In one concept you are introducing the reality of the game to a new player or reinforcing it in a vet. In the other you are applying the false code of honor in a dueling setting (which is broken just as often in the DA, believe it or not). If you manage to give a false set of expectations to a player they will more likely become a whiner then rage quit. That's why you have a percentage of the population saying things like 'It never used to be like this!' or 'When did THIS start to happen?' It was always there, they just were either protected from it or missed it. 
Anything that isn't breaking TOS is allowed (except for the 'honor' crowd that holds to an artificial code).
Whether of not someone gets personal satisfaction from vulching a player they don't even know is another thing, on top of that. 
There are no rules. Everyone knows that. Pretending your individual situation is governed by a set of rules or lack there of is silly, and in knowing such, your behavior is no more protected by a lack of rules than condemned bytheir pretend existence.
Your defense of your behavior is:
1) "unsportsman like behavior is something you'd better get used to"
2) mercilessly pounding a dissadvantaged player into the ground is not unsportsmanlike in AH because Sportsmanship by definition can't exist in this game because it's an actual war. (silly at best)
3) the best way to teach your 12 year old the game of Football is to take him to a Bronco's practice, put pads on him, hand him the ball and tell him to try to run past Von Miller. repeatedly. Because he should never expect mercy or sprotsmanship in a football game. Is this situation the best way for anyone to learn the game? Answer: No
The episode as describe would make most people quit. If you think that's a learning session for anyone, you're part of the problem. but forget the quitter for a moment. What possible enjoyment do you get out of such a situation? Where those fun, challenging fights? encounters in AH are not analogies for life lessons. each is its own serarate encounter that is either fun for you, and your opponent or not. You have the power to control that outcome. You own the consequences of the outcome of your choices. Choose wisely.
