webdiplomacy.net

In this week's Briefing, I focused in on using revenge in your diplomacy games:

When have you manipulated another person's desire for revenge or been manipulated yourself?

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Great article, umble! (And may I also say: the Briefing is fantastic all around. Both the content and the format are spot on!)

I think it's very significant that you couch the discussion of revenge in terms of the manipulation of others. Generally speaking, I don't think good players give into the desire for revenge, because revenge usually leads to suboptimal outcomes. You could say that the strong players don't get mad, they get even.

I'm sure I've benefitted from another player's desire for revenge at some point, but when I think about "revenge," I actually most distinctly recall a game where it was I who gave into the desire for vengeance. The very first game I played here at webDip should've ended in a three-way draw (FRT), but the French player refused to draw without a stalemate line. As I was Russia, I knew this meant that the game would either go to a two-way draw, resulting in my elimination, or a solo for one of my opponents. I argued this fact to the death with France and repeatedly threatened to throw the game, until I finally did, giving it to Turkey, who - although also a strong, aggressive player - had thrown their draw flag with me at one time and had, unlike France, never resorted to name-calling in our press (despite the fact that I had stabbed them twice over the course of the game!). Man, it felt so good to make France lose!

This is perhaps not a "pure" case of vengeance, as I was convinced that survival was my best result anyway. But at the very least, it's a good example of why you never want to give anyone a reason to spite you!

Thanks for the kind words. And I agree with you that getting even is different from getting revenge. I've never fallen into that trap, but I can think of 1 or 2 important games where people looked for revenge on me. Never fun to be on that end