Lots of haggling

Be a salesman, a lawyer, an insurance adjuster, an mediator, union shop steward, be in the Human Relations Department, be a teacher of small children,
there are a ton of job types that use diplomacy techniques all the time.

How about a diplomat?

Social engineer. =)

"Lifeguard...... Lots of haggling"

You're doing it wrong.

Hooker? Lots of haggling. Lots of dodgy dealing. Lots of danger. And you know you're gonna get shafted sooner or later. ;-)

Politician
Manager
Pimp

Lots of human interaction, lots of screwing around :)

My girlfriend is currently doing a masters in International Politics.... which I have enjoyed helping her with.

Lots of overlap with this game in terms of motivations and maintaining the balance of power. But there are so many variables involved that the whole field is ridiculously complicated and generally very slow moving. I actually think life as a diplomat would be characterised as incredible dull in general, but punctuated with very occassional bursts of excitment/action. Especially when these supranational agencies are thrown into the mix.

Imagine playing only one game of DIP, played in real-time, (so one turn every 6 months) but with about 200 players. Oh and the actual rules/new varients are introduced every 2 years that can completely blind-side you. I'd never have the patience for it!!

Working in politics. It's all about trying to find a diplomatic route through shark infested waters... A battle I have to fight every week!

Consultant. You have to put the happy face on even when you *know* what the client is telling you is a load of crap, and you have to work with it somehow anyway. Kinda like being Italy when France, Austria, and Turkey are allied but are claiming otherwise - deal with the crap sandwich you've been dealt the best, most professional way you can, then run away with as many D's as you can salvage ;)

I disagree with stratagos, as I'm a consultant, myself. If you do any shady business (backstabbing), you'll get a reputation and lose your job (or ability to sell yourself).

FortKnox is right. As a former IT consultant (I'm back in corporate since the .COM bubble burst and 9/11 wiped out most of the IT consulting jobs), you never ever backstab your customer. That being said, being a consultant is a lot like playing diplomacy but with your hands tied so you always have to be honest. Everyone else can stab repeatedly, and you just sit there and take it.

You all have to remember that the real function of the game of Diplomacy is not the lieing and backstabbing and cheating, but it is really a game of trust, verification, multiple approaches to problem solving in a background of different achievement goals, pulling apart reasonable and unreasonable proposals and constantly working with an against competition .
Those are the skills that you should learn in Diplomacy and those aspects of diplomacy you should and could apply to real life.

Edi, you're a dreamer :)

A "game of trust"?
The rulebook they sent together with the game says different :)

Its a game of trust, but that doesn't mean that you never disappoint that trust.

I would say Diplomacy is more about empathy... well, to do well you have to understand your opponents and get in their heads. This lets you predict and manipulate them. =)

Yes Chrispminis you need to act like a Car Salesmen.

hmmm, diplomat?

fortknox, I'm a consultant myself. Sometimes what the client is requesting is completely unreasonable, but simply telling them what they're asking for is completely unfeasable isn't going to get you anything but a "thank you" and a trip out the door.

You have to take a multi-faceted approach to *convince* them that there are better ways - bringing in other experts, offering several solutions and demonstrating why some are better than others, convincing stakeholders to back you with those that are being obstructionist for no good reason....

I agree that being a backstabbing SOB is a losing hand in our industry, but sometimes so is being upfront and honest.

Have you considered a career in the Church?

(favourite Blackadder quote)