Tuesday, July 29, 2014

YOU F----D UP.  YOU TRUSTED US:  What happens when you invite a real diplomat to help you play Diplomacy?  David Hill, a boardgame enthusiast, decided to dust off his game of Diplomacy invited Dennis Ross, a career foreign service negotiator, to serve as his coach.

Follow the story in two related pieces of media: the Grantland article and last week's episode of This American Life.

8 comments:

  1. Joseph Finn8:28 PM

    I honestly thought we'd had that Grantland article here, but I'm glad we do know. It's really, really interesting.

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  2. I listened to the TAL piece Sunday night, and one of my principal reactions was "Gee, I'm glad that I never played Diplomacy, even though I really, really wanted to at certain times in the past."

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  3. Joseph Finn11:25 PM

    "I could play Diplomacy, or I could have friends."

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  4. The Pathetic Earthling11:33 PM

    It's an utterly maddening game.

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  5. Fred App12:46 PM

    I have to admit that I was a nerd when I was younger and frequently played Diplomacy with my friends. I think the fact that we were all friends helped; we had a relationship that went beyond and could survive the game. But I was always uncomfortable with the paranoia and distrust, and that was as a teenager who hadn't experienced much lying and back-stabbing yet. I doubt I would enjoy it at all now.

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  6. Did anyone here ever play Steve Jackson's game "Illuminati"? That one also encouraged all kinds of bad behavior. I played that with friends. It was fun, except you could never go to the bathroom for fear that people would take your stuff or rearrange the cards.

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  7. Mr. Cosmo3:50 PM

    I play this game for 10 hours a day at the office. Why would I voluntarily do so in my free time?

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  8. The Pathetic Earthling5:22 PM

    Great game. I think their later CCG was just awesome.

    But, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BBMbbhqXfw#t=9m00s

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