wow this certainoly turned into a great discussion. Keep it coming!

I guess if it was possible to have a hybrid of anon and non-anon that would be ideal. Because the best of both worlds for me (and for several others, judging from the above comments) would be to not know who is who until 1902. You can start fresh with no prejudices and form initial alliances without bias from other games. But by 1902 or 1903 it helps to know who everyone is. ANd for those of us who are not good at figuring that out, we are at clear disadvantage. I think if I had many hours to figure it out, I could, but some of us have a life outside of Dip ;)

Possible Ways to do this Hybrid:
Version 1 as suggested by Spyman, might be technically easy to set up: You know the names of the 7 players but you dont know who is who.

Version 2-No idea if it can be done technically: ANon in Pre-game and 1901 , then names are revealed in 1902 or 1903.

what do people think of these hybrids?

Why don't you when you post agame just password protect it and when players show intrest in it PM the password and keep track of players joining game in post in forum.Been done here lots of times.Everyone knows who is in the game just not the country that each is playng.

I like the idea to know the names of all of the players, but not know who they are playing as an option. However, the 2nd option would not work out.

CrazyT, I personally would not like this hybrid at all. I don't ever want to know who is who. I don't mind people figuring me out quickly because once the game gets going, it's more about reacting to the specific situations of that specific game and I would not want anyone's identity to ever be public and encourage metagaming when it otherwise would not be encouraged. I personally enjoy The Cloud of Unknowing, it gives me peace in a game that is based on not having any.

@MadMarx, Crazyter suggested two alternative hybrids. Do you disagree with both? How do you feel about the option whereby you know who is the game, but not which power they are playing?

.... with the players names only revealed at the end of the game.

I've played games where I know who's in the game but not their identity. That works for me. In that situation, I often think I can surely figure out who is who, since the options are limited, yet I always convince myself that certain great powers are controlled by people that are controlling another. So, I've accepted that this scenario is pretty much the same as joining an anon game where I don't know anyone in it, which is what I prefer, so it works fine for me.

not anon games encourage metagaming

example 1. weak player: "oh I'm in a game with that great player, MadMarx. let's ally with him. Oh, that prick hellalt is also here. Let's kill him."
example 2, strong player. "I need to get out MadMarx, he's a threat. wtf. I can't ally with that prick hellalt to attack MadMarx. So, let's try to convince MadMarx to take out hellalt and then I find a way to kill MM too"

knowing who's in the game but non knowing which power they are playing is the best option for me too.

hellalt i'll ally with you

I'm not sure that points make a huge amount of difference for me when choosing an ally in non anon games. If however I notice someone has a record of, say, 12 wins and 18 defeats and no draws I will treat him rather differently than someone with a high percentage of draws to their name. I also tend not to ally with anyone who has a significant number of resigns.

Having said all that most of my games are live games and I rarely look at their records at all.

At the risk of sticking to the original question I don't really give a damn whether the game is anon or not as long as it's there when I want to play and a certain other player who will remain nameless is not on the site.

The only reason to not play anon is multis. And that's one hell of a reason.

And I agree, knowing who is in the game, but not which power is the best.

@MM - I know for a fact there are players who, when in games with you, call all the leading plaers MM then wait for you to slip up :P

@Kestas-in your next update would it be possible to set up the situation where we know the names of the 7 players, but we don't know who has which country, until after the game ends? There seems to be some consensus for it here

That wouldn't be a hard feature to add, and I must admit I'd quite like to see it as well.
I'll put forward a fuller suggestion on the dev forum and return with a link in a sec.

edit: I'll think about it further before posting.
I think it would be a good option though yes, and the system should also post a gamemaster message to global on startup listing who's in the game.

One thing that does bug me about anonymous games is people trying to figure out who others are. The spirit and intent of anonymous games is to not know, so I wish others would embrace it for what it is. For those of you that play/like/prefer anonymous games, do you feel it is taboo to discuss everyone's identity, as I do, or is part of the fun trying to figure out who is who?

figle, thanks for the heads-up, I'll have to try to not get tricked by these crafty individuals you speak of, though, like I said in my last reply, I don't think people should even bring up or question anothers identity in an anonymous game.

What particularly bugs me is when in an anon game, there are two allied countries who, at the end of the game, "I always knew it was you ____. I am ____."

Sticking to lower price brackets helps you as well, there are more people around.
Clearly the larger the game, the fewer the players, and thus the easier it is to work out who people are.

Personally I quite like working out who people are, its a different challenge. The key is to stop you starting off with a previous ally just because (even if its only subliminal). By the time you may have worked people out that's already gone so its not such an issue.

figle, I wish people did not think like you! :-P

Shouldn't anonymous be about being anonymous, and NOT about trying to turn the game into a non-anon game?!?! It's like presents at Christmas time, I don't get why kids would look for their presents and try to figure it out early, much of the fun is the anticipation and not knowing. Maybe people who try to figure it out are those that have no concept of delayed gratification? I'm a pretty conservative, simple guy and accepting of life... I'm going off on a huge tangent here, am I making any sense to anybody?! :-)

Na it makes sense.
What doesn't make sense is I never was one of those kids, dunno why I do on here :S
No its not a lack of delayed gratification, its more the inquisitive, detective-like element trying to deduce who the opponents are. Thought of like that surely it doesn't seem just like killing the fun? I would never tell people who they are (besides, they already know) because I only do it for the little challenge myself.
If (can't see how/when) I ever play you anon remind me not to think about it!

@hellalt, funny thing is, the two games I've been in with you, the first was anon and we eliminated you right off the bat while the second was a non-anon masters game and you, Babak, and I ended in a three way draw.

My take is a bit different from many of you. I enjoy playing non-anon games because it makes it seem more like I am playing with a bunch of friends. I can remember moves that people did which I admired, or tirades that they posted which added to the flavour. I don't think it has a huge impact on whom I ally with in future games, but it does impact who I want to play against. In the anon games, it is rare that I can really remember how people played, even after the names are revealed.
I guess what I am saying is that the chief advantage I see in non-anon is learning which people I enjoy playing against. Sure there may aslo be some other knowledge gained about how certain people play and react, but they are learning the same about me, so it all washes out.

I can't really weigh in one way or the other as I enjoy both. I will say, however, that I prefer passworded games where I know there won't be cheaters and where I have a clue, in anon at least, who my opponents are because we are all in it, I just don't know which nation they are. So to me, it isn't anon or non, but private v. public. I'll stick with private.

figle, to be clear, I understand that everyone is different and some will always want to figure out who is who in an anon game, and that's fine by me, I just prefer to play anon as I think it is intended to be played. Anyway, my hope is that most dectives are like you and keep their findings to themselves rather than go around gossiping with others about who is who. I know there are some on this site, that have sent me a message about how they know who "Austria" is (for example) and then give me a brief bio on their trustworthiness, which I really don't like in an anon game (yet again accept that people will do what they do regardless of what I think about it). Anyway, I'm getting off point again, but I think it is kind of intersting about different personalities and different approaches to life and the game of diplomacy, guess it adds to the experience to have all types in here!

I have to admit, on a certain level, I like not knowing who the others are. I think it improves my game, or at least will improve it long-term as it represents a more 'clean' environment.

Decisions are more clinical without all the noise from the past, one can see the map better. Stabbing is somehow easier, with a sense of detachment.