Unlike many on this site I played my first game of Dip quite recently. In fact, I've been playing for less than a year. I played my fist game at last year's GenCon.

It was one of the most intense gaming experiences I ever had. I was Germany, my brother was Austria and my friend was Italy. I had an alliance with England that was working out well for both of us and I was at six centers. I hatched a plot with my brother to support him into Warsaw if he would support me into Venice. This would give me the lead in the game at 7 centers.

When the orders were revealed my brother had written A Trieste-Venice. My face grew red - I blustered, I stammered, I got very angry inside and then outwardly said, "looks like it's just a bounce at Venice."

Italy had managed to gain two centers that round and was now at seven since he had kept Venice due to my brother's ineptitude (or treachery). At that moment the game organizer came over and said, "Who's winning?"

"Italy," we said.

"Ok, time's up, Italy wins. Congrats Italy!"

My jaw hit the floor and a red haze obscured my vision. Through the mists of anger I saw my brother shrugging his shoulders (and was that a snicker?) and my friend raising his arms in triumph.

We spent the whole car-ride home talking about building a diplomacy site for us to play on (which we did, actually - although it is far from being ready for any kind of public use and most likely will never be ready...).

I was in total awe of the game and did what I never expected to do. I rated it a 10 - my second 10 rating for a game ever (the other ten being Settlers of Catan).

That's my story =)

Well at first I was really nervous and couldn't get my Sevastapol to work properly, but then I started juggernaughting away for an easy, but too quick, solo win.

I watched a F2F game at a convention and signed up afterwards for a PBsM game - two week dip turns, one week for builds/retreats.

That was in the mid-80's. There was a surprising amount of entertaining public press, including fake "Reuters" news reports used, more than anything, to take the mick out of other players.

My problem in answering this question is that my first games were on this site, and I was playing 2 at once.

Do you want the game I started first, in which I managed to form an important part of a stalemate line and of which I am very proud, or the game I finished first, where I died, horribly, but still managed to get some good advice and banter?

My first game was an awesome experience.

I was so overwhelmed that I took 48 hours to make a unit placement.

My first game was a training game, and it turned out we had 2/3 multi-accounters in it. It was really annoying and they ganged up on me, then they got banned. People took over CD but unfortunately things were too bad that we ended up drawing.

Thankfully i was persuaded to play another game and the next game was wicked.

International Relations class at University. Managed to play only a couple of turns, but was enough to like it.

My first game was at school when I was about 13 or 14. A teacher ran the game after school. We got together twice a week for about an hour and played one year (ie Spring 19xx and Autumn 19xx) each time. If I remember right, I drew Italy and managed to form an alliance with Russia. I stabbed Russia late on to win the game.

I don't think I've won a game since...

My first game was at Uni with other flatmates and friends who were also reading International Politics. I remember liking the game and seeing potential in it. As none of us had played it before we spent three quarters of our time with our noses in the rule book trying to work out if what we had done was legal or not!!

Let me position my walker and get a nurse over here to help me sit down... my first game was in 1979. My dad was in the Navy and we were deployed to Iceland, which is mostly dark for 4 or 5 months out of the year. I was 9 years old, and a large group of us gathered upstairs at the rec center to play various games, one of which was Diplomacy. I can't say I remember the first game, except that I'm pretty sure we didn't get most of the rules right. But we were also playing A&A and Squad Leader and other fairly complex games already, and once we got the hang of it, we played it often. I'd love to see how god-awful our "strategy" was, but at the time we all thought we were little Kissingers (even if we didn't know the name).

When I got back to the states I was 13, and I brought The Word of Diplomacy with me and I played on and off, mostly face-to-face, until about 10 years ago when I ran out of friends with interest in games that weren't on an Xbox.

Recently I realized I knew some folks who might be interested, and I knew web-based Dip implementations had come a long way, so I pointed everybody here and I'm waiting for them to learn the ropes so we can vanish into private games... :)

at first i was afraid, i was petrified. Not knowin' how i was gonna live without you by my side.

I have played on Facebook first last year, and I am happy to say I won my first ever game, playing as Germany. I first took over France, with England's help and then effectively took England hostage through Fleet placement. England was then going to quit but I convinced him to keep playing as my ally because I could guarantee his survial and ensure that he made a profit in terms of points of the game. Such is the strategy involved with PPSC.
I am not actually being completely honest when I say it was my first ever game. My first ever introduction to the game was at high school almost 20 years previously when I signed up for strategy games for "activities" in high school (which occurred every Friday third afternoon), but I don't think we ever actually finished a game. I enjoyed diplomacy but could never get anyone willing to play with me. Years later I discovered diplomacy on Facebook and started playing again. I own a very nice board game version of the game which I bought a few years ago, but have never played a game with it, because no one I know like board games. Sometimes, though, I set up positions in my current games to help me work out my moves. I have been more successful playing on Facebook than here though. I think the competion here is a bit more stiff.
It is sometimes hard for me to properly commit to my games here, alas beause of my job, plus my girlfriend hates me playing games online.
I stopped playing at the end of last year because of stuff - to busy etc, but I occasionally would join in the very interesting discussions on this forum. After a while though temptation became too much and I started playing again recently.
Diplomacy rocks! I do, however, feel bad when I stab someone, but it is an inevitable consequence of playing this game, especially in a game with the more talented players.

