if you can write well, have the time, and care enough about the hobby, give it a shot.

remember, there are thousands of Diplomacy players who have never heard of webdiplomacy and have played only FtF or PBEM (play by email) or on the Judges. this is a golden opportunity to invite a lot of other folks to try us out - and to explore some of the issues we talk about on here every day...

some topics that would be great if written about (just throwing out ideas):

1. PPSC vs WTA debate.
2. the effect of points on play (meta-gaming discussion)
3. the Ghost Rating system - its advantages and disadvantages
4. How does webdip compare to PBEM, FtF, tournament play, or even to other online sites (for those of you who have played elsewhere)
5. those who have played with GMs before, what is missing or added by not having GMs on this site.
6. webdip as a community... our forum... political/philisophical discussions
7. generational shift: are webdip players and PBEM players from different generations?
8. Variants... the limits and capabilities of variant use in online dip play.
9. The programing side of things...

anyways... just a quick list off the top of my head for ideas... honestly, you all can think of hundreds of better ones I'm sure... I really hope we get 4-5 published from players on this site... I'd hate to see playdiplomacy.com players dominating this issue of the magazine

I wasn't gong to do anything until that last line. Gah! Maybe someone could write a history of webdiplomacy just so everyone knows where they come from

Ps that was tongue in cheek I guess we don't really want to dig over all that

can we get kestas to write something?

I think Ghost also knows the guy, would love to hear suggestions ghost might have

Hmm, I have only been on this site for a few months, but I've played other ways, Ftf, PBEM and this. The semester starts for me next week, but maybe I can get something written in the next couple of weeks.

Dan that is awesome... specially from the perspective of someone who starts off... I think the biggest hurdles for some of the PBEM community to join are the following:

1) colors of countries on the map (I understand this is to help color-blind players) which throws off players used to seeing England as light blue, Russia as White and Germany as Black.

2) The order writing... (unit x supports unit y FROM ... TO ...) which is done due to coding constraints, but is weird for players who have written ... TO... FROM orders for 20-30 yrs ;)

3) faster games here 24 or even 48 hour deadlines are rare for PBEM players...

4) lack of GM to hold up a game (to prevent NMR etc) or to adjudicate...

have you found these to be obstacles for you as well or no?

What length are these typically?

I'm playing around with the "obsession factor" that comes along with the game now that it can be accessed 24/7 online.

@Babak - I assure you the colors on the map do not help color blind players. Germany and Austria look alike on their posts as do France and England. They are hard enough to tell on the board but become impossible in the chat logs.

@Babak: It's TO...FROM here. Did you just write that sentence backwards? (It's easier to do TO first, since that's dependent on where the supporting unit can move to; then the FROM comes from where a unit in the TO territory could move (which theoretically implies the reverse being possible, i.e., you can find your possible FROM territories by working backwards).

If you start with the FROM, you have to lop them all into an array first, and just to do the search (i.e., to branch out up to two territories) becomes difficult when you then need to filter based on if your unit can "really" move to that first territory, and if the other unit can "really" move from that second territory to that first territory... Oh, and don't forget convoys! :-)

It's just easier to say, "okay, where can I move?" and then, "okay, who else can move there?"

See I've always written from___ to ___ as my orders. That's how it was in PBEM games, and that's how I wrote orders for FtF games. That was definitely an obstacle for me starting off, I had supported other countries' units in to one of my centers on multiple occasions.

@ Katsarephat: When I had written orders before, I would do i.e.:
A Bel - Hol
A Ruhr s A Bel - Hol

while on this site the second order would be
Ruhr s TO Hol FROM Bel

It was easier for me doing the original way I learned, because that is how I learned. They both make sense though, luckily I caught on quickly.

@Babak:
The colors of the site are based off of the English version of the board (at least from what I understand) where England is pink and Russia is purple. The American version has Russia as white and England as dark blue. Germany is black in both, but not on the site because it'd make the board impossible to read (aside from changing the text and borders to, say, white).

I'll have to settle into my routine/schedule as school starts back up in a week or so, but I'll let you know if I can get an article hashed together.

@ abge - good question. I dont know but i've seen them as short as half a page, and as long as a few pages. so truly up to you. but you can email Doug and I'm sure he'll answer.

@ Dragunar - did not know that. I was under the wrong impression. that itself is a very interesting topic... are you color-blind yourself Draug? That would be an interesting article to write.

@ Kat and Dan... My experience was much like Dans... a bit of a hurdle at first, but then got easier... indeed, for MANY ftf and pbem players I've tried to introduce to this site, THAT was the biggest issue they faced (well - after not having a GM). but I do think it gets easier to follow with a few games under your belt. I do think that an article explaining the reasoning behind it the way Kat did would go a long way to convince new players to get over that relatively minor obstacle.

@ Odaly - thanks for that explanation - I actually did not know that at all. very cool Dip-history. do let Doug (email included above) know as he's the boss over there... i'm just on his email list and thought I'd pass on the message to this forum.



Honestly - I personally think the BIGGEST issue for PBEM players is the lack of a GM... and their fear that the NMRs and CDs are too numerous. I think they are right that initially when you are starting off with the under 100 point games, the risk of NMRs and CDs, specially without a GM, are higher here... but personally, I think in the longer-term, that risk is mitigated because of the ghost-rating and point systems...

An analysis of the effect of the Ghost Rating and point system on the in-play experience would be very useful to a LOT of regular dip players who have been afraid to try webdip.net thus far...


my whole point is that I think OUR community here would benefit from drawing MORE pbem players into our embrace... and this edition of this dip-zine could go a long way in explaining our community to various dip players who have not yet tried us out. ;)

bump

I'm considering writing one in the time between sorting out things for university and actually going.

Ghost - would love to read your insights;)

when is Uni starting for you?

I'm going to the place without hills on 2nd October. It's going to ruin my cycling.

??? where is the place without hills?

Carcosa.

Cambridge

Close enough.

I just sent in an article!

awesome frito ;-)

and i'm sure if some folks wanted editing or peer-review support before submitting, they could find it here ;)