The Embassy

Lying and betrayal play an integral part in Diplomacy.  How, then, can there be any ethical or moral concept to the game?  Isn't this a game without ethics? It's certainly true that a game of Diplomacy will feature lies, half-lies, omissions and betrayal.  It's difficult to imagine a game that wouldn't involve these.  When the box the game came in used to feature the slogan " Destroying friendships since 1959" nobody should be surprised by this! But, in reality, experienced players understand that you get more success in Diplomacy by being honest most of the time.  It's a game about building trust.  There is always going to be a point where that trust is going to be broken if you are to win games, but dishonesty isn't going to be rewarded. There are some aspects of the game that do require a certain degree of morality and ethical appreciation, therefore.  There are players who will tell you that if you can get away with something, then it'...

It feels somewhat strange to read that sentence: I ...  went to university and Dip faded from my life.  I wasn't the most involved of people at Uni.  To some extent that was because the societies at Sheffield University in the early-80s weren't very interesting.  There wasn't a Diplomacy Society... not even a board game society.  And this was pre-internet effectively. In fact, it wasn't until the early-90s that I really got back into Diplomacy.  At that point, I was in the early stages of my career (or what I thought would be my career) in teaching, had my own place with a loft bedroom-come-study where I did my work. One Christmas I wandered into a toy store and was perusing the board games.  I spotted a copy of Diplomacy - a different box but, from the illustrations on the back, the same board and pieces.  And it included a flyer about the postal hobby. Wait.  What?  Postal play???  If wtf had existed then, I'd have though...