"won my first ever game, playing as Germany."

Eww. Germany.

Should I talk about the game where I killed OMGNSO, horribly, and did it with banter ? *GRIN*

I was invited to this site by a group of people who worked together. They needed a 7th, and one of the guys knew me. My Dad had given me a Diplomacy set when I was a kid, but me and my friends were into D&D and we never actually got a game started.

I kept waiting for the email to tell me how to get started - it obviously never came, and I finally got into the game, as England, just before I CDd. Not an auspicious start. I was quickly eliminated.

The guys started a second game and invited me again. Austria this time. They guy who knew me (Turkey) NMRd constantly and eventually just dropped out - I ended up babysitting his account to get through the game. I ended up in a 4-way draw with 10 SCs, and at least one new good friend on the site.

Meantime, I decided to join another game just to see what I could do. I joined Kitchener Armies and ended up as England again. This is what I consider my first real game, since I wasn't playing with people I knew. I read everything I could find about England strategies and decided to try one I found where I would ally with Russia. I contacted Russia, not having any idea who he was, and explained what I wanted to try to do, attacking Germany via Sweden. Russia seemed to be interested, so we formed the alliance and went forward. The plan worked to perfection - I marched through Germany and France and was doing a dance around Paris, planning the 2-way draw with my ally when I didn't notice Russia suddenly taking all of Scandinavia away from me.

Hence, my constant references to djbent's sharp knives ( I learned my mistake about the 'he' quickly in the game). I did, however, get some points out of the game, and object lesson in Diplomacy, and a good friend. :-)

awww shucks jbalcorn. you make me blush!

i can't quite recall my first game. when i was in high school, when a group of friends and i weren't busy getting into trouble with the cops, playing in various punk rock bands, or going to shows, we had the "american boardgame club" in which we played obscure boardgames that we found at yard sales and thrift stores, and would write up running commentary as "minutes" as well as rankings of each of the random games we found. i forget if it was with them or later that i found diplomacy, but i remember a game in college where i made a group of friends play diplomacy and stabbed several, who didn't talk to me for a few days after that. a couple of those friends and i used to play this other avalon hill game republic of rome a lot which i remember was also full of intrigue and power trading. then i was too drunk or high or punked out to play such things for a while, until i found it online about 8 years ago and played for a bit before i got too busy. i found phpdip this year, while bored at my new office job, and have been glad to join it. my first games were mostly CDs i picked up, some quite by accident ("open game" and "join game" buttons shouldn't be so close together!) and did well in a few, not so much in others. i'd like to play face to face, and follow the local listserv of the group that does it in my area, but the banter on the listserv and the sheer "dude"-ness just really turns me off, so we'll see.

DJ is a punk geek!

lol, my first diplomacy experience is somewhat similar to ms. bent's. Back in High school, there was a club where we played war-games. (hence, my affinity for Axis & Allies, Conquest of the Empire, etc.). My first game of Diplomacy, I was England, and I don't really remember how it went, other than being told that Norwegian sea/North Sea/Yorkshire was the best possible opening, and the fact that I hated the convoy system. Still avoid doing convoys whenever possible because of it.

Aww, really? I personally believe convoys to be one of diplomacy's greatest gifts, because they're a great way of screwing with people:]

They are, but it was one of those things that I thought was stupid when I first started out. I got over the prejudice, but at the same time, some of it lingers. Same for support, actually. It makes sense now, but back then, I thought it was dumb.

I always got support from playing RON, but if you can learn to do them effectively then convoys are great fun:]

It was at school,it my Algebra teacher's classroom.
My first time was as Italy. Of course i was ravaged,but all i kept thinking was "I sure as hell wont let all these virgin nerds beat me!!"

Oddly enough, Italy does seem to do much worse in FTF, while russia does a lot better.

my first game was ftf played in school, and Russia was dead in two years, whereas me, as Italy, survived til the very end with my entire homeland and a few extra SCs.

Yeah, that was another thing i learned from playing FTF: Losing your homeland can be devastating. Even if you have other centres, when we played, losing your homeland was a huge deal.

My first face to face game was when my friend taught 4 of us (so we played with cd germany and italy) the rules incorrectly. (You may know his as Friendly Sword). We never even finished the game, but I liked the idea and played a game by email. The first game I finished was a solo with Italy, a long fought battle that I was very proud of. Thinking I was the shit I traveled here and have been playing it out ever since.

