Diplomacy Zine -- EP #177 Chapter Six

From: Eric_S_Klien@cup.portal.com

Date: Mon, 18 Jun 1990 02:06:13 +0000

Issue #177 of ELECTRONIC PROTOCOL:

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"Well", Cooper looked through the ancient crystal decanter at the fine old
cognac.  "When the five years are up, what proof will you have, that this was
all just part of an experiment?"
Gustaf laughed.
"You mean I might be stuck as king?  And never get my honorary vocation?  They
wouldn't...!" he began.  Then, seeing the expression on Cooper's face, he
frowned, and whispered.
"You wouldn't!"
Cooper smiled.
"No, of course not...Your Majesty."
*******************************************************************************

Chapter One contains:

BLITZKRIEG, GETTYSBURG, RED STORM RISING, and COMRADES IN ARMS

And is published by daybell@aludra.usc.edu/Donald Daybell

Chapter Two contains:

DRAGONSLAYER, BISMARK, COLD WAR, JACAL, MANHATTAN, VERSAILLES,
and DRESDEN

And is published by tedward@cs.cornell.edu/Ted Fischer

Chapter Three contains:

MULHOUSE, DAWN PATROL, SNIKKEL-2, BERLIN, SNIKKEL-1, EL ALAMEIN,
SQUALANE, UNGAWE, CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

And is published by cwekx@htikub5.bitnet/Constantijn Wekx

Chapter Four contains:

FIRE WHEN READY, DREADNOUGHT, JUGGERNAUGHT, BIG WILLIE,
NICKEL, and OZARK

And is published by lord_zar@ucrmath.ucr.edu/Wayne Wallace

Chapter Five contains:

ARCHANGEL, BORDEL, MASADA, and YALTA

And is published by uunet!bnrgate!bmers1!dgibbs/David Gibbs

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Chapter Six
-----------

No games in this issue.

Publisher comments:

Quote is from p. 97 of The River of Time by David Brin.

The following was submitted by
sun!ub.cc.umich.edu!Richard_V._Lamb/Richard Lamb:

From: Edson Smith <edson%monty@rand.org>

I snagged this from the net.  Even though it was written by a user
of JANET (Joint Academic NETwork - the main net in the UK), most
everything still applies to us.  -Edson

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

How to use E-MAIL

We present some basic information for those thinking of using
Electronic MAIL.

The day will come when you receive an incomprehensible MAIL
message, containing 200 lines of header and one line at the
bottom saying "Greetings from Bognor Regis" (or it may be Ulan
Bator). Probably the simplest way of dealing with such messages
is to delete them at once to save time answering them, but
occasionally you may feel like replying. So what do you do?

Well we'll assume that you are authorised to use ARPANET,
JANET, GORDONBENET or whatever (and if not you may as well give
up now before the Computing Service remove your toenails.) One
way to reply to the message is to type something like REPLY, but
in complicated cases this won't work and you will be left to
your own initiative.

First search the message for something that looks like a mail
address. The following may well be mail addresses:

Joe.Hatstand@CHRONIX.VMS1%UK.AC.BOGNOR.REGIS.FISHNET

Mrs.Letitia.Globsquirtle@87-Weeble.Terrace%Leeds!LS2.9JT

PMTZXQ8904%wombiquangle!mvs6$hello.sailor_vendepac@nose-flute3

whereas the following are less likely to be mail addresses and
are probably random garbage produced by the system:

>>>>You are a fish-faced weasel

+++UGH9000I+++My brain hurts

Mature_mailer_daemon_seeks_adventurous_lady_mailer_daemon_object
_wild_passion_and_possibly_a_family_of_little_fail_reports

++++ Press the RETURN key for more output, or sit there looking
stupid, see if I care

Simple, eh? The ones with lots of @ and % signs are MAIL
addresses.

Now all you have to do is discover the address to which to
reply. This will be a random permutation of the address you
received the message from. Nobody knows why. We tried phoning
the JANET manager on 01-246-8047, but he wasn't there, so we
tried 01-8047-246, 246-01-8047 and several other possibilities.
Then the post office refused to deliver a letter to Mr Janet
because the postcode hadn't been correctly permuted and the
stamp was in the wrong corner of the envelope (they said) -- so
we gave up.

Anyway for a typical mail address with 8 components there are
only 40,320 possible ways of ordering it, so it shouldn't take
long to try them all. Most of them will produce error messages
from mailer daemons, file servers, or just random system
managers. DO NOT REPLY TO THESE (even if you can work out how).
There is nothing a mailer daemon likes less than receiving
unsolicited Valentine messages, requests that it stick its head
in a  bowl of porridge, moans that "it worked yesterday" and
cheeky requests concerning its inside leg measurement. Such
messages should of course be sent directly to your local
Postmaster.

Well there we are. That was simple, wasn't it. Anyone wanting
further details should send a stamped addressed E-mail message
to... er, well you can work it out for yourself.

The following was scribed by u2228@crayamid.cray.com (Dave Bowen):

Taken from Diplomacy World #56:

DIPCON XXII TOURNAMENT: SOME IDEAS WORTH IMPROVING AND KEEPING

Edi E. Birsan

There is a tendency to judge events and systems by the immediate
initial result and to then overlay a heavy case of personal inclinations
and perceptions with a resultant total rejection when your own expectations
are not met.  A new system or idea is rarely debuted in a flawless performance
to worldwide acclaim and acceptance.  More typically, as is the case with the
last DIPCON Tournament System, there are areas subject to great question as to
the social acceptability of the application of the techniques and the details
that are hung on the new form.  I am writing to try and shift the review from
'what was done' to 'what was tried' in the hope that some of the very positive
ideas  that came out of the tournament system can be advanced, improved and
perpetuated for future attenders to build on and get enjoyment and satisfaction
with.  With that said, let me ramble on with my prejudices and biases on the
salient features of the last system.

