JimTheGrey ?

I'm actually a pretty shitty basketball player, although deadly from point blank.

Not to water down your accolades, but I'm not sure if being part of a three person draw is necessarily the best indicator of greatest. All that means is the person was better then a little more then half of the players in that game, which based on the players certainly makes him a good player but not enough evidence to be throwing around the term "best". Had it been a solo that could have backed your claim a little bit better.

goldy, it's not like I'm shy about bringing up those things, they are always fun for me to talk about, I was just trying to be subtle (in my own mind) about it... Here's another one...

It took me less than one year from joining the site to break the 10,000 point barrier and take the overall lead in points. Yes, I understand my 31,235 are underwhelming compared to SplitDiplomat's 88,792 , but let's not forget it has taken him 1,023 games to accumulate his points and I have done it in 133, which translates to 87 per game finished for Split and 235 per game for me, that's over 2.7 times as many points per game that I've earned compared to Split...

Anyway, back to Mapu's topic. I'm certainly not the best all around diplomacy player this site has seen since I'm crap at F2F, and merely above average at gunboat. But, when it comes to full-press games of diplomacy on webDip, there are a few arguments to be made that I should be somewhere near the top, regardless of whether it's actually true or not.

FTR - I would say the best all around player on this site is TheWizard, and by quite a wide margin.

Thanks, MM, but I don't think I deserve these accolades. There are people with higher win %.... Rait for example, or much more experience, like JimTheGrey.

Looks like you two haven't gone toe-to-toe in years, maybe it's time to find out who REALLY deserves it...

(not that seeing who can out-modest the other isn't fun too)

Oh please let me damn someone with faint praise .....

Im not sure If he is around anymore but there was a guy on this site from Latvia....raul ? something. Anyway he was just pure diplomacy machine, probably the 1st player i was truly impressed by.

oh wait RAIT that was his name

I always spelt his name wrong but I really RATed him.....

Wiz, we're talking all around, which I assume includes F2F and gunboat... Suppose I don't know too many people well enough to know if though do well at both, but I know you're an excellent F2Fer and arguably the best press player on webDip, so my statement stands.

Rait is an incredible press player, likely the best I've come across on this site, especially if "wins" is the highest/main measure of skill (which I'd obviously argue it isn't, since I am lacking in that category!), and I have not played JTG enough in press or F2F (or gunboat) to have an informed decision there...

I'd enjoy playing TheWizard, but it's not like the result of a single seven player game between us would ultimately prove much, especially since I'm confident neither one of us would play the game hell bent on "outdoing" the other, but it would be fun nonetheless (we'd just need to round up five other people, perhaps JTG would be interested)...

I'll see if I can put together some sort of hybrid all-time GR #1 game that combines that list and names mentioned here. Some possibilities I will pursue initially (which is not an inclusive list) are:

Babak, TheWizard, MarekP, Dejan, Eden, BESM, Rait, THM, uclabb, Ivo, JimTheGrey, Julien...

Nobody really cares about a definitive scientifically measured answer, we just want a good old fashioned showdown with petty bragging rights on the line.

(Would a little trash talk kill you guys? Say something about his mama!!)

VI, you don't want to see top rated players trash talk... Last one I was in, it got ugly and fast. Here's what I remember happening:

1. Babak (France) asked me (Italy) for a DMZ in Piedmont in the pregame.
2. I, taking Forum advice on Italy being annoying in the east and west, told France that I would agree to nothing, and that whether or not I attacked Piedmont would be revealed once Spring 1901 orders went through.
3. Babak went BAT CRAP CRAZY!!

I'll check to see if Babak would like to provide his side of the story, but before it was all over Babak was wanting his father to have a few "sessions" with me to *attempt* to figure out what was wrong with me:

http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=73022

Oooh, yeah I remember when all that went down. Twas not a pretty moment.

*grabs popcorn and dives in*

Whoa, Draug was in that game too! This is gonna be SUCH a good public press!!!

>>I have not played JTG enough in ... gunboat ... to have an informed decision there.<<

Ask the players from the Biggest Loser tournament, and they'll say I'm pretty good. But check with the guys from PJ's series, and they'll tell you I'm absolute crap.

As for a full-press game, if you could find a way to get 1998 me to play (I was JimTheVermilion back then), I'd play in a heartbeat. Otherwise I'm only interested in playing full-press games if they're live with 5-minute deadlines. Anything longer and I just don't have the energy, interest or enthusiasm to keep up.

That public press got ugly. Unreadable, actually. And I though I'd actually seen drama.

I agree with Octavious' observation about the level of competition making a big difference on results. I tend to play mostly either webdip tournament games or high-caliber invitational games. My solo rate is much higher in the open-field tournament games like the Masters or the World Cup. It's very difficult to win when all the players are top shelf.

In no particular order, among people I've played multiple times, I think of these being some of the toughest competition: MadMarx, TheWizard, Dejan0707, uclabb, Tasnica.

I agree with Octavious/ THM. The level of competition makes a huge difference. For example, probably my most impressive stat is that I am something like 10-0-1 in live full press games that made it past 1903. I still get good results in higher level games, but I think I very much fade to the middle of the pack in longer form games.

It's hard to pick best evers, but here are some of my nominees based only on what I learned from them:
-My dip hero will forever be Babak as he was the first truly great player I ever played against- he was the one that convinced to come to this site from facebook way back in 2008. I learned from him that it's better to play from the lead than to try to "hide in the shadows" waiting to make your move.
- In my experience, playing against MadMarx is like playing against a huge boulder. He is just so blank and immovable that it's impossible to get any traction against him. MadMarx is the one player that I have actively played games trying to mimic his style as a way to try to get better.
- Controversial choice, but I learned a lot from playing against the now banned Agent K. Not sure he was one of the absolute best, but he was great and absolutely destroyed me when I played against him. I learned from him that diplomacy is not about being nice, it's about leveraging your power into a position with even more power.
- THM is just so unbelievably likable when he plays, and he joins that with great strategic intuition. A notion that I hadn't actively considered until I played with him was the simple idea that you want the flow of units to be away from you rather than toward you. That's really stuck with me.

It would be interesting to look at solo vs average game GR or GR of bottom 3 players. Bet there's a strong correlation.

Btw, Yonni, that game where you were England, I was Italy, and THM was Germany was possibly my favorite game ever on the site (certainly out of ones I didn't solo). Very very fun.

What a funny coincidence. That one's high on my list of most irritating games! :p

Really hope i get another chance to play with you again THM, you seem like quite the interesting player.

Blegh, I'm with THM. That game was the worst.

Where'd Tasnica go? He's definitely one of the better players I've played with.

that game went poorly for you because you wouldn't listen to me ghug. I thought you were so cool and so fun to talk to but you wouldn't let me help you.

Also never saw the appeal of tas. I feel like he was just successful because he sent so many f*ing messages. Total try hard

That game went poorly for me because I decided to agree to slingshot Juggernaut moves figuring that it would at the very least give me a nice opening to stab Turkey. Then I couldn't convince anyone of anything all game.

If I recall, your trying to help me was a plan we tried to concoct with THM that didn't end up working because of him, not me.