+1's

stockholm syndrome

I need to remind people they're trash

@Valis

10:21

i almost made it :'(

"So, one in fourteen. That's pretty bad odds."

I *wish* my win-rate was 1/14.

The feeling I get when I can verbally degrade an adversary while I rip him apart center by center. When all the pieces fit just right and my sadistic fever dreams come true; as I watch my opponents beg for mercy while I twist the knife in their back. The people I cause to leave the site and the others who cry unfair at the end of the game. They make me come back. Because I love feeling others pain.... That and the bacon wrapped shrimps, oh how i looooove the bacon wrapped shrimps

CB, have you ever actually done that though, or just vicariously as it happens to you?

I have. you don't have to solo to get that feeling. If i do it in 1903 and then get wrecked right after it still satisfies me. almost like how some mass killers kill a few people before the cops kill them. they still get satisfaction; it may not be as pretty or as impressive as the one that gets away. but hey, it feels good for me.

Making dance monkeys dance

Call Bo, #Bo_Sux

There's nothing quite like it. Besides being an actual power hungry psycho in real life, and that takes a lot of energy.

its the struggle man! you don't climb mountains to get to the top. arriving at the destination can be a let down. it is the duel of wits against another and seeing if i can out do him. FTF diplomacy is the best because of the need to strategize and sell your allliance.

Besides 'lord admiral' where else could you direct national forces? i did it for real as a young man and it was amazing. here it is make believe but can feel real with other live opponents. why do you game L.A.?

I'm not addicted. I can quit at any time. Just not right now. I need to get even first.

fame and $$$$$$

i discovered the game in 1970 as a seventh grader. i never was able to find six other people to play again until this month with the LA Dip group. but i never lost the desire to play. this site is close to it as we play others. so i have 46 years of pent up desire to play. so that is why i am so crazy to do this. last saturday, i played in only my third FTF with seven. i have a lot of games in me. that is why i play!!!!!

and at that FTF game this past saturday, i found three new people who never played it before and were hooked by fall 1901. one player took his map and studied it and then sought out to build grand alliances. this game is something else. and if you have the bug then you are crazy for it. mental crack i guess.

I find it hilarious that my numbers are almost exactly a 1/14 win rate, and a 49% draw rate right now. I wonder if anyone else is batting pretty much statistically average right now.

To answer the question. I don't know. I'm sort of burnt out on diplomacy. At some point I lost whatever spark was making the game really exciting for me. Every so often I forget and try again for old times sake and... it's lost that magic for me. However something about the negotiations process had me entranced back when I was a regular here. The tension and attempting to convince people that they wanted to help you. There is something to be said for pulling off a really clever attack or defence. That can be really satisfying. I sort of wish I still got the same hit from it. Though my free time thanks me for burning out

@damian: That is not statistically average. If 1/2 of the games you play end in a draw, that doesn't mean that you will be included in all of those draws. You score above average.

Packed full of treachery and deceit with people you have to speak to regardless of how much you despise them, Diplomacy has that special nostalgic pull of a family Christmas. And everyone loves Christmas.

Diplomacy is actually a really nice and relaxing game. It's pretty much a no lose situation. If things go badly you get to enjoy the thrill of fighting an exciting rear guard action, and if not a glorious charge to dominate the board. And through it all you have half a dozen people to get to know and chat to. What's not to enjoy?

I just like to play board games. Something about the simplicity of the rules also makes the complexity of the game as a whole amazing.

I also like making six other players do exactly what I want without them realizing it. But that's just me wanting to be Palpatine.

Before I forget them, after 101 completed games
Defeated ( heads the list ) 36
Drawn 35
Survived 16
Won 13
Resigned 1
Is how I've gone & I've managed to accumulate a modest points war chest...I've been stuck on 13 wins for a while... Why do I play here at WebDiplomacy.. Easy to use..I'd played the board game for several years... But I rarely play ftf board games.. I play on the web..here..& instantly can play & " meet" players from across the globe & play classic Diplomacy... Or for variants at VDiplomacy
I played here.. Completed 50 ? approx games.. Had a two year break.. returned played 20-30 approx went off & joined VDiplomacy so had a few months break & like that dusty penny came back here again like an aged harlot to engage in the seductive intriguing of Diplomacy & the tactical battles & ploys with the "pieces" (armies & fleets)
& there's the forum to enjoy

I just like trying different things. Back in the day, I played the DOS version of Diplomacy, and aced every level and country. Throw in the human element and clever wet-ware intelligence, and I'm no ace.

But I love the mathematical illusion iteration: from bad to better.

