Playing for second

[LoveBooks]

To answer one part of your question, I don’t feel that targeting the loser is unsportsmanlike. When it happens to me I do feel sad! Lol. I feel like it’s just a strategy to ensure you don’t lose too many elo points. People do see elo as part of the game and winning. Unsportsmanlike to me is someone cursing at another player. Good question to think on.

[twiceshy]

Like it or not, we have ELO so it IS a part of the game. Up to you if you choose to ignore it. Personally, I keep an eye on it (not that it helps much!).

[Sa angreal]

I think I agree with the sentiment of your post - it seems very wrong to play for ELO rather than the win. Maybe its justifiable in a longer game where coming back from a long way off the lead is more difficult, but I think that in a game like this, where you can get 50 points in a single round easily, and if you're lucky, over 100, then playing for second rather than trying to win is silly.
Because its such a short game, it hardly makes sense to worry about losing if your last-ditch effort doesn't pay off - just load up a new game.