This is a bit too navel-gazing delve into what was more succinctly said in a quote often attributed to Reiner Knizia: “When playing a game, the goal is to win,

This is a bit too navel-gazing delve into what was more succinctly said in a quote often attributed to Reiner Knizia: “When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning.” I’d also recommend the author delve into the existing catalog of negotiation games, since the linked post in the top of this article seems to indicate that they aren’t be aware some of the brilliant games in the genre: * Cosmic Encounter - Players play one of several wildly unbalanced alien races with a special power and are forced into a series of confrontations where they must either battle or negotiate. One of the few games I’ve played where 1 to N players can win (and I’ve seen cooperative wins before). The game revolves almost entirely around negotiation (with your matched opponent, with other players at the table as potential allies, etc) * John Company - A wild simulation of running the British East India Trading company. Players hold different positions within the company providing different privileges and effectively must negotiate to better their position. Players can also work to undermine the company at the expense of those more invested in it, or can hedge against the company’s failure. * Quo Vadis? - Players are Roman politicians who must move their senators through a series of committees, to the inner sanctum, where the player with the most prestige wins. Moving through committees occurs through votes, and prestige can be obtained through voting (as an incentive provided by the game) for others or by negotiating more prestige.