I still think that without offering a proper way to exit a game, we encourage some people to CD rather than giving them a chance to leave politely.

To minister: what is so hard about entering orders in a game someone commits to play? If people join games, they should grow a pair and see the game through. If you have to quit when things start to go awry, then Diplomacy is clearly not the right game.

Damn straight! Don't ever quit. Support your enemies into your former allies to teach them a lesson, go rogue and just try to fuck shit up, or at the very least support holds and make the bastards work for it. You don't even have to think about your moves that much at that point, so just log in, make your moves, finalize and concentrate on your other games.

Win!
If you can't win, be part of the draw.
If you can't do that screw over the guys who screwed you.
But never ever quit!

Dudes, I agree to all that. But the target group of a resign button would not be the geeks like us who have no social life except outwitting virtual personas on a bulletin board. It's for people who wander in, think about joining a game, and decide for whatever reason it's not for them.

Speaking as a geek, I'd much prefer those people to have a neat opt-out possibility, so that geeks like me can take over their position without their CD disrupting an otherwise perfectly good game.

I think vdip has a concede option, where you vote for defeat.

vdip does have a concede option, however, it only does something if everyone but one person votes concede. In a classic game, if there's 5 concede votes and 2 non-votes, nothing happens. Once the 6th vote comes in, the last person (who has not voted concede), gets an automatic victory and everyone else gets a defeat.

So while it does offer a way to end a game early (assuming everyone agrees the game is lost), it does not provide a way for people to "quit" early (which is how it should be. Finish your damn games you signed up for!).

Droidippy has a similar concede feature wherein if all remaining players except one concede, the one who is still playing to win gets the victory. Likewise if 2 or more players agree to a draw amongst themselves and the remaining players concede, the draw is given without having to actually eliminate the conceding players.

People seem to struggle to realize that this game is almost uniquely fucked by quitting players, it isn't checkers, where you can just concede if you know you're going to lose.

Anybody who quits gives a huge advantage to his neighbors. Yeah, it's part of the game, but only among the shittiest players.

I'm actually having a really good time in a game now, in a position that many people would have conceded. I know I can't win, or even be part of a draw, but I'm sending as much press as I typically do in spring 1901. It's a gas.

Accepting defeat is liberating, your options start to run out, and you're left with only the option to screw over those responsible. It's fun once you accept your inevitable demise - sometimes it even lets you make a draw.

And when it doesn't it still lets you say "See? You shoudln't have fucked with me!" when you give someone else the win to screw your enemies or stabity "allies" out of the draw.