I honestly can't believe so many people if facing a FRIEND and having nothing to play for, while their friend has something significant on the line would not consider scooping. Do we go around in our daily lives taking things from our friends to no advantage to ourselves?
I understand the arguments against it, but really are you going to say 'Yeah, I'm going to take away this really meaningful thing from you, even though it does me no good. We're cool right?'
I know I would feel bad. I can't believe anyone that wouldn't. People keep saying how would the bubble-out victim feel. How is your friend going to feel, when you, a friend, could've let him in? I feel bad when I beat my friends anyways, but to beat them when the win does me no good, that just would feel terrible. The only gray areas are when there is something small to play for. When I was playing cities this year, I really didn't need any of the events from a worlds stand point, but I wanted to win a tournament. I weighed the options and was going to scoop to my closest friends in the running for worlds, but not others as I still wanted to try and go deep in a tournament.
If there is absolutely nothing to gain though, against a friend, the decision would be easy.
As for being 5th, bubbling out etc., that's part of the game. When things get close, luck takes over. The luck of the pairing that would lead to a concession is similar to the luck of the pairings that lead to one result over another, leading to different resistances and bubble-ins and bubble-outs. Donks are largely luck. Opening hands, who goes first, lots of things happen in this game you can't control. A pairing that leads to a concession is just one of them. You might as well think of it as a pairing with a very one-sided matchup, it effectively is not different. Is it exactly the same? No. I hear the arguments for no concessions and I do feel it would be better if they just happened to never come up. My uncomfortableness on this issue is low but not zero. But people need to remember that you are at the mercy of a lot of events out of your control in a pokemon tournament, and this is just one of them.
I do disagree with the extreme, of say 5 people coming in all to make sure 'player A' gets the win. That definitely crosses the line for me. That is coming in with a goal of manipulation. Siblings, parents, players like me at cities do not come in with the goal of opening up a path for someone. At the same time, we didn't come to block that friend/relative's path either, and would feel bad about playing if we did.