[Ranior]

I have two parts I want to address here, although they kind of link together. But it is the lack of a draw at the end of the game and the lack of communication at the end of the game.

I'm starting with the lack of communication. It was pretty annoying to just get ignored by France and England for the last many years. This is a long game we all commit to playing, and just being treated like I wasn't playing it was pretty annoying.

The last message I got from France was spring 1906, or else his broadcast at the end of 1906.

The last message I got from England was spring of 1907.

I get we didn't have a ton to talk about directly, but I was still sending out broadcasts the next few seasons making it clear what my stance was for where the game should end, and I was just completely ignored. It felt like we were all playing a game for no clear reason as the stalemate lines were clearly set, Italy, Austria, and myself sent broadcasts a few times clarifying our position, and at least for myself I had absolutely zero clue what France or England wanted or why the game was still ongoing. I could only guess what they were playing for.

Overall it was a really crummy experience at the end, and just having them at least send something occasionally would have certainly improved things--and maybe even would have helped us all avoid the frustration and anger and the last few weeks it sounds like we all experienced.

I'll admit I was surprised to find out Kinseth was England after all this given I know he said this after the last game:

Originally Posted by Kinseth

Also, on a personal level, ghosting someone in a game of diplomacy is a real jerk move. I am not happy with you over that. Very disrespectful, tis a game we are playing after all.

Anyhow, as for the other part. Why did we keep playing that long? I've reviewed things, and myself, Austria, and Italy all sent press in 1906 as broadcasts making it clear our trio was playing for a 5 way draw and that unless France or England could take me out, that is how this game would end. (To be clear there was no way France or England could possibly remove me with the clear stalemate lines we were already at).

From my perspective, I heard nothing about England or Frances end game stances, and they never shared anything press with me about what they were looking for. It sounds, from the second hand accounts I have, that Italy and Austria initially made it clear they were playing for a 5 way draw, then got annoyed that France/England weren't ending the game, and so then Austria started jerking France around with talks of how to eliminate me with no intention of doing so. I don't think is a great plan, but if France ignored clear statements before that he needed to accept a 5 way draw and hence Austria already felt like France was jerking him around forcing him to keep submitting moves knowing full well the board would continue to be a stalemate, not sure I blame Austria/Italy/whomever for jerking France around too much. Again poor communication all around at the end (and again I can't help but feel if I was actually involved in the conversations at all I could have helped mediate things a bit and made the positions very clear about what was going down, but again I was for some reason completely cut out....)

Ultimately it sounds like that end left a sour taste in many's mouths though, and understandably so. Not fun to waste a month on a position that's a clear draw, although again from reviewing the public broadcasts of 1906 I'm not sure why the 5 way draw wasn't accepted then.

Just to be clear, here are the messages I'm referring to:

Spoiler Alert!

Spring of 1906

Message from Russia to Austria, England, France and Italy in hrognak: I enjoy the cheekiness of the statement you're holding out for the Russian solo, but I am really curious what your end goal actually is here? Like the stalemate line is established. I don't believe France/England can make any more progress, nor can Russia/Austria/Italy. So it looks a lot like a 4 way draw....or in this case it seems Austria and Italy plan to keep me alive and are offering a 5 way draw. I'll point out again that neither side can force anything here, so I think a draw is coming and it's just what terms we're going to accept it at....and I'll point out that no side can really force anything to happen. Now if England or France are offering to turn on each other or do something interesting to shake the game up, then sure let's play on. But I've set my stance to accepting the 5 way draw and getting ready for the next game. I think it makes a lot of sense to just wrap up this game that appears to be an inevitable large draw anyhow and move on to the next.

Message from Austria to England, France, Italy and Russia in hrognak: Ditto what Russia just stated. Let's wrap this and start the next game (presuming DS will run another.) Russia gets a piece of the draw unless England and France can take him out.

Broadcast message from Austria in hrognak: Once England and France accept the inevitability of a 5 way draw, are you up for running another game DS?

Fall 1906

Broadcast message from Austria in hrognak: Yes, I've set to a five way draw. And no, I'm not changing my stance. Who's ready to start another game while this one continues year after year after year?