It frustrating, but it happens all the time. I don't know how wedip would prevent it on a site like this. Sometimes everyone wants to cancel/draw. Sometimes they don't.

Reliability Ratings, would prevent the CD's in the first place.

@Ogion - Please don't post cheating accusations on the forum. The mods have now told you that isn't cheating. Listen to them.

If a player goes into Civil Disorder, it is the responsibility of the remaining countries to reevaluate the board. If someone solos, it's because the other countries failed to act on the new conditions, not because the soloer cheated.

That's an admin and our ombudsman both told you. Now move on and either stop playing live or live with it.

@Dragnar, sorry. I'm new. I'm afraid I have to respectfully disagree with the mods on this one.

It is unequivocally unsporting and antithetical to the proposition that Diplomacy is a game of skill rather than luck. Having a CD next door largely determines the game as the result of basically chance. I am afraid that when I see that, I'm pretty unimpressed. Folks may have a high rating, but you'll never see me acknowledge them as a good player.

I'd say reliability ratings, and perhaps a hall of shame could work.

Unsporting yes. Not cheating. It is unsporting to taunt the team you have just dominated in a football/baseball/basketball game but not against the rules and, therefore, not cheating.

Very good. I will stick with that.

Ogion - it's unsporting, yes. It changes the game, yes. But if the players don't recognize that due to the CD one player has a huge advantage, then it is their fault that a solo happens. It doesn't make the game based on luck (assuming the CD is towards the beginning, at least) but rather changes the conditions of the game and forces other players to use their skill to adapt.

Simply put, if there is a CD and one nation looks to solo in a few years because of it, everyone else should immediately stop fighting and throw their forces at said player. If they don't, it's their fault.

Reliability ratings would go a huge way towards solving this though.

@Draugnar, in some athletic games such as college football, taunting is against the rules. But your metaphor is close enough.

If it is a PPSC game, other players may not want to stop the solo. To resolve that, don't play PPSC games.

If it is a gunboat game, it may be difficult to get others to understand that the solo has to be stopped. To resolve that, don't play gunboat games.

If WTA full press and two countries go CD, more than just one player can take advantage of that. But if it gives one country a big edge, the other countries have to take that into account.

@Alderian - Yeah, I was thinking more backyard football, pickup basketball, or baseball/softball at the local amateur sports complex type thing.

Another approach is of course to simply have a culture that the rest of the countries always stop to go after the unsporting one, eliminate it if possible, then declare a draw.

Ogion - as a game of skill, you apparently *lack* the skill of being able to persuade your fellow players (the ones willing to draw) that they should destroy the uncooperative player and then draw.

Whether or not it is "ethical" is one thing - but to call it cheating it *certainly* is not. I suggest you get a copy of the rules...both for the original board game, and for this site...and you will find that you are wrong. Dead wrong.

In fact, in the original board game, the creators all but encouraged cheating (move a piece on the board when noone is looking!!) so I'm fairly certain that they would say if a position goes empty, take advantage. That is in the spirit of victory at all costs. It is a *dangerous* strategy if the remaining players are limpdicks and unwilling to stand up to the "offender".

I actually like CDs a bit. Makes it a bit more realistic

Realistic? What an odd thing to say...

I guess if you are looking at various European nations rolling over and allowing Hitler to walk on through and plant the flag, I guess a CD can be realistic...(I know, wrong war..)

I mean that in war anything can happen. The same with life, and that's very real :)

Uhhhh....yeah.....not buying your argument at all. So you like every random negative thing that happens to you in life? You do the happy dance when someone runs over your dog, because it's random and anything can happen?

Gee, kremlin, assume much? In fact if you look at my stats you'll see a ton of draws. There is a reason for that. In fact I managed to get a draw in the no press game I was complaining of! ;)

And you are totally right about the original rules. I'd completely forgotten that part. So, yeah, let's go with "unsporting" not cheating. And yeah I have to admit there's a ton of unsporting behavior. It is kind of the point in fact!

Point well taken!

I really don't even see it as unsportsmanlike. Go read the rulebook and see what it says about Civil Disorder countries. I promise you it doesn't say stop the game and hug it out. Diplomacy is a game about using whatever you have yo your advantage to get 18 centers. I personally see no shame it taking centers from a CD country.

What's unsportsmanlike is to leave a game you committed to, knowing how it will affect other players.

It really depends upon who you play with. Most of the people in the circles that I play games in are sporting enough. It helps to not join random games

CDs really shouldn't be tolerated at all. They're chance events which by definition dilute Diplomacy's value as a game of skill.

I can't wait for reliability ratings.

If there was a rule/feature to automatically cancel games after a CD then there would be more CDs because more people would just CD when they draw a country they don't like and not feel guilty about doing so because the auto-cancel would seem to lessen the shame.

Male the system do a special cancel that leaves the CD player in VD and gives his bet to all the non-CD players. Like a draw but without it going on the record as a draw so as not to screw up GR and stats.

^Also puts a resign on the record on the CD player, but no marks on the others.

Folding games is not the solution to this kind of problem. That's how things got as bad as they are.

If you aren't happy with public games, then just make private ones. Which you won't.

The system tracks when a person CD's right? How hard would it be to have a gamecreation option which limits players ability to join who have higher than xx% reliability

@dyager_nh, that is the reliability rating system that has been mentioned above.

orgion - No, I'm not assuming anything about you. I was simply making a statement that was as equally as hysterical as your complaint.

And yet...the bottom line is, regardless of your number of "draws" you don't have the skill to convince a board of players to go against the person who has taken advantage of the CD....it is simply a statement of fact, not opinion.

As for your "draws"....<YAWN...> Unimpressive. I play to WIN, and find no particular merit in people playing as a group for the draw.