not playing mean enough, claiming that unless we were intentionally actively hurting as many other players as possible, then we weren't playing the game right. Not just that we were not playing the way we were expected to, but that it should actually be disallowed and considered cheating. Do we HAVE to play in a mean way, even when it is actually detrimental to us, or can we be more passive and helpful (especially when it benefits ourselves)?

There's absolutely nothing in the letter OR spirit of the rules that says you have to be mean. You probably should play for the win if you can, but the most important thing is to have fun. And if having fun means being helpful and nice, go for it! I've played cutthroat and I've played cooperative, and I've had a blast either way. My experience is that I usually spend at least 50% of the time laughing, and that's a good thing.

If you're not having fun, maybe you should find different people to play with. But either way there's no rule that says you have to play any particular way as long as you're playing within the rules. (And you might want to remind the other players to follow Wheaton's Law...)

[Damon Griffin]

Originally Posted by Xander9009

1: When Player B asked me (both being the only new players of the 6 involved) more than twice if I'd help in combat they couldn't win on their own, the other players got very upset about us not playing mean enough, claiming that unless we were intentionally actively hurting as many other players as possible, then we weren't playing the game right.

I know I'm supposed to say "there is no wrong way to play Munchkin as long as you follow the rules; everyone should play it the way they enjoy it."

What I actually think is: the other four people in your game are doing it wrong. Yeah, Munchkin is competitive, but it needn't be cutthroat (well, outside of Munchkin Booty, naturally. Yaaarrrr!) Cooperation with other players is absolutely part of the game -- so long as it doesn't cost you the win. :)

[majikfreak]

I generally have a laid back play style until I get to level 7. Then the gloves come off and the curses start flying!

I'm never mean though. In fact if I'm playing an Elf, I'm the most helpful dude at the table.

What you need to do is find a good fun loving play group. If you are ever in Washington state, give me a shout!

[Xander9009]

Thanks for the replies. They're pretty much what I was thinking, but given that I'd never played before, I didn't know with certainty one way or the other.

Apparently, they were specifically upset that the other new player asked me multiple times without asking them, meaning they missed out on potential shared treasure, and they felt we were teaming up and that that wasn't fair. (Despite the fact that there were 4, then 3 other players that easily could have teamed up against us if we HAD been making an alliance, which we weren't.)

[offsides]

Originally Posted by Xander9009

Thanks for the replies. They're pretty much what I was thinking, but given that I'd never played before, I didn't know with certainty one way or the other.

Apparently, they were specifically upset that the other new player asked me multiple times without asking them, meaning they missed out on potential shared treasure, and they felt we were teaming up and that that wasn't fair. (Despite the fact that there were 4, then 3 other players that easily could have teamed up against us if we HAD been making an alliance, which we weren't.)

Sounds like a good old-fashioned double-standard to me. They wanted you to help them, rather than the other newbie, so they said you weren't being mean enough because they felt you were being mean to them...

[Anders]

I considered making a cooperative Munchkin variant, where the object would be for one (or all) characters to reach level 10 in a limited number of turns.