I second the recommendation of Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse. He takes this simple concept and expands and applies it to modern tech, politics, the workplace, education, etc: "There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play." The player in a finite game actua…
Cheating might win you the game, but it means nobody will trust you and nobody will want to play with you in future and you're out of the meta-game, you lost the more important thing. It's important to lose fairly at a game, so you get to play again long term.
Something that comes up in HPMOR where a dark lord can't submit and be humble to learn a lesson, instead fighting and killing everyone but losing the larger goal, and something which surely comes up every time someone is "technically right" on a mailing list or forum argument but in such a way that nobody wants to engage with them in future.