Jonathan Chance and I have discussed this, and I’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and do it. Who’s up for a realtime Diplomacy game? What I mean is let’s play the game the way it is meant to be played, none of this one week turn bullshit. I’ll establish a chanel on IRC or AIM or whatever program we deem suitable. Turns will take 15 minutes each. We’ll do it on a Friday night or something, it’ll prolly take 4-5 hours. I’ll GM, and I’ll post the maps on my website for all to view. I anticipate having an IRC or AIM chanel where we can all kibbuts in real time, players and observers alike. I’ll reserve a spot for Jonathan ( it was his idea, after all, but if he’s not interested, no problem ), but the next 6 spots are open. After we get all our players, I’ll assign countries and we can figure out a date and time. Who wants in?
It’s been over 15 years since I’ve played regularly. Come to think of it, it’s been over 15 years since I’ve played. Looks like I have some cramming to do.
Bring it on. 
While this sounds like fun on a level previously unheard of, I think I’m going to have to stand out of this one. I can’t seem to keep from getting my ass handed to me with a week to work at it, I can only imagine the horror of a realtime game.
count me in if its on a friday/non-work night- although expect me to be a tad drowsy by the end of the game (What with the 5ish hr time difference and all…)
Sounds very intriguing.
I am an IRC chat dummy, so would country to country negotiations be via email, or private lines, or what?
I’d like to tentatively reserve a spot. But may need to give it up (before the countries were assigned, of
I’d suggest AIM. But no one tell Abe.
I’m AIMing for you now, sport.
I would propose that, if the game is on Friday, the countries be assigned sometime like Wednesday, so that there can be some calm initial diplomacy before the maelstrom begins.
No, if you’re going to do it it should resemble the FTF game as much as possible.
Bear in mind I’m not sure I can play…
I kinda like the idea of a short, even hours, period to negotiate first, but that’s just me. I’d like to be in in any case, though.
I’d love to try my hand against some of the more experienced folks.
Why not?
I think I’ll pass - I’ve become really comfortable with the pacing of email Dip. If I’m gonna do a game with RL pacing, I want the fun of actually getting together in one place, shouting insults and imprecations, drinking beer, taking a pizza break in midgame, and all that.
Hmm…
All we need is four more, RT.
I’ll sit in and watch how it runs.
It get a feel for it for the next round.
I haven’t read the replies to this thread.
I want to do this SO BADLY.
I think the initial Dip period should be short. What’s typical for ftf, 30 minutes for initial period and 15 per turn? That’s what I’d suggest.
As far as mimicking ftf, will we try to construct the game such that we can tell who’s talking to who, or not? If we use an AIM channel and do Dipping by IMs, you wouldn’t be able to tell who was confabbing except by the delay in people getting back to you. Would fast typists have an advantage in that game?
I’d love to play in this game if you guys’ll have me. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while. It’s impossible to get 8 people together from CAT23 to set it up.
I’ll have to learn AIM and IM and stuff.
What about us neanderthals who still have dial-up internet service. Are we gonna get screwed? and I, for one, intend to have beer and shout insults at you guys.
That’s how I play all my games. I’d like to play this one well.
No, it just transfers text. It should be fast enough.
You guys are gonna owe me for my 5 hour phone bill.
It’s pretty straightforward, Abe. AIM is a pretty much no-frills download from aol.com and you can disable all of the obnoxious stuff it wants to do. You just need to set up a screen name and someone will create a chat room and invite you in, and from there on it’s very self-explanatory.
I realized, though, that I’m on west coast time, so if you guys were planning to try to start the game on a Friday evening before 8:30 or so your (‘your’ being JC and Dave) time I’d have to sit out.
I’d be interested, but I’m not sure how successful I’d be with timing. I tend to bartend Friday and/or Saturday night, and combined with my social life it might be a sacrifice, I’ll definately keep an eye on the thread once scheduling negotiations take place.
Count me as a 40% maybe.
As for rules, I don’t think there should be anytime for Dipping before the game begins that night. Just like FtF. Oh, and AB, I have to imagine email would be too slow for this, so you’d might as well d/l mIRC and/or AIM. Both are tiny and shouldn’t present any problems over a dialup. Plus it’s a local call ;).
One last thing…wouldn’t “Realtime” Diplomacy mean that orders were due once every 3 months or so? Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and all? I’m just sayin’…