Not sure it's multi-accounting - after all, France did submit a series of moves to take Por/Spa, then hasn't submitted any since then.

Besides, who are they multi-accounting with? There doesn't appear to be an obvious ally.

This happens from time to time - guess some people join a game and then lose interest.
The reason FRA is not going CD is because he has logged-in. To go CD you need to also not log in for at leats 2 full phases (in which you had the ability to submit orders - so sometimes retreats/builds don't count).
If you log in there's no CD - the system cannot decide whether you staying on hold is a reasonable move or not - you've had the chance to change it when you logged in - so you obviously decided that holding was what oyu wanted to do.

As far as the specific game - you are GER and the only one who can directly profit from France's actions? Noone else seems to be profiting - who do you think he's metagaming with? :)

If you really want to see cd used as a strategy to gain points for one player, check these beauties out:

http://www.phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=9394
http://www.phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=9409
http://www.phpdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=9410

Involved players:
Voksif, joined march 12
Kyar, joined march 12
Petra, joined march 12
TheWolfe, joined march 12
Cleedy, joined march 12
retseJ, joined march 12
jacyte, joined march 12
sathyr, joined march 13
BROgold, joined march 13
Bloodstrike, joined march 13

Of all those players, only Voksif is still active. He is also the only one of that group to play a game besides the ones listed above. I don't know if this qualifies as multi-accounting, but using dummy accounts to gain points doesn't seem to be "in the spirit of the game".

Well, It is the smartest guy in the room strategy. France has logged in put does not leave any orders. This has continued for 3 diplomatic moves. This would also include retreats and rebuild periods. His logging in keeps the system from CDing him. i am engaged in battle with England, Turkey and Austria - currently. I have tried to establish some relations with France on the friendly side - no answer. Who benefits is England that keep an Ally for me out of the picture. And, maintains a pocket ally for themself. Also, a situation where normally one might not expect mutli-gaming because of the subtlety. I would attack France for the easy defeat in the case of a true CD. Or could ally with the new player. As it is keeping a zombie country on the board is in the interest of England.

I think France went CD already and this is not the original player.

If I was sophisticated player and wanted to multi-account. I would not pull the obvious stunts that give people away. Just being the blog of nothing there influences the game as I have suggested. I have way to many enemies in the game to go poking at France.

Funny thing about the CD algorithm. A recent game I was in Russia was CD because he had not logged in for a retreat and a build phase and a diplomacy phase. He had no retreats, builds and was set to when the game. I never understood why the CD happened. Also, somebody else got the victory.

@trip - interesting find :)
Of course the explanation can be simply that the very short phases led to everyone going CD at some point - so the last man standing won. But it does look suspicious...

@TheClark - you may be right, but it's far from certain. I've played with ENG and TUR before and if I had to bet on it I'd say there's nothing wrong.

Btw, if you're fighting with ENG, AUS and TUR you'll be dead regardless of what FRA does.

"If I was sophisticated player and wanted to multi-account" is a contradiction in terms :)

Sophitication doesn't imply highly ethical or moral actions. It means that someone understands how to manage a complex set of conditions or use there knowledge in complex ways. In fact sophistry is considered a pejorative. Socrates claimed that the sophists used there knowledge of logic to prove falsehoods. In normal usage sophisticated has lost much of its original pejorative connotation.

I won't be around long. And I'm a big boy. I lose some from my own mistakes and win from the mistakes of others. I think you can agree, we don't like losing unfairly. In this case it has allowed England to go independent and play in a way that it would not have played. Its turn on me was not well planned - unless you knew France was not a threat. It is nearly impossible to check these things without a mod looking into it and then maybe not.

@Ivo, considering all the players joined (including the one still playing) over the span of just two days, I'd say this was a clear cut multi even if he isn't hurting anyone else, just helping himself. If he created all those accounts he is a multi (multiple accounts=multi).

@TheClark, I've actually been investigating that character, and a couple others from an earlier tip. There's nobody in that game with whom he's co-operating, but there are others. I've already tried to contact them but have thus far not received a response. I'll likely ban them soon-ish.

@trip, interesting find, but actually none of them are related in any way. It seems like an unfortunate game where a bunch of new players joined whichever games were available, which all happened to be extremely fast, and inevitably went into CD. This probably gave them a poor impression of the site so they did not continue to play.

@Chrisminis, thanks. I know it sounds a little conspiracy theorist on my part.

A zombie country can be a border you don't have to defend. Also, it is a power that others can't use against you. It can be a diplomatic listenin post. It's also easier to hide the internet connection you just have to long in to keep it from going CD.

not possible Chrispminis. they're all private games. unless an invite to those games was posted in the forum, they would almost have to be familiar with each other outside of phpdip.

@ ivo
it could also be a way of getting to the points faster.

i am aware that i could be making mountains out of molehills.

Reviewing the game. I think it possible that Frances player is connected to Russia. They give the same City location. France is taken over right when Germany turns on Russia, the French player is registered at that time - very convenient. France ceases to function on the same turn that Russia is taken out of the game. Since that turn France only logs in but makes no moves - curious.