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Tournament Scoring - Part 1: Tournament Games are Variants

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Tournaments have come to be a big part of Diplomacy, whether face-to-face or online.  If you're running a tournament you need to be able to find a winner, and so a scoring system has to be introduced.  In this series of posts I'm going to look at different types of scoring systems and discuss the pros and cons of each one.  And I'll end the series by discussing my own, as yet, prototype system.


The first thing to be aware of is that a scoring system will change the way people play the game.  It has to do.  If you're playing and you need to do well then you need to play to the system.  This means that the way the system affects the way Diplomacy is played.

Tournament games are already a variant of Dip.  Ideally, they wouldn't be.  Players would be able to play x number of games and play them as they would any other game.  In FTF play, you'd expect the game to run until they're finished or time runs out.  Online, there should be plenty of time to finish the game.

Realistically, however, this isn't the case.  FTF tournament games tend to have an game end date (GED).  I'm told - I don't know because I don't live there - that tournament games in North America tend to only have a GED for the final round of games.  That's good - although the final round is the round when the winner is actually chosen so, arguably, the one game that ought to be played to a natural end.

In Europe, this isn't the case.  Games are played until they reach the GED.  And applying a GED automatically means games are variants.

It would seem that if the tournament is being played online, there shouldn't be a problem with playing each game to a natural end.  People don't have to go back to normal life at the end of the weekend, for instance.

However, online tournament games tend to have a GED too because the tournament needs to end at some point.  I know of some tournaments that haven't implemented an GED, such as the Diplomacy World Cup.  That specific tournament has been running for years.  Frankly, who is interested in that kind of event?

Also realistically you're not just playing a single game.  It isn't possible to keep each game 'standing alone' because you have to keep in mind that this game is part of a series of games.  Throwing caution to the wind in one game might ruin your chances in the tournament altogether.

Given, then, that tournament games are already a form of variant (and that online games are themselves a variant) does it matter what the scoring system is?  We're already playing a variant; adding any scoring system makes it more of a variant; does it matter what that scoring system looks like?

I believe strongly that it does.  If the scoring system changes the objectives of the game, then that is an issue that should be considered.  If the scoring system changes the way the game is played, then that is an problem, especially if that change is exaggerated by the system.

When it comes right down to it, of course, if you enter a tournament you should play to the scoring system in that tournament.  I've not entered online tournaments because I don't think the scoring system will produce good games.  But I've also entered tournaments where, although I've not agreed with the scoring system, I simply wanted to play!

TOURNAMENT SCORING series:

  1. Tournament Games are Variants
  2. What should a good scoring system do?
  3. Draw Size Scoring (DSS)
  4. Supply Centre Scoring (SCS)
  5. Other Scoring Systems
  6. Summarising the Problem with Scoring Systems
  7. The Mystery Scoring System Explained
  8. Does Mystery Scoring meet the objectives?
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