1. THE UNKNOWN RATING SYSTEM: The players were not told the exact
details of the rating system for each individual event.  Nor were they told
of the mixing and weighing system that would be used to blend the results of
each individual score into an overall result, other than there would be some
kind of mixing and everyone was expected to be in three events.
     I liked the idea of a hidden rating system because it prevents players
from trying to play the rating system and doing all sorts of artificial things
to get information on other games.  If players cannot zero in on playing the
system, then they shift to playing the best they can and you have that
wonderful interface between player's own perceptions of what they think is
good and worthwhile in playing.  Then, no matter what the system is, the
players have a more memorable game since ther is less distractions of
importance in the games around you.
     We have a hobby in which there is no universal acceptance of scales of
achievement other than a solo win.  We can heap abuse latter on the details
if we disagree on the rating of a four way draw with four centers vs. a three
way draw with nine centers, or a second place Italy with sixteen centers.
However, the potential for discord and disharmony is very great in the course
of the tournament's games if the then current scale is known because players
will harp on their own disagreement with the details of the system; while the
friction of other players playing the tournament rather than the game greatly
reduces the social nature of the multiplayer game.
     KEEP THE IDEA OF THE HIDDEN RATING SYSTEM

2. THE MULTIPLE EVENT OVERALL RATING: The Diplomacy hobby is not composed
of only regular games of individual Diplomacy.  DIPCONs do not feature only
games of the regular seven player game.  In fact, if you look at what is
actually played at the conventions by the Diplomacy players, the traditional
seven player game in many cases is not even sixty percent of the games actually
played.  One of the overall reasons we go to DIPCONs is to meet the people,
have a good time, try some different things and socialize.  By having different
events, such as the Team Game, Gunboat Event, Variant Game, etc. players are
encouraged to participate in different groupings of people and to maybe take in
different experiences.  Likewise with the introduction of an Overall Rating, it
helps to diffuse the focus on an individual game result and encourages players
to play more often, and to with multiple events we see achievement recognition
for broad spectrum skills rather than always on the individual event.
     We need to develop different events and should probably try something
new each DIPCON.  The Computer Diplomacy Event was not well received and
probably should be dropped until the game is made a challenge other than speed
typing.  Likewise, the Quiz on the Diplomacy Board was distorted with too many
hobby history and cult personality trivia questions.  A focus entirely on the
board and play would be more acceptable.  I'd like to see a Diplomacy Escalation
Game Event (but I'm biased, being the inventor).  However, the idea of
different events and an Overall integration of the results of these individual
events is a good idea.  Let the local DIPCON committees struggle with the
number and type of events and whether its the best three scores out of five, or
two out of three, etc.
     KEEP THE IDEA OF AN OVERALL RATING ALIVE.

3. TIME LIMITS: While each board was allowed to time itself, the event
or round was over at a specified time.  Diplomacy without a social time limit
becomes a silly exercise in insomnia.  By having time limits it allows the
administrators to keep up with the information needed to digest the scores, and
forces players to move along to the next thing.  Does it allow for some players
to twaddle to slow things down, or encourage some to hold out with refusals to
vote for draws?  Yes, but that is acceptable from my view when you consider the
benefit for moving things on.  It also reduces the tendency to watch other games
for their results.
     KEEP THE IDEA OF TIME LIMITS.

4. THE TEAM GAMES: Seven teams of seven were formed.  Five of which were
formed by players prior to DIPCON and two were tossed in, made up of those who
had no prior teams.  The idea being that in each game there was one member from
each team and that the collective scores of the team members were compared.
The team 'captain' got with his mates and tried to put forth the best team on
country strength so that a player who felt very secure as Russia played that
country and so on.  This tended to give some interesting results in that you
sort of had a self-seeding effect.  It was also a beginning of a group
comraderie which diffuses the self focus on the individual and forces the player
to look at overall happenings.  I believe the idea of Team Games started in
the UK conventions and it is worth keeping.
     KEEP TEAM GAMES.

5. GUNBOAT EVENT: Having been at DIPCON V where Gunboat Diplomacy was
invented...a funny story in itself...it was surprising how popular the game
was.  This DIPCON had an interesting twist in that each game had a gamemaster
who would mix up the orders and hide them from view so that when read it was
not obvious who was playing which country.  Nevertheless, errors and guesses
eventually revealed the player-country assignments.  However, this was a very
good idea for Gunboat and should be continued.
     KEEP THE GUNBOAT EVENT.

6. MANY PRIZES, TROPHIES, AND AWARDS: I never liked the idea of only
trophies or plaques for the top three positions.  Rocamora and I came up with
the idea of recognition for the best country score, regardless of your overall
standings.  The advancement of multiple events allows for event winners, such
as Hohn Cho winning the Individual Diplomacy Event, to receive recognition.
The adding of funny awards such as 'Best Poland', for the first player elimin-
ated, or a 'Winner's Circle', for those who win a game regardless of what, is
good.  We should try to have as many awards and things as possible that people
can take back with them as memories of the DIPCON.
     KEEP THE GOODIES.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough here and I'm sure there are many other
things  of positive value that can come out of DIPCON XXII.  I look forward to
seeing  that DIPCON spirit continue to improve the quality of everyone's
enjoyment.

I am enjoying publishing this zine.  Keep that mail coming!

Eric Klien