...Granted, the variant is not supposed to be a true reflection of real-world geo-political realities. I get it. I also understand that the Supply Centers were chosen based on balanced game play. However, even when one allows for those liberties, the entire notion of Antarctica having 7 SCs really bothers me.

Even when one considers only the strategic-assessment-of-game-space angle, the idea that Antarctica would have 7 SCs, nearly the same as South America, is absurd. I could understand perhaps 1-3, but seven makes Antarctica simply far too valuable, because it looms as a prize that countries in the southern hemisphere have far too much incentive to fight over.

Then there is the fact that they actually put a nation on Antarctica. I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous. Again, I do not say that from merely a practical or real-world perspective: it just makes the game worse. The country has far too many options, to say nothing of a strategic "wall" that no one can go south of.

Finally, I would like to point out that, adding SCs all over a variant map for the sake of balanced game-play should have its limits. I can live with, for example, Afghanistan being a SC while the mid-western U.S. is not, since it helps balance out the map. But at least people can LIVE in Afghanistan! At least it is, by definition, habitable. It can, and does, and has, sustained civilization. But Antarctica? It strains the credibility to the point where the game is less enjoyable.

Nobody ever has sent, and nobody ever will send, fleets of ships or divisions of soldiers to capture vast sections of Antarctic ice sheets. And if they do, it won't be to capture the resources necessary to create more fleets and divisions. Afterall, that is what capturing SCs enables you to do: obtain more resources to grow your military.

Anyway, I think a new World variant is desperately needed, and I wanted to know if anyone else felt the same way. There is such potential to a world variant of Diplomacy, I just think the one that exists is flawed. And, at the top of the list of its flaws is Antarctica.