Once again, Thanks to Michael for Gming. I've been frustrated with the game, but none of that frustration was with Michael. He did the best he could. It was the quitters that ruined the thing.

I don't have a lot to say about the gameplay. This game looked bad for me from day one. Alex stabbed me (repeatedly), and it looked like we were going to be locked in a death match until some other power ate us up. But when I started throwing centers to Turkey, Italy changed his tune. He saw the threat I was allowing to grow unchecked in the south east, and he petitioned me for alliance. Russia also urged me to join them. At this point it was picking my poison. If I stayed with Turkey I would eventually be stabbed (as R/I repeatedly warned). However, if I sided with R/I, I would be stabbed by them the minute turkey was under control. Plus, I would be the least defensible vs turkey should I switch sides. On what ended up being the final turn of the game, I had to choose my side, but honestly, the deadline snuck up on me, and it was easier to make an 11th hour coordination with Turkey than with R/I. Not the most strategic of reasons to choose alliances, but there you have it.

After Italy began his intial series of stabs against me, I figured the best case scenario was one in which turkey held the eastern stalemate line, and I had enough of germany that I would be essential to some kind of draw with the remaining powers. This plan could well have worked, unless turkey grew greedy and stabbed me earlier, which would have almost assured he would have been stalemated by the western powers with the additional time I would have bought them, but I would have been eliminated.

All in all, this was certainly the least satisfying games of diplomacy I've played. Most of the blame for that falls on our quitter players. I blamed Alex for crippling both of our powers, and I think there's a lot of legitimate blame there. However, Alex did show himself to be a good negotiatior and even, amazingly, a faithful ally at the very end of the game. Since his later correspondence and moves showed such a different Alex than the picture I had from the early game, I wonder what I was missing. Alex, I look forward to your EoG.

To Will (Turkey), thanks for having my back. You were great to ally with, and we worked well together. I look forward to playing together in the future.

To Matt (Russia), I think we had good correspondence from day one. It's a pity we were never able to flesh that out into any sort of alliance. Maybe next time.

To the West, Honestly, I don't even think I talked to our replacements once. Sorry about that. Boredom with the game. Thanks for filling in/sticking with it.

And again, thanks to our GM. A 7-way draw is embarassing, but again, I don't think you had any other options. Thanks for sticking with us!

John

Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:46:48 +0000
From: psychosis(at)sky.com
Subject: DC281 game end
To: blueraider0(at)gmail.com; krudge(at)goldenwestradio.com; wtfleming(at)msn.com; untitled36(at)hotmail.com; vegas_iwish(at)yahoo.com; matthew.jones.d(at)gmail.com; kelly058(at)verizon.net
CC: dc281(at)diplomaticcorp.com

Gents

I've now received a "Yes" from everyone for the seven way draw proposal. As such, the game now finishes. Ratings and such on the site will be updated as soon as I figure out how to do it.

From my perspective, the two civil disorders of England and Germany so close to each other, and over the holiday period, killed the game. I'm genuinely surprised at the seven way draw being approved by all - it's the first time I've ever seen a seven way being the result of a diplomacy game. I felt there was some interesting situations developing across the board, with the Fall 1903 turn proving genuinely interesting and game changing. Would Germany's stab of France prove decisive, and who would be eliminated first? I trust the experience of players new to the diplomaticcorp site have been positive, and haven't been coloured by the unsatisfactory situation that emerged in this game.

End of Game Statements are welcome, describing your thoughts, comments and feelings on the game, how it developed, and how it ended up for you. Please email these to all players and copy in the game forum email address (dc281(at)diplomaticcorp.com). Any (constructive!) comments on my GMing would be welcome as well.

In closing, can I thank all the players of the game - both those who stuck it out through the delays, and those who stepped in as replacements. It's been a pleasure.

Michael

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