I'm sure he's not intending to glorify himself! (okay, maybe his is, but if he is, can you blame him?)
Anyways, I was part of that last high stakes game that he won, getting out to a fast start as Russia, and it really did turn out to be a fantastic game! I almost won, but his alliance, as France, with England won the day, and pushed me back... Congrats on a well played game!

Agreed Churchill....
are those games clear of metagaming?

oh, and that was me being a smart ass...

Anyway, i am interested to know what other sites you have been on for dip and how long you were playing for???? for interest sake:)

OK, so maybe he was a little too proud of himself, but hey, I was impressed.

In this game the luck it's reduced to the minimal (and that's the interesting part of this). Your games had not only luck, that's obvious.

I can't understand completely the meaning of this message, however, congrats MadMarx!!!

It is allways a pleasure to play with you (even when you are the worst backstabber ever). I hope can meet you again =)

Canute: what an easily way to accuse someone of metagaming. Take it easy boy.

As far as my ego, I think winning 1 of my second 10 games took care of that!! Canute, I hadn't played any other sites. I played in high school, 20 years ago, maybe 10 games total but always with 4 people. Before joining here I played by email twice with 7 people, but we never actually finished a game since we only did a season a week. El_Perro, if you were impressed, why didn't you work with me to kill Treefarn?!?! Argento, please remember the Turkey MadMarx and NOT the Austrian... I was trying to keep my winning streak alive and I didn't know what the heck to do with Austria, so it got pretty ugly!! ;-)

Congrats MadMarx :-) My record is equally unlikely but far more shameful :-( (though I just won another game at last)

Didn't The Mahatma win his first 10 games as well?

Whatever happened to Polar Bear? He won 8 games out of nine....
http://phpdiplomacy.net/profile.php?userID=4761

Nope, The_Mahatma only played ten games in total. But I know for a fact he won his first three games, and it was this promise that encouraged me to invite him to one of the old Masterminds+ games. He finished a strong second in that game however. Perhaps if he wasn't forced to play the so-called Masterminds and Diplomats then he might have extended that streak. Phenomenal player all in all.

MadMarx is quite similar, though he played more games. They have the same win record at the moment, and they both threw down with many of the best of us. I'm quite impressed, and am eager to see if his success will remain consistent, especially in larger tournaments and leages. (Speaking of which, will there be a GFTD 2008?).

Although, I do distinctly remember The_Mahatma being considerably more humble. =P

lol argento, did he say something like that to you?
"you are the worst backstabber ever," because I've heard that one from madmarx before (right before me and salamaneser smashed him that is)

so shall we make put together a collection of the madmarx most infamous lines.
we'll call it: The Best Madmarx - Volume 1
(in anticipation of its sucess) ;)

How about this quote from Mr Marx: "Anyway, I now realize that the majority of the people on this website, and probably an overwhelming majority, are indeed that spineless".

If you want the full context...

"Spring 1910: Hey, I'm just being honest... I never had been in a situation where one guy was about to win and the two other guys with 8-10 supply centers each were unwilling to work together in an attempt to take down the guy in the lead... I honestly couldn't believe anyone would actually take that approach to the game and I didn't know what to do... Anyway, I now realize that the majority of the people on this website, and probably an overwhelming majority, are indeed that spineless, so I will not join any more CD games in the future because of what I learned in that new situation... That's the honest truth!!"

GFDT 2008 will indeed be happening. It was requested that it not start until Septemberish so I'll be posting about it closer to then.

i'd like to be included this time wonderllama!

Geez, and I thought *I* was off to an okay start...

Those would have been immodest thoughts there Johnson...

I can't wait for GFTD 2008! Though the year seems quite arbitrary as it will most certainly run mostly in 2009. =D

Sorry, MajorTom, Argento is actually an honorable guy and I was pretty desperate in that game, nobody would ever say that about Argento...

Treefarn, that's a low blow!! ;-) I enjoy exaggerating for effect and that was part of a long conversation about playing for second/points versus playing to win, even in PPSC... I've been misrepresented!! :-)

PS - I learned a lot about using drama/exaggeration as a psychological war tactic from Feckless Clod and Vampiero... Everything is fair in love and war!! :-)

You've been misrepresented? Thats open to interpretation. But you haven't claimed to be misquoted, calling the majoring of users on this site spineless.

No, you got the quote right... BUT, it was in the context of several messages in which I was trying to argue a point, so I was exaggerating in an attempt to get you to see things differently than you currently do (which is obviously a daunting task, to change anyone's opinion), so with that end in mind, I felt the need to make extreme statements, as a slap in the face, to get you to wake up and "see the light"... That said, it was merely a little entertaining banter (for me, at least), regardless of how passionately I argued the point. I embrace diversity and differing opinions, it's what makes life interesting. I have no problem agreeing to disagree, I was just trying to make a point, which I obviously failed to do, even throwing all the tactics I could think of at you... If there's one thing I've learned on this site, it's that you can't win them all... BUT, that won't stop me from trying, regardless of how remote the odds... or how random the strategy may appear on the surface...

Degrees of Luck:

1. Picking Greece to win the euro cup: about $1000:$1 odds.
2. Selling the stocks after that startup went public: $100,000.
3. Taking 1st at the world series of poker: about $7,000,000.

4. Winning 10 games of diplomacy in a row...PRICELESS.

Ten games in a row? That's not even true MadMarx; you were eliminated in Revolver and No Press XXV a while ago.
And those are just the games that we've played together.

He did JOIN diminishing returns before he joined Revolver, and the No Press game though... It was worded quite carefully. (Unlike his banter with Treefarn :P)

Thank you, Vampiero, that is the exact spirit in which I made this post in the first place!! The amount of luck involved in winning the first ten games I joined, sooooo FAR outweighs any amount of skill I may or may not have, that it is all about the luck, and it's crazy lucky!!

A few follow up comments on the Treefarn conversation:

1. I have only had significant interaction with a handful of people on this site, so the blatant stereotype regarding spineless was clearly just that.
2. Hate the sin, not the sinner. Like it or not, if you fear taking on the big dog and decide to fight #3 for a few supply centers / points, that is a spineless act, in my honest opinion. There's a big difference in someone being spineless and a spineless act, and again, the words chosen in our debate were meant to be extreme in an attempt to make a point. Spineless is one of the last words I'd use to describe how orathaic played for most of our game "diminishing returns", but after stabbing others a few times too often, even he had to forfeit his pride and do what he could to keep a few supply centers at the end of the game. A spineless act, yes, but I (and most of us, I guess) would have likely done it as well given the extreme circumstances of that situation that only orathaic, Stevelers and I can fully appreciate...

Sorry to beat the dead horse, but I do find these theoretical discussions interesting... a little too much so! I'll quit boring you now!!

Stevelers, he joined the no press after deminishing.
I'm sure of that because I've been keep a close eye on that no press ;) hehe

I like it when people refrain from bringing in-game debates to the public forum, especially on such a subjective matter. Especially when they don't bring questionable press from in-game that might slander the reputation of others and recognize that there are few rules to in-game press and most is valid Diplomacy, despite the possibly offensive content.

I also love it when players can outgrow their feelings of resentment toward someone who thwarted their victory and recognize that it is not usually character deficiencies in other players that denies one one's victories. I also appreciate it when people don't use names and games to explain what they dislike, especially when done with some subtlety.

But these are just some of the things that I like.

I like it when people point fingers but pretend they aren't

yeah Treefarn...