As long as you do it to try to win. Doing it to get a pause or cancel is probably going to be frowned upon by the mods.

+1 abge

No offense, steephie, but having cancer and finding out you have a month to live is not a reason I'd give someone a solo.

I'd probably use it as a reason to eliminate them quickly in every game in which we are playing, that way if they suddenly croak, there won't be a CD.

lol

lol draug.

I would show no mercy on a terminal patient. I want them to curse my tactical brilliance on their very deathbed.

Why would I take offence? Just wondering wether anyone draws the line here or something.

I was in a week long face-to-face game once (also one of my first games ever) in which I came really, really close to making a fake email account in an opponent's name in order to send orders to their teammate (because each country was being controlled by multiple people). So, basically identity theft for the sake of Diplomacy. I decided that was a bit too far, though.

I seriously considered using the intercom system in the house I grew up in (it was a 1970's thing) to listen in on diplomacy discussions in the other rooms.

I've played on sites where my friend asked me to sit for him in a game and he gave me his password. Anytime I played a game with him in the future, I would log onto his account and read his press.

I became obsessed by one game on here, a long time ago, so long ago that the statute of limitations has expired and only now can I reveal the details. I was desperate just to survive the game and it hinged on guessing the other two guys moves correctly. Rather than take the risk, I asked a private detective who I had engaged to follow my wife who I thought was having an affair to hack into my two opponents' computers. He did and I received advance knowledge of their orders. The private Dick then tried to blackmail me and demanded more money for the hack than I paid him to track my wife (who wasn't having an affair just organising a surprise party for my 40th, bless). Anyway I agreed to meet the Private eye and comfronted him about the blackmail. To cut a long story short, that's how I ended up shooting a man in Reno.

LMAO

** laments only having the ability to +1**

I don't think I'd keep playing the timesink that is Diplomacy if I had a terminal disease.

Alright so does someone who isn't Tru Ninja want to be my sitter? Lmao Jesus.
I'm normally one for anything goes, but hacking somebody's account like that... Damn haha.

Either way I'll be changing my pw :P

Rofl! You SHOULD be changing your PW once you have someone sit for you.

I read an article by Allan Calhamer that essentially stated that in a ftf game, it's entirely legit to remove your opponent's orders from the order box so that he NMR's a season. Now THAT's hardcore!

Been there done that Lol

oh shoot, maybe I should change my passwords.

That's pretty hardcore dip, Maniac.

I never do any of those things. For me Diplomacy's about persuasion and strategy, so I don't get any enjoyment out of other mechanics, like stealing orders from the orders box or reading an opponent's press, that serve to distract from these.

That's not to say that they're out-of-bounds or anything, just not interesting to me.

And no, I would never fake being terminally ill in a game, even if it were a one-off anonymous game where no one would ever know I lied. Why? Because that means I had to resort to this instead of persuading my opponents within the confines of the game. I'm never going to learn how to persuade my opponents within the confines of the game if I don't make an effort to do it.

Isn't faking a terminal illness a form of persuasion? You have to get them to believe it...

Faking a terminal illness is a rather crude from of persuasion, akin to "I couldn't do my homework because Gran died". It fails because it simply wouldn't work on any but the most gullible players, and if you have an opponent that gullible you can far more easily use a less unpleasant method.

Still, I see no harm in using it from a moral perspective. Pulling orders out of the box in ftf, on the other hand, I'd consider cheating unless it was specifically said before the game that things like that were ok

I think pulling orders from the order box is pretty unscrupulous--although Calhamer condoned it and admitted to it at least once.

If you want to be really sneaky in ftf, I recommend replacing the box with another book while no one's looking, so the whole board does exactly what you want...

Next turn put the old box back. Since a lot of units are in different positions now, most orders from the other people will be invalid while you have already put in the orders when you planned it last turn...

Within the confines of the game, Tru. My opponents have no way of falsifying what I'm saying, and if they're normal people they're not going to believe that someone would lie about something like this over a game. It's exploiting not a weakness in my opponent's ability to assess the board to determine whether I'm truthful but a basic human kindness everyone owes everyone else. It's morally abhorrent and not intellectually challenging or interesting.

I agree with you, but I see it as a fruitless venture and a poor tactic as opposed to anything else.

well sure, my problem is more with the other aspects but yeah i doubt it matters anyway because who's going to change their behavior based on it?

What to people think of the "Flying Dutchman" - that is, sneaking a piece onto the board that really shouldn't be there?

Also, I don't know if anyone really calls it that, I just recall reading it somewhere.

It's still called that. Most of the time it's accidental

wouldn't players with carbon copies of their orders be able to get passed that. "change orders" option?

I know this doesn't really make any sense, but I am of the mind that pretty much anything goes in f2f games, as they really are one off, but that a certain amount of respect is needed for online (and I would assume email) games just because they become a very real part of our lives for months at a time, so the impact of being evil is a little bit greater. Just my two cents.

Disagree with that. It's much harder to get an FtF game going than an online game. I you want players to come back, then you really shouldn't be a prick.

Not to mention, f2f pricks can get their asses kicked by other players or other players' pupils trying to kee their football scholarships. :-)

In regards to the "Flying Dutchman" strategy, I generally sneak an opponents piece on and accuse them of cheating.
In one F2F game I played, I secretly changed one guys orders so everything held. He never let his orders leave his hands for the rest of his (short) game after that.
This adds an entirely new strategy or gameplay element to f2f games, but most games we agree to not play like that.

I would be more inclined to stab a person who was terminal. Less time to stab me back.

Of course, no one here would ever stab someone as a form of payback from a previous game. That would be meta-gaming ;)