7 is not old enough to understand the game. Go play Stratego or Risk with him.

Those are great learning games, I actually agree with Mapu. +1

I agree with ssorenn.

Why thank you, friend!

I'll take it, I know you were talking to me. Hehe

oh he has played risk and all that, but my little bro is fine with 'complex'
in just last week he:
-read all 3 lord of the rings (reread)
-designed a lego ship with some moving pieces that readily seem to defy the laws of physics
-prove his teacher wrong in a math problem
-and with messi-like skills helped his soccer team when 29-0

he has always gone above and beyond expectations in school, athletics and whatever on earth he does and recently he has been trying to memorize all the countries on the globe. i dont want to hold him back and he has been asking me a lot about how to play diplomacy. He got excited and we recently finished a lego classic dip board (i might try to upload a link to my profile, it is pretty cool). now he wants the full experience of webdip and im having a hard time telling him no. for now ive just resorted to punching him until he shuts up but that is only temporary.

James, you sure ARE a problem.

I don't doubt that a 7 year old can learn how to issue orders for pieces from a drop-down menu of choices and read/send press, but learning the "why's" and using complex reasoning skills to help determine who to work with and why are skills required of a more mature mind.

Okay so you have an Asperger's Savant for a little brother. He should fit right in here.

It's best to start with logic games with fewer complexities. If he's good with risk and stratego, maybe try axis and Allies with limited rules.

"ive just resorted to punching him until he shuts up" And you complain sometimes that he's too mean to you.

I'm just going to echo the same sentiment as above: let him start with some other games like risk and stratego. I would not recommend having a 7 year old play this game.

A 7 year old could play this game; he just shouldn't be on this site.

A 7 year old could also be a genius, just the overwhelming majority are not. This game requires a lot of cognitive abilities that 7 years old do not. Having taught middle as well as high school and spent some time reading cognitive science articles, it is very very unlikely that a 7 year old can play this game and understand the complexity, not to mention how lying in the game is ok but not outside the game.
I also agree that this site is not appropriate for a 7 year old. Last time, I think Kestas mentions a figure around 13+.

I should not be typing when I'm proving idempotent and symmetric properties of matrices and trying to understand why a collinear column vector will always carry a vector of scores into deviation score form.

It should read "7 year old do not have." and "I find that it is very very unlikely."

Go ahead and set up several accounts for all of your "brothers". Just be sure to always access them from the same computer so you can see what he is exposed to. Also, if "they" join the same games, it will be easier for you to keep track of everything.

-1 for show off

lol thanks for reading it that way, ssorenn. :)

I was taking a little break from the proof and hw, so of course I check webdip. That and I was being summoned like Beetlejuice. And I wanted to explain why my sentences were incomplete. That's all.

Showing off was just a cherry on top.

LOL. Good to read, even if I don't understand. Just had to mess with you. Hehe

What I love about it, is that you're a +1 whore, but get a minus 1 and you need to explain. Cool to know.

"Last time, I think Kestas mentions a figure around 13+."

Wait, so did ghug get an override?

meh; Plenty of us were not average 7 year olds...and it doesn't sound like Jame's brother is either.

I see it that way: he is more the fit for the game in terms intelligence and grasp of complex situations, so the major issue here are social and personality problems.

1) why doesn't he just set up an account for himself without asking you? I'm sure he's capable of doing that (and it would have been what I would do in his place).

2) besides LOTR what else did/does he read? If he reads literature where the blurry lines of lie and truthfulness are touched upon, he should be able to cope with this part of the game.

3) you could have him play Catan, where alliance formation and in-game-lies are quite similar to Diplomacy but not so pervasive. If he's doing fine, he should be fine with Dip.

4) Just tell him that most people on the forums are socially marginalised and unworthy persons, so he doesn't get affected too much by trolling…

5) set up F2F-games with him and your friends. He should be able to learn the distinction between in-game and off-game lying better in such an environment.

Yeah, as smart as a 7 year old may be intellectually, I don't think he'd be strong enough emotionally. Realising you've been outright lied to and shrugging it off, you need pretty thick skin, most people on this site have it, I don't think a 7 year old would.

Too many problems
Oh why am I here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKlLI94xx8k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKlLI94xx8k

7-year old children lie to each other a lot when they're in second or third grade. I guess, he should be fine.

we should just make sure he plays always with fluminator.

ha no

I agree with some of the above sentiment that he should play some other more complex games--Catan is a good choice--but I think you could get him started with the strategy of gunboat fairly easily. I'd certainly keep him away from the forum though, and some people's full press can be quite... unsavory. The trick is to get him to understand the dynamics of games with more than two sides, as well as understanding the risks/benefits of lying. If you have Twilight Imperium, that would also be a fair start, though it's hard to ever get one of those games going. Gunboats would probably be easier to start.

"I'd certainly keep him away from the forum though" Oh, so very certainly. I think that's half the reason James doesn't want his brother to play.
"and some people's full press can be quite... unsavory." Looking at you, JamesYanik!!!

"to play" should as "on this site."

Hey, I'm not all bad. I've never had any run in with the law.
Although I agree full press will not be a positive experience for him. I think gun boat would be harmless and fun though.

you should let him play with your account, after you set up the gunboats. he seems more prone to improve your scores and ratings than to reduce them (or you just advertise him playing to the mods).

He'll be fine playing gunboat at least, and could probably move on to diplomacy if he wants to. People are overthinking this.

But yes, the forum would be pretty toxic for him.

still, JY, why hasn't your baby brother hacked your account yet? Or why didn't he make one already?

"
1) why doesn't he just set up an account for himself without asking you? I'm sure he's capable of doing that (and it would have been what I would do in his place).
"
JamesYanik: Yeah, that really doesn't fit. Did you tell him you were afraid of being banned as a multi?

This is possibly the least alarming part. Plenty if not most 7-year olds have limited or restricted access to the internet. Don't sign up for accounts on websites without permission, especially one James explicitly said he shouldn't, is a pretty common idea...

In my household I got an ICC account at 7, but I (had to) get permission first.

What did you say about webdip to make it sounds so appealing to a 7 year old?

Everything from Catan to TI3 to ASL to Nexus Ops is fun. But the space, time, player requirements, and cost are still nothing similar to what he could get with online Dip. No one is here because they don't like other boardgames.