Currently there is no drawback in lying about your alliances, so everybody lies and backstabs. Essentialy it keeps the game at FFA. It would be good to have some kind of reputation system to add benefits for keeping your promises. This could be done by adding a status button declaring your neutral, allied or at war with other players. Acting contradictionairy will reduce your reputation. An alternative could be some kind of feedback system by players themself.

you can keep (private) notes on players. anything where your reputation is subject to the whims of others will be gamed to negative effect.

For what it's worth, I think the game is more fun when people backstab. As long as no one backstabs me.

But really, I think it's that uncertainty that creates tension in the game.

The point is not that backstabbing is no fun or should be banned. The point is that there should be a trade of if you break your alliance. Forcing you to choose the moment you start backstabbing more carefully.

I mean, I feel like the trade-off is already there: you've lost the trust of your ally, and possibly everyone else in the game. To institute a formalized system of alliances I think would detract from the informal nature of the diplomacy here.

You can share with the other players in game that the one player has backstabbed you so they become weary of any agreements they have or make with that player.

Then, you can also make a private note on that player that they backstabbed in a game with you.

I think the actual system don't need to be change, because if you backstab someone you have already lost your reputation in the game you are playing : the one you betrayed is going to tell what you did, so the others will keep notes on you and then, for your next game, you will be automatically rejected if there's someone who know you're a traitor ^^

And it brings to the problem of the anonimity we have talk about in another topic

Isnt that the point? The trickery? The dishonesty? That's why the play on words, no?

sub·ter·fuge
ˈsəbtərˌfyo͞oj/
noun
noun: subterfuge; plural noun: subterfuges
deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.
synonyms: trickery, intrigue, deviousness, deceit, deception, dishonesty, cheating, duplicity, guile, cunning, craftiness, chicanery, pretense, fraud, fraudulence More
"the use of subterfuge by journalists"
trick, hoax, ruse, wile, ploy, stratagem, artifice, dodge, bluff, pretense, deception, fraud, blind, smokescreen;
informalcon, scam
"a disreputable subterfuge"

jvan wrote:Isnt that the point? The trickery? The dishonesty? That's why the play on words, no?

sub·ter·fuge
ˈsəbtərˌfyo͞oj/
noun
noun: subterfuge; plural noun: subterfuges
deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.
synonyms: trickery, intrigue, deviousness, deceit, deception, dishonesty, cheating, duplicity, guile, cunning, craftiness, chicanery, pretense, fraud, fraudulence More
"the use of subterfuge by journalists"
trick, hoax, ruse, wile, ploy, stratagem, artifice, dodge, bluff, pretense, deception, fraud, blind, smokescreen;
informalcon, scam
"a disreputable subterfuge"

Glad someone made that clear.

jvan wrote:Isnt that the point? The trickery? The dishonesty? That's why the play on words, no?

sub·ter·fuge
ˈsəbtərˌfyo͞oj/
noun
noun: subterfuge; plural noun: subterfuges
deceit used in order to achieve one's goal.
synonyms: trickery, intrigue, deviousness, deceit, deception, dishonesty, cheating, duplicity, guile, cunning, craftiness, chicanery, pretense, fraud, fraudulence More
"the use of subterfuge by journalists"
trick, hoax, ruse, wile, ploy, stratagem, artifice, dodge, bluff, pretense, deception, fraud, blind, smokescreen;
informalcon, scam
"a disreputable subterfuge"

The words i bolded are the most representatives of what a subterfuge is for me. You don't necessary have to backstab someone ...
I prefer being a double agent