And I am especially suspicious because, even though I have been here only a short time, I have already heard nasty rumors about multiple powers playing as if they were controlled by a single person.

Are you accusing someone of metagaming or having two accounts in the same game?

I think Mutli-accounting.

"Now, I work with probability and statistics. "

Hmm, while there certainly have been metagamers here, I'm not sure how probability and statistics enters into the game. Perhaps 10000 players joined after the Spring moves.

If there's something suspicious about that game (I assume you are referring to http://phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=9887), I don't see it. Especially since no moves have been made since the spring turn.

Could it be someone who just joined the site went looking for games to play, and found yours had a CD in it?

Thanks all...it is possible, of course, that everything is completely innocent,which is why I am not accusing anyone directly. I just would like to know how it is policed? As I say, I am a newbie here myself. I would normally have inquired from a Gamesmaster rather than on the forum, but I don't see anyway to do that....

As for the prob and stats....yeah, if you tell me 10000 gamers MIGHT have joined in the last two hours, then this is likely to be perfectly innocent.....

But if only a dozen or so joined, I'm just saying.... :)

Thanks again....maybe I am being too sensitive. I apologize and will now go and shut up. :) But I WOULD like to know how the potential problem is addressed here, if it is at all....

People with multiple accounts have all those accounts banned and are allowed to create one more if they promise to stop. As for metagamers (people who exchange alliances or favours between games, or people who know each other IRL and use that to cheat) are not actually banned, but are shunned by the rest of the players.

To make sure you have a game with neither of these types of players, create a private (passworded) game and invite specific people.

you can contact a moderator about possible multi accounting, such as figlesquidge:
http://phpdiplomacy.net/profile.php?userID=382

Thank you, djbent.....I wish I had understood this before..

Again, apologies to all concerned

@ aoe3rules--i thought that once you're banned you can never come back...

@ conquetheworld: No, you can never again use the account you were cheating with, but you are allowed to make a new account. I think two times in the past this has become so serious, with people promising to stop and creating multiple accounts several times, that their IP addresses have been published. Everyone avoided these people until they went away.

There *are* several players who have cheated and then stopped and followed the rules, and the moderators are generally more trusting and forgiving than elsewhere on the internet. But it *is* a pretty small site, so that might not last forever.

Yes, feel free to email me. As was said above we'll ban accounts that have been cheating, but we try to give people a second chance.

That's a good question for the FAQ - Who are the moderators and how can they be reached

True, although there are quite a few good things for the FAQ floating round - i was thinking of making a list of genuinely frequently asked questions.
Moderators are:
Chrispminis
Dangermouse
thewonderllama
Figlesquidge (me)
We all post on the forum, Chrisp and I probably most frequently, and can be found from here. Danger & I can also be found through the hall of fame (although if everyone cashed in their big games i think i'll drop off now)

Oh, and I can't speak for the others but you're all free to email me. My address is figlesquidge<at>gmail<dot>com
Just remember to put phpDiplomacy somewhere in the subject

Also, how can one sign up for moderatorisationing?

You don't sign up. You just wake up one day to find that the beneficent god Kestas has granted you powers beyond those of a mere mortal.

Yet mods are still mortals. You contradict yourself, dangermouse :D

Yes, but not 'mere mortal' Noirin :D
And that's pretty well it aeo - in my case I turned on my computer one morning and had a message in msn about developing, with the little line "oh, btw you're a mod now-thought they could use a hand with all the pausing etc".

I would like to present the concept of the active (direct interaction) or explicit interplay expected in multi-accounts and passive (indirect) or implicit interplay that is occuring here.

The presence of units under the control of a player effect the actions of the other players. There does not have to be any explicit movement by the multi-accounter's second account for the main account to benefit. The secondary account simply has to be.

All other players will have to consider the second account's possible actions. This effects their game. To defend against or to use diplomacy with. The second account could also be used as a listening post for information.

The last game I was in was multi-accounted or meta-gamed - whatever. I don't think the mods could determine though. In any case in is an entirely un-enjoyable affair. I never blame the outcome on anyone thing but it made a major impact on my survival.

I don't know the details of either case (haven't had time to check), but I agree with your analysis. My personal opinion that any game with multi's in it should be nullified. There should be a third votable option (pause&draw being the others): Cancel
This would refund *everyone* 1/7 of the pot. It seems totally unfair to me that if you're stuck between multi/meta's (such as being Austria to Russia-Turkey) that you won't get a share of the draw.

@figle: You mean you had a message saying you had become a moderator in phpdip, or in your email? If here, was it like those forum things where it says "You have been defeated, better luck next time"/"You have won game [game], congratulations"?

Also, shouldn't Russia get 4/34ths?

You don't have to pay more to play as Russia, so why should you get more points back if the game is being refunded?

because you were lucky:]