Communication between Players and the Games Master
To communicate with me (your Games Master) please use EA's PM system if your message is private, or enter a post in this forum. Do not use my hotmail e-mail account. You may also schedule a time to
CHAT with me about Diplomacy. Note: CHAT is currently unavailable, but as soon as it is up and running again we may use it.
Communication between Players
The method of communication between players is up to each player. You may use this thread, and/or PMs, and/or
CHAT. If you wish to give your fellow players (one or more) alternate contact methods (e-mail, telephone, in person ... etc.) that is done entirely at your discretion. This should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: if you are given someone's private contact information please do not abuse it - do not use it for any communication that is unrelated to Diplomacy, unless the other person approves. You are free to provide different means of communication to different players.
Failed Communications - Tough Luck
If you are using systems other than EA to communicate with your fellow players, and if that communication is disrupted ... tough noogies
all is fair in Diplomacy. The same goes for EA, if you are unable to access EA to submit your moves in time, but if
I can still access EA to pick up the submitted moves by all the other players then I will proceed to process the moves I have. I strongly urge every player to submit moves as soon as they have a plan, even if there is a chance the plan may change. You are allowed to submit moves as often as you wish up until the 9 PM EST. deadline. I will always process the moves submitted closest to, without going past, 9 PM EST. If something happens to you just before 9 PM and you cannot send your moves, but you've already submitted an initial set at least you will have some control over your units. When I was a player I always sent my next season's moves the day after the previous season's results were posted, even if the moves were just a list of my units supporting each other, I knew that at least I wouldn't leave them stranded.
Failed Communications -
exceptions to the rule.
I am reasonable, trust me
, if for some reason EA was unavailable for an extended period of time then, at my discretion, I might work out a new, temporary, schedule to cope with the problems. I will also use my discretion when it comes to accepting orders received after 9 PM. Usually if I have not yet posted the results I will accept late orders. However, sometimes I will post the results at exactly 9 PM, so being even a minute late might place your units in civil disorder.
Updating your orders
Let's say you follow my suggestion to submit an order ASAP, and then decide later that you'd like to change one or more of the orders. You will have until 9 PM EST. on the deadline date to do so. However, please note: You must resubmit a move for each of your units, not just the one that is different than the original message. By that I mean ... let's say you first submitted moves for all four of your units. You later decide that the fourth unit should go somewhere else. If you send me a message with *just* the updated moves for the fourth unit, then that order PM will override all previous orders, which means that only the fourth unit will have a move order and everyone else will be left untouched/unprotected. So, when submitting your moves, always provide instructions for each unit.
Posting of orders
When it is time to make each Great Power's orders public the rules state, "... players then reveal orders at the same time. Each player reads his/her orders while others make sure that what they hear is what is written." Imagine - cheating even when revealing one's orders!
In on-line play I follow these
reveal all guidelines by posting the relevant sections from the PMs that each Great Power submits. I might edit it to remove a question (to me) stuck inbetween an order, but for the most part you can expect that the orders you write are the orders everyone will see. Please feel free to be as creative as you wish in your order writing, since the other players will see what you've written.
Abbreviations
When you submit your moves to me please do not use abbreviations. Unlike the official rules of diplomacy where you are encouraged to use abbreviations for order instructions and country names, I prefer as much detail as possible. I've seen too many orders fail due to a typo in an abbreviation.
Errors Errors by players
If you make an error in your submission unfortunately you can only correct it if you catch it prior to the 9 PM EST. deadline.
If you submit your moves to me and I notice an error in them I will
not point it out to you. I do not want to risk a situation where I noticed an error by player A, and arranged for it to be corrected, but then miss an error by player B that causes them harm during the game.
If you
ask me if a
specific move is valid then I will of course do my best to answer you in a timely fashion. However, try not to leave your questions until the last minute, if I happen to be unavailable prior to the 9 PM deadline you will still be responsible for submitting your moves on time.
Errors Errors by the Games Master (me)
If I make an error in processing the moves then I will correct the error, and announce the correction within this thread, if another season has not yet passed. If it is close to the next deadline, then I will contact the players to see if they would like to postpone the deadline in order to deal with the new/corrected results. If the error is not discovered until after a move, or more, has gone by then we will have to proceed with the game in its current state. I will, of course, do my best to avoid such a bad situation.
Communication by non-players
If you are not a player you may still post in this forum, either to offer encouragement to the player or to ask your own questions about the game.
Player Responsibilities
Please be sure to check this thread on a regular basis. I recommend that you "subscribe to this thread" (selection at the bottom of the page), that way you'll always know when something new has happened. The e-mail notifications for new posts are sent to the address you have listed in your EA Profile.
When Poe ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.