I saw the article refers to the Prenda Law saga, I just looked it up and saw the main protagonists had been sent to jail. This line from Wikipedia made me chuckle as sounds like the exactly like a game of the prisoners dilema
In 2019, Steele and Hansmeier both pleaded guilty in Federal court to a range of criminal charges related to and including extortion and fraudulent conduct, with substantial sums of their criminal proceeds to be reimbursed. Steele received a reduced sentence of 5 years due to his cooperation and Hansmeier, who had not cooperated, was sentenced to 14 years. [13]
"Protagonist" doesn't necessarily have a positive judgment attached to it, does it? I.e. if the main player in a story is the bad guy, we still say "protagonist"?
Not sure, but in a good vs evil story I think it does. I naturally assumed due to the implucation of an antagonist a protagonist always meant the subject of the conflict (every plot has a conflict they say). But you might be right, I can see how it can simply mean the center of a story.
In 2019, Steele and Hansmeier both pleaded guilty in Federal court to a range of criminal charges related to and including extortion and fraudulent conduct, with substantial sums of their criminal proceeds to be reimbursed. Steele received a reduced sentence of 5 years due to his cooperation and Hansmeier, who had not cooperated, was sentenced to 14 years. [13]