And good or bad, I love playing. Mostly I play private games with real friends, but I play a lot of random games, too. If I win any of those I feel like I'm over the moon. That's a good reason for sure.

But another is watching the masters. I've been twisted around the little fingers of many many players. And it is an entire school of learning each time. Many thanks lads and lasses.

This is great. We have some sadists, some egomaniacs, some Napoleon complexes.... Ahh, who am I kidding, that's all of us to some extent.

So why do I play? Many of you have hit on my reasons as well:

I love the simple complexity of the game -- allow me to explain -- the rules are incredibly simply and easy to learn. The starting position for each country never change. And yet, every gave develops into something completely unique and unpredictable after iteration and iteration of different choices by each party.

I greatly enjoy that it is not a game of luck. Sure, luck factors in, if all your neighbors gun for you at the beginning, that is unlucky and will likely spell your doom. But there are no dice rolls or twists of fate defined by anything but player choices.

When playing press games, I enjoy the building of relationships, and the thrill when you can see the game bent to your will (especially when you've only just pushed things here and there in subtle ways).

In gunboat games, I love the multiple layers of depth in the decision-making. You never have enough units to do everything you want to do, so it becomes this rock-paper-scissors match of sorts: "If he does this set of moves, X, then my move Y will totally destroy him. But he does move Z instead, then move Y will completely fail." So then, you ask yourself, what do I think my opponent will do? What do I think he will think I will do? What do I think he will think I will think he will do? Will that change his actions? Should I change mine? And so on and so on!

At the end of the day, its just a brilliant game full of psychology and social interaction. I love strategy games, and I have yet to find anything else quite like it.

I love the forum.

I couldn't agree more. I first played this game in AP Government my senior year of high school, and immediately took to it. We finished that face to face game (the only I've ever played), and wanted to keep playing after graduation. I found this sight in March of 2009, and while I took a leave of absence for a few years in there, I came back and have been a regular for the past couple years almost.

I love the fact that there's so many human elements that you have to play out, and the mind games are fantastic. You can play with the same people over and over and never see all the tricks up their sleeves. The variations of one map alone are enough to make you come back for more, and it's just as fun the last time as it was the first.

Well, I can't leave until after I've won the Pacifist game, so there's that.

Well put, LA.

This thread brought to you by the "webDiplomacy Promotional Awareness Board." We keep talking about the stuff newbs wouldn't want to see on our front page, this appears to be the antithesis of all that.

I come back because I tend to win more than 1/14. The challenge to perform better than everyone else in the game is kinda addictive.

It's a practice in human interaction. Success requires cooperation and selfishness in equal (similar?) doses, to understand what someone else is after, understanding how to compromise and being pragmatic about not holding grudges.

And I HATE being eliminated. Not being there at the end is a failure. A Solo is the best success, but not the only success.

I like what I've just read in Lord A's post about the "simplicity & complexity" nature of the classic game...his brief comments on luck....I think there's a whole discussion there...the game, choices are full of risks...but there's no roll of an actual dice, turn of a card.....instead intuitive predictions, strategies..also the comments on the way each game has it's own dynamic progression that's unique.. yet shares commonalities with other games
I like the anarchic events within games

& jeccles comments are good

My excuse for a low win % is to say it's because I'm too cooperative & friendly & agree to lots of draws, there's also a few backstabbin' blighters of course responsible for a lot of my many defeats. At VDiplomacy I won 20 of my first 25 games with one player V one player variants of classic & on a small sample size had an 80% win rate..it's dipped slightly after a further half dozen games.... So my delicate ego remains comfortable with a low win % here...after all, it's proof you should trust me if I tell you in a game I'm not greedy for a solo win because I can get them easily at VDiplomacy

"but there's no roll of an actual dice, turn of a card"

I wouldn't be so sure. I toss a coin quite a lot. Indeed, I've been informed by various admirers that I'm one of the biggest tossers in the game. I dare say that there are quite a few dice rolls behind the scenes.

Appreciate all your responses! I don't participate in the forum a whole lot because I typically play from my phone and typing on it is annoying. That said, one other thing I enjoy about this game is perusing the forum. A lot of interesting dialogue occurs and I feel like the diplomacy crowd tends to be above average on wit and intelligence.

In all seriousness, I first played Diplomacy back in 1989-90. I inherited a 1971 version of the board game with all the wood block armies and navies. The rules are simple and elegant. I love the social aspect of the game. I love the wheeling and dealing and bargaining. The straight out lying to friends. Victory comes by outsmarting your opponents and not because you have some monster unit no one can stop.