What's wrong with secret collusions?

[Firecrest]

First off, I have to admit that I didn't look too hard to see if this had been answered already, but I did poke around a little and didn't see anything. Also, forgive me if this is the wrong Forum, it seemed best.

The question is in the title. Why must all alliances be sorted out in the public chat? I'm playing a game right now where I allied publicly with another player, to which the other players immediately allied together and beat the tar out of us.

Having to publicly declare your alliance seems to defeat the entire purpose.

[The Fuzzy Pengui]

First off, it's to keep people from thinking that you have multiple accounts.
Secondly, if you are going to secretly ally, you should just play team games.
Thirdly, it's to keep the game fair so that one person doesn't ally with everyone and just keep building and building their armies until they are took strong and take everyone out.
Hope this answers your question, and hope I didn't forget anything