In the original arcade classic Gauntlet it was "Elf shot the food." In the new version launched on Steam today, it's "Elf dodges through enemies, leaving us to fend for ourselves while he scoops up all of the gold." I can live with that.
I know there have been other games carrying on the grand tradition of competitive co-op, but I've been too busy over the past few years playing games that make it impossible to dick everyone over instead of encouraging fair play.
So, given the chance and the end-of-level ranking system in this new generation of Gauntlet which tracks who killed the most enemies or earned the most gold (rarely the same person), I felt it only proper to use my grabbing hands to grab all of that stuff.
Apologies to the folks I was playing with — I'm not normally like that. Besides, the teleporting wizard started it. Did I shoot the food? Yeah, sure. Did I purposeful run ahead and shoot the food so the Wizard might die and I get to pick up his loot? No. Not at all. Not in a way that worked.
So far, Gauntlet isn't a bad homage to the pixellated original. Adding in loot, equipment and special skills that unlock as you play make it lean a bit more towards a bare-bones Diablo, but the spirit of the 1985 arcade game lingers.
I'll play a bit more, see how I feel about it. I'll try to be nice.