Diplomacy

[Kinseth]

Originally Posted by Nukatha

http://uk.diplom.org/?page=Rules
The rule POWER_CHOICE was in effect. See the bacon main screen. Furthermore, in the first day, I received a message from someone who pointed out that they were a veteran Diplomacy player, something that you wouldn't send to a group of people you had previously played with.

You *could* choose a power, but you had to choose when you joined. I was the first player to join, I chose random. If someone joins the game, it says what power you joined as, or Random. EVERYONE went random.

[Kinseth]

Originally Posted by Nukatha

http://uk.diplom.org/?page=Rules
The rule POWER_CHOICE was in effect. See the bacon main screen. Furthermore, in the first day, I received a message from someone who pointed out that they were a veteran Diplomacy player, something that you wouldn't send to a group of people you had previously played with.

Ive played diplomacy since 2003, Last game I told everyone I was a noob at the start of the game to throw everyone off.

[kevindola]

Don't let Kinseth fool you. He is still a noob

[quozl]

Just wanted to confirm what Kinseth is saying. Nobody knew who you were. We were all assigned powers randomly.

Diplomacy is super stressful and I totally understand you not wanting to deal with that stress. Others of us thrive off the stress though.

I think you were doing a fine job as France but somebody's got to draw the short straw. This time it just happened to be you. I hope you shrug it off and try it again.

[Ranior]

Most if not all players entered this game as random countries. (I really don’t remember during the sign up window anymore if anyone did explicitly pick a country, but I don’t think so). So no, nobody knew who you were.

And while it doesn’t matter much, nothing in Diplomacy is so locked in as you state. Had you guessed correctly and got to 5 units, I suspect this spring phase would have gone quite differently. I don’t know for sure, and don’t want to comment too much on an ongoing game, so I’ll just leave it there I guess. The simple point being that your neighbors likely decided you were their easiest path to growth, which very well may not be the case in a hypothetical where you had gotten to 5 centers.


With all that bieng said, there is a reason this game is infamous for “breaking friendships”. Some players really cannot handle it. I personally always liken it to the TV show Survivor. Every time I watched a season of that show, there were always a few players who would be absolutely shocked and devastated when their trust was broken by someone. But they were all playing a game and had to know what they were getting into....yet some people really cannot handle it. Diplomacy is kind of the same way....some players just don’t do well at not taking it personally and they get emotionally invested. And there’s nothing wrong with that—it just means this game isn’t for you. If it’s actually causing you anxiety and not giving you pleasure, then by all means give it up. There’s no reason to play a game that doesn’t make you happy.

With that being said, I’m sure many of us would appreciate if you played it out. I’m not saying you have to, but it leaves us in a bit of a pickle. Scrapping the game would suck, and I’m sure we’ll avoid that. But finding a substiute is hard and no perfect solution either, and just having your units follow the Civil Disorder rules is workable but also less than ideal.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy the experience,

Ranior

[Nukatha]

My apologies for not understanding that that was the case. But when I joined I was given only the choice of France, so I just assumed the rest of you had chosen yours.
I feel like I can handle CoN and other social games like Resistance and Secret Hitler, because you know for a fact that it is the entire role of some players to deceive and lie. Here there is no such forced role. You deceive entirely by your own willingness to win at a game. I guess I'll continue to play this one out, knowing that I'm a lost cause.

[Kinseth]

Wise words Ranior, in the end this game isn't always cut out for everyone. As mentioned before, sometimes you draw the short straw.

In a typical game of Diplomacy there is the Western 3, and usually one is the odd man out. G/E/F and 2 of them usually gang up on the 3rd. Had you secured yourself a build or two in the opening year, you would have been in much better position of power. France is mostly known for being one of the most defend-able countries to start with. My favorite country is Russia and then followed by France.

Power#6 has joined the game. Only 1 position left.
Power#5 has joined the game. Only 2 positions left.
Power#4 has joined the game. Only 3 positions left.
Power#3 has joined the game. Still 4 positions left.

I guess I was the 2nd one to join. You get emails when people join, if they chose a power, it would have said what power they joined as.

I'd play it out, see what you can do to turn the tide, it may seem dire now, but crazy things happen in a game of diplomacy.

I played in a game name Live Wembly, I was Italy and was down to just owning Tun & Nap, it looked grim. I managed to turn it around and ended up winning the game with 18 units. It can happen.

Glad to see you will play it out, and if you don't find enjoyment, you can walk away knowing you gave it a good try.

[Nukatha]

You several convinced me to not drop. And thank you for clearing up that rule confusion. I'll continue on assuming that all of those around me are completely untrustworthy and are probably horrible people irl. ()
I never went afk in a CoN, and I won't now.

[Dad_Scaper]

You guys handled this very well while I was otherwise engaged.

Nukatha, it's a wonderful game. I'm not surprised at your posts, though, because it's also a soul-crushing pain in the ass.

Do hang in there. There are almost always things you could do to try to advance your position. Nothing is written in stone, including your opponents' relationships with each other. Believe me, you aren't the only one they're lying to, or intending to lie to.

[wriggz]

Originally Posted by Nukatha

You several convinced me to not drop. And thank you for clearing up that rule confusion. I'll continue on assuming that all of those around me are completely untrustworthy and are probably horrible people irl. ()
I never went afk in a CoN, and I won't now.

I can comment on my last game which was my first. It was grueling.

It took up far more of my mental capacity than I thought possible. The second guessing, the trying to convince others of your honesty (or avoid detecting deception). As I have said before: this is the prisoners dilemma on acid.

The key thing I learnt was this is a Zero sum game. A player with 10 units is on equal footing as 2 with 5. So when you are down the hope is that you can create an alliance to dismantle the larger power. in actual history Germany may have been able to win against England, France or Russia alone, it was only the combined forces that allowed for victory.

[Nukatha]

Why so long for an adjustment phase?

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by Nukatha

Why so long for an adjustment phase?

I believe any deadline that would end on a weekend is automatically extended until Monday