Online Diplomacy Championship 2019 Journal

[swordsman3003]

Hello friends! I have now published the journal I kept while playing in my first game of the first round of the 2019 Online Diplomacy Championship. The first round is still ongoing, but the match covered by my journal is finished. There are more than 100 competitors in the tournament, including players from many different websites!

The entries include the press I exchanged with my rivals and my (extensive) commentary. Word count: approx. 138,000

Here's the link: https://brotherbored.com/online-diploma ... roduction/

Like nearly all the Diplomacy content I write for my blog, I created this journal for teaching purposes. I think this journal will be a valuable resource because

• I am an experienced player;

• I kept a complete real-time record of my thoughts; and

• I understand my Diplomacy writing to be (relatively) easy to follow. Thus, my journal affords readers the very rare opportunity to peer into the thoughts of another person's Diplomacy match.

Thank you friends!

[Your Humble Narrator]

This is excellent!

[Senlac]

“The entries include the press I exchanged with my rivals”

Is that OK? Not giving a judgement here because I’m new to webDip, but where I used to play in game messaging was kept intentionally private, even when a game had finished...
Seems a bit creepy have it subsequently published?

[Claesar]

“The entries include the press I exchanged with my rivals”

Is that OK? Not giving a judgement here because I’m new to webDip, but where I used to play in game messaging was kept intentionally private, even when a game had finished...
Seems a bit creepy have it subsequently published?

That's allowed. It may seem creepy at first, but you probably shouldn't be sending nudes to the other players anyhow.

[teccles]

Many thanks, this is an exceptional resource. Reading it, I feel my game has already improved.

[Nikola Maric Eto]

Fine work, Swords...

[Octavious]

“The entries include the press I exchanged with my rivals”

Is that OK? Not giving a judgement here because I’m new to webDip, but where I used to play in game messaging was kept intentionally private, even when a game had finished...
Seems a bit creepy have it subsequently published?

It's a fair question. I dare say many people will be uncomfortable with the idea, and I'd certainly be against webDip deciding to make available all the press used in tournament games.

However in this particular case it seems fair enough. When you send a message to a player you effectively surrender control of it. The receiver may forward it on to other players, doctor it as much as he wishes, or even post it on global for the world to see if he believes it will benefit him. The default understanding must be that any message you send is only as private as the person you send it to wants it to be.

[Senlac]

“The entries include the press I exchanged with my rivals”

Is that OK? Not giving a judgement here because I’m new to webDip, but where I used to play in game messaging was kept intentionally private, even when a game had finished...
Seems a bit creepy have it subsequently published?

It's a fair question. I dare say many people will be uncomfortable with the idea, and I'd certainly be against webDip deciding to make available all the press used in tournament games.

However in this particular case it seems fair enough. When you send a message to a player you effectively surrender control of it. The receiver may forward it on to other players, doctor it as much as he wishes, or even post it on global for the world to see if he believes it will benefit him. The default understanding must be that any message you send is only as private as the person you send it to wants it to be.

All understood & agreed. It’s just a bit tricky for an anonymous games tournament, when you don’t know who the recipient is other than “England”.
It is what it is.

[Octavious]

Fair play to swordsman for doing this. It's always fascinating to get into the mind of another player, and opening a window like this takes some guts. One thing I've always found, when comparing notes with other players in the past, is how wildly different perceptions of the game can be. Reading swordsman's book highlights how wildly different diplomacy styles can be. I disagree with swordsman on... pretty much everything, truth be told. But there is no doubt from his results that his particular style is a viable route to success.

[DipPlayer88]

This is amazing. It must take a lot of work to do this. Thanks so much Swordsman.

[Restitution]

Thanks swordsman.

I have noticed that my skill at this game increases measurably every few thousand words I read by you. The amount of effort you put into this is absolutely intense.

[DipPlayer88]

Are we going to be seeing the much-awaited ODC Round 2 of this?

[swordsman3003]

As much as I would have loved to do that, the demands of keeping yet another journal are just too intense. The world will be lucky if I do this once every 2 years...

Also, Round 2 was much more complex (as one would expect), and also my life got waaaaaaaaay busier since the tournament started. I feel fortunate to have even had the energy to compete at the level needed to prevail in the ODC. I don’t think I could have completed a journal if I had started one.

You’ll have to satisfy your interest with ex-post-facto explanations in my upcoming blog posts. I certainly learned a lot from playing that I will write about for a long time. Seriously—I could use the matches from this tournament as case examples for years to come.

[DipPlayer88]

Well, the world is lucky to have had the two journals you've already published and your many other posts. So I shall not be too disappointed. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

[DipPlayer88]

Maybe I need to rephrase "I shall not be too disappointed." What I mean is I enjoyed reading your journal and delighted to be able to read your ongoing posts.