On the Blog

I decided that it might be useful to have a list of blog series and stand alone posts here. I know there's the archive but that doesn't necessarily link series of posts.

Series

Links here will take you to the first post in the series.

Stand alone posts

Comments

The Embassy Journal

You know, I have realised that I probably bang on too much. What can I say? I like the sound of my own writing (my voice, until laryngitis kicks in when I begin to sound like Barry White, is slightly too high pitched and squeaky). This led me to realise that I should probably be looking at different ways to put out what I want to put that's longer-winded than the long-winded stuff I publish here. And so The Embassy Journal was born. This is my zine, written to accompany the blog, but with articles and a smattering of other stuff. You can get it from the link above, which will lead you to the first issue (March 2020). Let me know what you think. All issues will be published on The Embassy Journal page on this blog, where you can also find subscription and contribution info.

The Ethics of Diplomacy - Part 7: Tournaments and Teamplay

Teamplay during an online game is likely to be banned under metagaming rules. It's clearly unfair if a couple of players enter a game to play together, supporting each other and attacking others, when everyone else in the game is playing as an individual. Well, I say clearly but that isn't always the case; some people just don't think there's anything wrong with it. However, it is also something that can arise in FTF tournaments and it has often been banned, for obvious reason... again, I'd say obvious reasons. It is (or was) common for a tournament or convention to combine individual competitions with team competitions. A local club or organisation might have a number of players attend, therefore, and this is often true when there wasn't a team competition, simply because it's nice to go with your mates. It didn't take long for teamplay to be outlawed. What was happening was that players from the same club would help each other out in ga...

The Ethics of Diplomacy - Part 9: Mind Games

I've separated this from gamesmanship because it is something different. However, mind games have the same impact on the Dip community as gamesmanship, for very similar reasons. Mind games are anything that you can do to get under the skin of another player. They can be irritants, impoliteness or meant to simply build paranoia. Silence Sending messages and getting no response is frustrating. I know - I send a lot of messages and find it annoying if I'm getting nothing back from someone with whom I'm supposed to be working. Now, what happens when that silence is deliberate ? When someone decides that they're not going to answer messages, or keep their answers to a minimum? Why would they do that ? Well, it is usually to cause some disruption in your thinking. If you're concerned that she isn't messaging back, you're going to be concerned about what your plans were going to be. I know at least one player who hates this,...

The Embassy

Search This Blog