Also, Hasbro (is it Hasbro?) would shut down the site stat.

Stop being so obsessed with squeezing money out of people, Nigee.

@abge - they wouldn't be worthless if you wanted to play a high stakes game, currently you are excluded from doing so but I would love to play a high-stakes gunboat for 1000 a player or more .... I think it would make the game a bit more exciting knowing you could win 7000 if you solo, would no one else be genuinely excited by playing high stakes games ??

Has to be the two fingered salute for that one, old chap.

Why not just buy the 7000 and call it a day?

@abge - because the excitement is in the competition and also it costs you money to buy them, the challenge and the fun is in the winning, very similar to winning at anything, if the stakes are higher for some people it is more fun.... if people had more points would they play higher stakes games ?? more importantly would more people play more games if the stakes were higher, also would they take the game a bit more serious if there were more points at stake, would they be so quick to CD ??

Can't do it, selling anything violates the copyright on the game.

As much as I dislike points they do serve something of a purpose. To get a large number you need a certain degree of skill, but perhaps more importantly you also need to be the sort of player who both appreciates points and is willing to risk a lot of them on a regular basis. Allow people to buy them and you allow any old player with a few spare quid to play in these games. The level of skill may not be hugely different, but the type of player and the way these games flow would be changed, which would be sad.

@ jmo, do you have access or a copy of the copyright laws on this game, it may be interesting to have a read of them, I also have a friend that is a copyright lawyer who may be able to take a look at these.

My serious concern over the idea (beyond copyright issues) is that once you get money involved people tend to become very...dickish? And in a game that is already about finding just the right time to stick a knife in the back of a guy you were recently best friends with...yea it could get ugly.

I've had games on this site where everyone was really cool and joked around the whole time and games where a guy constantly sent me walls of text about how much of a backstabbing idiot I am. Just imagine if those people suddenly had $10 riding on the game instead of just their time and reputation...yikes!

Maybe it would be cool for you to be able to join this game, but is someone creates a 1000 DPoints game, maybe he and the other players that join that game do not want you (or anyone with fewer DPoints) in there.

@Sleepcap - these clever guys on Webdip have already worked out how to control entry to private games via passwords :-)

Its more that they want to control entry to players of a certain experience level as determined by the number of points they earn.

Sure there are people who may have been playing for a decade in face to face games that just show up and don't have the points yet but over time if they are good they will earn their way into those bigger games. It gives you something to shoot for

Stay out of our games Nigee.

"It gives you something to shoot for" - why can I not play a 7000 point game with players of my ability?
The current points system just makes the system so elitist, as our friend above has just confirmed with his boorish comments. I am completely happy with the level I play at, I'm just saying it would be good fun to play high stakes games regardless of my GR.
Is there no other person who would like to play high stakes games or is that the reserve for only the webdip elite ??

I'd like to see how big the difference is between me and someone with say over 5000 , I'm sure they might have some more tactical knowledge then me but in a press game it really isn't all that much about tactical choices anyway. So personally, I kinda dislike the fact I have to earn points in order to get into games with good players.

nigee, i still don't get your point. you can play against good players with low point buy-ins as well, just set up a password-protected game and ask if some of the top players would like to play against you, someone did that recently, worked out really well.

you are right ..... you don't get my point

Any good players up for a password protected live-game?

Nigee, are you even talking about the level of competition, or are you talking about the level of competition inherent in any game with high stakes, though not necessarily top players?

Putting monetary value on points means a whole slew of legal issues when it comes to banning metas and multis including potential lawsuits like "I bought 20,000 and they banned my account! I want my money back!".

Honestly I didn't even catch that side of it first read through 2WL. So Nigee you really just want sorta the Casino like thrill of a WTA game for like 10k points. To see how people would play and react to something like that?

I'm just saying that we cou;d have 7 noobs play a 1000 a player high stakes games. What would be wrong with that, it could be really exciting for them although it may not do a lot for their GR, there have been a number of times on this site when a lack of points has prevented good players playing higher stakes games, I want to see more games played and don't see why a lack of points should be a limiting factor in the way it currently is when the people running the site could provide an opportunity for people of mixed skills & abilities to acquire more points.

"you really just want sorta the Casino like thrill of a WTA game for like 10k points" yes I would and I think my playing style would be different if I was playing for 10000 rather than 35

I think the points then have some real value linked back to the outside world as well though, and at that point this just becomes a gambling business. Which could be cool, I'd like to play high-stake games for money.

"and at that point this just becomes a gambling business"

And then the US government blocks access to all US citizens and confiscates the webdiplomacy.net domain (.net is a US domain after all) and we get shut down...

well obviously it wouldn't happen with this site. But someone could set it up and I would play it, that's what I was saying.

I am just worried that all you are going to get out of something like that is a LOT of really pissed off people. When a stab costs you $ you will rage over it. I don't think you'll get better game play you'll just get meaner game play.

Anyway that is my last word on it. Sounds like according to Jmo they can't do it anyway so its a pointless discussion.

@Lopt - you could not have any monetary value related to the points or it would encourage cheating, the points you buy/win would have no value outside of this website

But here is the real, problem, Nigee. When you don't have to earn the points and can just throw another $20 or $50 to get 1000 or whatever, then that 7K game suddenly has shitty fat cats playing in it. The points can't be cashed out, so they have no site value beyond getting into the games, and they have no value for keeping people of lesser skill out because those people can just go buy more points. Lose the game, no big deal, just buy more points. IT's like playing face book poker where you can buy more chips even though you can never cash them out and you get idiots calling 10,000 chips preflop on 7-2 off.