At first it hurt, but then it started to feel better. I remember the pain mixed with pure pleasure. My friends convinced me to keep at it and now there is no more pain.

My first game, or at least the first I joined, is still running! It is played in Dip2000.com with 2 weeks deadlines and it was started in the beggining of this year when I first heard about Diplomacy. I'm playing Germany and it is proposed a draw between E/F/G.

Of course , during that game I managed to play all the game you see in my profile (20 something I think) 1 in playdiplomacy.com (didn't like the site) and 1 in Stabbeurfou.org (still running).

Now I'm really addicted to the game.

Jacob, before this I was playing very intensively Settlers of Catan on-line after playing it for some years in the board. Amazing game, the best before knowing Diplomacy, now it is second ;)

As to FtF Diplomacy games, never played one, but I got my board for Birthday last week, so I'll just have to get 6 players soon :)

troo - I played a game on dip2000 as well. I really didn't like using my email account for messaging though...

I still can't decide if I like Diplomacy or Settlers better. I certainly play more dip now than I do settlers, but I've played waaaaaaay more settlers than dip. I've easily played a couple thousand games of settlers. I'm not sure whether or not I'm proud of that...

Let me guess: you played Turkey and the game master was Richard Hucknall?

Yeap, settlers is amazing but the factor luck/dice makes a big difference.

Hahaha I remember my first game. I was Turkey and I trusted Russia... it was bad.

um...yes, were you in that game too troo?

I got extremely annoyed in that game because several people changed their email addresses and then dropped off the face of the planet. I guess I was too lazy to send them a message and I felt like it was their responsibility to send me a message so I'd have their email address and so I didn't want to send one to them.

I feel like we could have beaten you down pretty easily, but the lack of communication was appalling. Plus, Italy and France both went CD and Russia was MIA. The other thing that happened was my grandmother died and I couldn't keep up with my games. I had to get someone to cover for me on here and the dip2000 game just wasn't working well anyway.

Anyway - I don't think I'll ever play another game on that site...

10th grade world history class. The teacher integrated Diplomacy by splitting the class into 7 groups, nominating a 'ruler' for each group for the discussions, and playing over a week (or two?). After that, a group bought the game and would play on the weekends. For speed sake, we often did gunboat games just to turn in moves and accuse each other of cheating by using body language. Heh, that was good fun doing gunboat FTF and trying to be clever to get an advantage.

After that, I would play Warhammer Fantasy. Or computer games online, but did not have the group to play Diplomacy anymore.

After my sons were born, playing any type of game was difficult/impossible. I quit playing all games for about two years until I stumbled on this site from the Wiki page. It was the perfect game for a busy lifestyle for those who can't sit for 2 hrs at a time and play.

@Jacob, I have heard people say that Settlers of Catan is good game but I have never tried it. Where is the best site to play it online?
I have found this link: http://catanonline.com/
Would you know if this version is any good?

@Jacob, no I wasn't in that game but I read the EGS's and your name was there :P
I'm still playing my first game there.

@Spyman, try games.asobrain.com

I played my first game on the old wooden blocks set in 1983. I was Turkey, and my brother and my girlfriend stomped me into oblivion. Turkey has always been my sentimental favorite country to play even though I can't recall any specific time that I've won playing it.

@spyman

The best site I've found is www.s3dconnector.net - it is way better than any other site out there. Unfortunately, it has some problems with either vista or my laptop's graphics card so I've had to stop playing there.

jsettlers.com (or maybe .net I can't remember) is an ok substitute.

I was 16 and had been out drinking with some friends when I met up with....
oh you mean first diplomacy game.

My uncle introduced me to it in 95 when I was twelve but playing it with two players and later with 4 player (me + my uncle + my sisters) isn't the same as playing it with seven players.
My first game with 7 people was a judge game in 01 or 02. I drew Turkey, teamed up with Russia but stabbed him straight away. I then moved onward to "help" Austria against Italy. I got my 18th SC and so far only Turkish solo when I was forced to retreat from the mid Atlantic to Por.

There is a running column or article on this in Diplomacy World.
If any of you would like your stories published there write to
Douglas Kent
[email protected]

Loved it and won. Never done as well since :(

Played on playdiplomacy. Played as Germany and got a bad survivial 3 SCs. I quit for awhile till I came to this site.

I was in the sixth form and our Economics teacher mentioned the game in passing. My friends and I enquired about it after class and then my friend bought the board game next weekend. We spent ages organising 7 players and started no end of games, but hardly ever finished any of them. When players got knocked out we went and did other things to be inclusive, or we would pause games and then never get the same 7 guys back together so we would start again to be fair to the new arrivals.

I recall having a long discussion baout the game with my friends one of whom thought the agme couldn't be played by 16-17 year olds because outside influences affected our moves. Good friends would form ongoing alliances, people who had unfinished history over some girl would stab one another before the game even started etc, etc..He was probably right, this version is much better.