Is there a link to this site? I can't find it on google...

Urallesbians- If it was so hard, how come the Olidip site has more variants and stuff?
Would it not be easier to tear down this site, and provide a direct link/or re route traffic to the Olidip site?
That site has exactly the same variants as this one, and heaps more.
It's tempting to leave this site, solely for that one.
Can you pls answer my question above?

If this site is so popular, why doesn't google know about it? Link?

http://oli.rhoen.de/webdiplomacy/

Thanks.

Now to answer the question:

The reason olidip may seem further along is because they had an extensive amount of Kestas's code to work with. They already had a platform to work off of thanks to Kestas's (and other's) work. Variants are being slowly added, but in a coherent way, with testing, to avoid as many issues as possible.

Now, as to why the two websites aren't being combined--that really is just a silly question. Do you think all similar sites should be combined? They are run by different people; the owners may want to take each site in different directions.

webdip has shown to be a stable site with a great community; I doubt there will be a mass exodus just for a few more variants. In fact, it's likely that Kestas is in contact with the owners of olidip and more variants are likely to be added here because of it.

Now, with that being said, I'm definitely going to try to get a Pure Diplomacy game going!

I'm not a mod, and I have no developer experience. I do know that Kestas prefers to keep quality and and good competition up over a variety of variants.

I know goondip was originally created to be played by a small group of friends, and olidip is probably similar. Goondip became more of a test site for variants. I'm not sure if its the same for olidip, but I know its not hard to create variants and modify them for the site. It would be difficult to transfer users and scores and all that, as they are on separate servers.

Personally I think this site has the most competitive system and players. It also has an incredible community and conversations. I love to play new variants on other sites, but I still end up coming back here.

I also think that gilgatex added most if not all of the variants from goondip to his version of the code, so its probably not hard at all, for a programmer.

Hi all.
The system has been written to make it easy to add variants.
Oli/Sleepcap converted a number of variants into the required webDip format, and put them up on the dev-forum, and specifically started his own server to test them on.
It would not take long to add all those features to this site - it could genuinely be done in under an hour.

The code is available to Kestas, but he won't be adding it until it has been proven to be stable.

Traditionally, in a major open source project, lots of 'beta' and side projects are done off the main branches of the code, locally by developers 'scratching an itch' (like adding multiple variants). Kestas was smart to allow the hooks to add them so others could grow his code.

Now, to GET those side projects into the main branch, it usually goes through an entire process that usually includes:
- Code Format reviews (to make the code look uniform)
- Unit test and test coverage reviews (to prove that it is stable)
- A committee vote to determine if the new piece is desired in the next build.
- A long alpha and beta process to ensure that integration doesn't cause bugs to pop up
- Multiple release candidates to give the normal community a chance to try it and see if there are any troubles
- A major release is made and exposed to the public

So... yes, side projects and other 'cutting edge' stuff is out there and available, but it also can break or have other catastrophic errors (like loss of user info, cheating, etc...). I'm not suggesting that the other developers code is garbage, just the nature of the beast. Kestas is playing the role of the code owner and is forced to wait until everything is stable before releasing. This is why the community here is the largest. It was the first ones, and know the code remains as stable as possible.

Hope that explanation helps. :)

having said all of that, if you've ever dealt with Linux, you know there are multiple flavors of it. Sometimes the 'side' project is just as stable as the main branch, or it specializing in something that interests others. For example, a site that focuses strictly on variants. If you wanted nothing but variants, you go there, but if you prefer more 'pure' diplomacy you come here. It's the concept of a new 'main' branch spawning to appeal to a different audience.

Both communities can be equally as big, but one focuses on one aspect and another a different aspect. This is equally good for both projects, as they can work together.

Having another site that does the same thing, though, causes conflict and competition. This can be good, but isn't usually the greatest in the game industry...

also, goondip broke all the time. you could never finish a live game without it stalling out and crashing.

this site is the old standby because it's classic and it never breaks; it has a consistent map, a meaningful rating system, and stable servers.

the others are great for experimentation, and i fully support separation of the two.

The problem with live games on goondip were the same problems that were on webdip before Kestas fixed them, but gilgatex hadn't gotten them integrated yet. It wasn't something fundamental about what gilgatex did on goondip that made them not work.

But still, the branches are more likely to have potential issues. Either due to experimental code or due to being a bit behind the webdip fixes.

I expect that many features from olidip ( http://tinyurl.com/olidip/ ) will come here in the end. However I disagree with fortknox's analysis. That site is just as stable as this one, the only reason it has more problems than this is the hosting package is not as good.

The main reason this site doesn't have the number of variants available over there is management discretion: Kestas wants to keep this site simple and clear, and so has done.