New Live World Diplomacy Game

[Magnetic24]

Starting on Friday, there's a live World Diplomacy game! Hope to see you there.
http://www.webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=236403

[Magnetic24]

Five more needed!

[Magnetic24]

We still need five. Please please join!!

[Magnetic24]

Two more! We can do it!

[Kremmen]

Two more! We can do it!

Well done for making it. I'm not in it, because the 4am start was just too inconvenient. (And if I'd sacrificed sleep and then the game ended up paused, that would be even worse.) It'd be interesting to try again at different start time. Also, given how big forces get in World, I wonder if 10 mins might be better?

[Magnetic24]

Two more! We can do it!

Well done for making it. I'm not in it, because the 4am start was just too inconvenient. (And if I'd sacrificed sleep and then the game ended up paused, that would be even worse.) It'd be interesting to try again at different start time. Also, given how big forces get in World, I wonder if 10 mins might be better?

I noticed you left near the end there. Sorry you couldn't make it. I was thinking about that, as I was in a different world live game about a month ago with 10 minute phases. The issue with that, is that someone would have to fork over 5 hours or something insane like that. We ended up drawing there with a few NMRs. This one is a bit insane though. 8 NMRs in the first phase, and only one returned... coupled with the car accident, this one is going wrong.

What jmo was saying has some promise behind it. Play until a bunch of people can't, and then from there, play it normally as a day/phase game. Not sure what the mods would think about it, but something like that would make world live games a lot more attractive. I really enjoy World games, my favorite variant. (I've never gotten Libya, that's why. ) I really wish there were more and I'm going to be pushing out more these days. I pushed out this one (obviously) and I also pushed out the one that (was) going to start in 8 days. Maybe a rework like that could really make them happen more often. And if all 17 players joined, it could really bring a sense of strong Dip community here in the live games (much more significant than the 7 person live games, even with as much as I enjoy them.)

TL:DR; Join more live world games and make them a thing of the WebDip future. :)

[Kremmen]

What jmo was saying has some promise behind it. Play until a bunch of people can't, and then from there, play it normally as a day/phase game.

Then you have a bunch of different issues. What is "a bunch"? Any non-deterministic approach just doesn't seem fitting with Diplomacy. And what if I have 5 hours free today, but can't guarantee (or just don't want) to log in every day for the next month?

Pauses give other opportunities to game the system. I see Libya and China have been taken over, even though they have 0 and 1 unit respectively. Why they would do that in SoS scoring, I don't know, but it certainly would be a way to grab a ton of points for nothing in DSS. (I just wish the system wouldn't allow takeovers of countries with 0 or 1 unit at all. Such players usually just waste time and often NMR before they die.)

[Magnetic24]

What jmo was saying has some promise behind it. Play until a bunch of people can't, and then from there, play it normally as a day/phase game.

Then you have a bunch of different issues. What is "a bunch"? Any non-deterministic approach just doesn't seem fitting with Diplomacy. And what if I have 5 hours free today, but can't guarantee (or just don't want) to log in every day for the next month?

Pauses give other opportunities to game the system. I see Libya and China have been taken over, even though they have 0 and 1 unit respectively. Why they would do that in SoS scoring, I don't know, but it certainly would be a way to grab a ton of points for nothing in DSS. (I just wish the system wouldn't allow takeovers of countries with 0 or 1 unit at all. Such players usually just waste time and often NMR before they die.)

OK, fair point. By 'a bunch', I was applying a blanket term to any extenuating issue. It was not a well thought through point.

And regarding the pauses, you're right. We're in limbo right now and I don't see any way out of it.

This game is probably not going to go anywhere any time soon, but I think it can be a case study. I was just there trying to come up with my own answer, but with such a scenario there's no perfect one. Pausing is one answer, but it's not a very good one. Changing the phase to 10 minutes is another solution, but it draws out games. What you need is a small dedicated group, but the world game is the opposite. You need a large dedicated group and that's near impossible.

The Live League provides a good solution to this, but there aren't nearly enough people to do it, and with out-of-game circumstances, there are issues. I think that the Live League *is* the answer, though. It's just a gradual one.

[Kremmen]

And regarding the pauses, you're right. We're in limbo right now and I don't see any way out of it.

I think a live game should be a live game. If there's a really good reason to pause, then unpause at a multiple of 24 hours after the initial start, on the assumption that those who could start at that time could restart then. (Or at a multiple of 7 days after the initial start, if day of the week is important to some players.)

[Magnetic24]

I think a live game should be a live game. If there's a really good reason to pause, then unpause at a multiple of 24 hours after the initial start, on the assumption that those who could start at that time could restart then. (Or at a multiple of 7 days after the initial start, if day of the week is important to some players.)

Fair enough. And in the event of a real life crisis, does that fall under the category of an exception? Yes, right? Otherwise, follow what you're saying.

[Kremmen]

Fair enough. And in the event of a real life crisis, does that fall under the category of an exception?

I wouldn't call a real life crisis an exception. I'd call it one of the very few reasons for a pause in the first place. I guess if someone's crisis is ongoing, there's a point where you have to just restart without them.