It depends. I don't really have an issue with playing faster in games you are winning vs losing. I do that in formats I like better than others sometimes too.

Take Hornacek for example. his average speed in MD games is 5 hours. Yet in my seasonal ladder game his speed is 2 days 18 hours. Is he stalling to get better matchups? Well, our game has been pretty balanced (I am pulling ahead now), so I would say probably not. And if you look at his ladder history, he is playing slow in most of them...so he might just be extra careful on the ladder:
https://www.warlight.net/LadderTeam?LadderTeamID=10430

But if you actually take extra turns when you have clearly lost (like the example in Purple Issusions post), that is BS I think. It is not actually cheating, but it is shady for sure. Sometimes I might take an extra turn to make sure, but I usually say so in chat to let my opponent know (and I have had many people do that to me as well).

Edited 8/19/2015 13:48:25

simply put: stalling games on the ladder makes it less appealing to play on for everyone.

so congrats on ruining the fun of the game.

especially for those of you who got a trophy out of it to prove how lame you were!

Where do you guys get the 'how fast player has been playing' window?

And @Purple, yes, Gnuffone used to be a top-3 staller:
https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=4623471

Stalled a few games for a month to keep himself at #1 on 1v1.

Edited 8/19/2015 23:15:37

@teddyfsb - nudge/boot from menu, 'speed' link left to player color and name

I sometimes like taking extra turns because I am counting on my opponent seriously screwing up and then I would get the upper hand. But if I am in a situation where I know that no matter how bad he plays, he will still win then I surrender. That is the difference for me.

When I was at 2 for the fifth time, the number 1 at that time actually sent me a message to propose that he'd drop from the ladder to give me 1. (He was a non-clanmate, I wasn't in a clan at that time). I said it didn't really matter to me and got number 1 anyway afterwards for a while so it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

It's just an example how it can happen naturally as well. I never asked for it and I couldn't care less at that time (after all: being able to say that you got to 2 five times in 3 different years with 8 different people being 1st during those periods also has its charm), but it still got offered. I see it as a nice gesture of that person although I could understand that for some it would be considered dishonourable if someone got first like that.

I know of at least 2 other cases (without me involved) where the number 1 dropped from the ladder to let the number 2 take first place without being asked (non-clanmates). I won't give any names of course, but I think in most cases it's simply a matter of respecting or being friends with a player (that doesn't only need to be clanmates) and genuinly wanting this person to get the honour / badge / whatever you want to call it.

i think u guys seem somehow strange to me