Well, since I only got 4 EOGs from players I will leave a statement myself.
This is the last of 4 games I ran to commemorate the Centennial of the Great War. The others were Battle of Verdux, Over There! and Zimmerman Telegram, each of which can be found in the Archives in case you're interested.
The players for each game were curated. One game involved guys who used to play Dip, but were now playing fantasy sports together, another involved guys involved in FTF gaming in NYC, but who decided to do a dip game, and the others were selected mostly by me, and from recommendations I solicited from some other players. Some observations:
First, curating the games by selecting the players make for better games, or at least games with fewer dropouts and NMRs. I'm not sure if the players had more fun or not, but they were, generally speaking, submitting orders and not dropping out.
Second, this is a human moderated game, and so the GM should put some human into the moderation. The GM can't really comment on the game in any material way, so the theme I selected was history and historical events that were happening 100 years ago. I enjoyed it. Maybe my players did, or didn't, but they could always skip that part if they wanted, but putting the human into the moderation is key to a good game.
Finally, I don't think I will be hosting another game soon. The Centennial is over and I was really too busy to GM this game, let alone another, but I encourage someone to step up and send some invitations. It's always good to see a game going on and to follow it from afar. Lots of us don't play Diplomacy often anymore, but getting in a game every year or two, working off the rust will good for many of you. I hope someone steps up.
This is the last of 4 games I ran to commemorate the Centennial of the Great War. The others were Battle of Verdux, Over There! and Zimmerman Telegram, each of which can be found in the Archives in case you're interested.
The players for each game were curated. One game involved guys who used to play Dip, but were now playing fantasy sports together, another involved guys involved in FTF gaming in NYC, but who decided to do a dip game, and the others were selected mostly by me, and from recommendations I solicited from some other players. Some observations:
First, curating the games by selecting the players make for better games, or at least games with fewer dropouts and NMRs. I'm not sure if the players had more fun or not, but they were, generally speaking, submitting orders and not dropping out.
Second, this is a human moderated game, and so the GM should put some human into the moderation. The GM can't really comment on the game in any material way, so the theme I selected was history and historical events that were happening 100 years ago. I enjoyed it. Maybe my players did, or didn't, but they could always skip that part if they wanted, but putting the human into the moderation is key to a good game.
Finally, I don't think I will be hosting another game soon. The Centennial is over and I was really too busy to GM this game, let alone another, but I encourage someone to step up and send some invitations. It's always good to see a game going on and to follow it from afar. Lots of us don't play Diplomacy often anymore, but getting in a game every year or two, working off the rust will good for many of you. I hope someone steps up.