Well it is designed to base it more on the Non-verbal diplomatic relations... supporting England into say Belgium as Germany, would imply you want to work with them against France... its there to test your skills, both diplomatically(you have to form alliances without speaking) and tactically(you have to always worry about unit balance, as you are even less sure that you are safe from an ally as you are in a full press game). it's actually a pretty cool thing if you give it a shot... and also, most of the no messaging games are anon, to avoid cheating like you described... and if you really don't want to play it, just don't. only join messaging games.