THE DIPLOMATICON

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I decided that it might be fun to make a page for other blog posts on WordPress that mentioned Diplomacy. Well, when I say ‘fun’, maybe interesting. Well, I say ‘interesting’ …

I came across one from the blog Board Game Hot Takes Podcast which had a podcast on Missing (Board Game) Homework Assignments that discussed Diplomacy. If you follow the second link, Dip is mentioned from 52:44 in the podcast.

The person who begins talking about Dip says it is a game they haven’t tried. They go on to say they should probably try it, but they probably won’t as they don’t think it is a game they’d like. They’d play it by being truthful and honest and probably get killed.

Another person then says they definitely didn’t like it. They put this down to playing with a group of people they don’t know; if they’d played it with gamers they did know, perhaps they’d be able to stab each other and laugh it off. Playing with people they didn’t know made them self-conscious.

This same person preceded these comments by saying: “What a hateful game Diplomacy is.”

And this got me thinking: Is Dip a hateful game?

A Game of Betrayal?

Granted, Diplomacy will involve you needing to betray someone, to stab them in the back. You’re trying to beat six other players, and to do that you need to work with one or more of them. You’re getting nowhere if you don’t.

If you’re going to win the game, the chances are you will have stabbed at least one other player to gain the win. And so perhaps this might lead you to think Diplomacy is a “hateful” game.

Perhaps this is why so many people don’t like Dip when they try it. I’ve come across people who think nothing happens, as ridiculous as that is, and they clearly don’t understand the game. And I’ve come across players who don’t like the idea of betraying an ally, a silly little caucus known as ‘Carebears’ in the Hobby. I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone call it “hateful” before.

Perhaps the best known article on Diplomacy was the one published in Grantland. Here the author entered the 2014 World Championship, and they found the game difficult to like. There were a lot of uncomfortable moments in their games, where players became overly emotional and frustrated. This is what caused the writer the discomfort more than anything else.

The truth of the matter is, however, that while there may be an ultimate betrayal, Diplomacy is about honesty and relationships.

A Game of Alliances

In Diplomacy, the alliance is the thing.

Now, there are different ways to play the game. I’ve mentioned Carebears above. Carebearism is a philosophy that sees players form a game-long alliance and stick with it. A true Carebear isn’t aiming to win the game outright, but survive to the end of the game and achieve a draw. The ultimate result for a Carebear is a 2-way draw, where the two players manufacture a ridiculously false result to share the 34 SCs between them.

Somewhere along the lines of this, but less extreme, is Drawmongery, the art of aiming to survive the game, be a part of the draw at the end, but not necessarily to overlook the chance of a solo win.

Then there is Calhamerianism, the idea that alliances should be maintained between players as long as you are benefiting from it. Once the alliance is no longer profitable, then you abandon it. This might mean betraying your former ally… but it might not. Perhaps you simply stop working towards joint objectives.

I could go on, but I won’t. This is about the alliance.

Whatever way you play the game, you’re going to need an ally and that means building a trusting relationship with other players. This is what the game is about: it’s a cooperative game, but one with a difference. This isn’t Pandemic, where you play as a team, or even Mafia or Werewolves, where your team attempts to overcome another team.

No, this is a game, according to Calhamer’s design, in which you build alliances, and switch them around. It was originally called Realpolitik, and this gives you the clue: Diplomacy is designed to be played in the way Otto von Bismarck conducted foreign policy – any alliance that is good for the country is fine, but only while it is good for the country.

Diplomacy has been likened to a lot of games. For me, though, it is more like Monopoly than most others. In Monopoly you play to bankrupt other players and, when you’ve achieved this, they are eliminated from the game. In Diplomacy, you play to remove other players’ chances of winning the game, and this is probably going to result in eliminations. It is certainly a game that can last as long, if not longer, than Monopoly!

So, while Diplomacy will, almost inevitably, involve some kind of betrayal, at some point, if you’re trying to win, it is about building the alliances with other players to get to that point.

Honesty, within sensible limits, is what the game is really about. You can’t build a trusting relationship if you’re lying to people all the time, and you can’t maintain it if you’re an opportunist who simply jumps on a supply centre as soon as you see one.

Good Players Don’t Cry

I struggle to see Diplomacy as a hateful game. It’s a game; it isn’t reality. We’re not talking about politicians lying to get elected and then doing what they can to gain as much from their position as possible. We’re not talking about religious leaders who will tell you that your god expects something of you, while exploiting your credulity for their own means. We’re talking about playing a game.

One of the comments in the aforementioned Grantland article was from Thomas Haver, a former World Champion. He said:

If it’s just, ‘Hey, it’s just a game, no hard feelings,’ then it allows them to get away with things that are considered taboo. When people play the game, you get to see their real personality. That’s when they take off the mask.

“The Board Game of the Alpha Nerds.” Hill, D. Grantland, 18 June 2014. Accessed from https://grantland.com/features/diplomacy-the-board-game-of-the-alpha-nerds/, 11 May 2025.

This isn’t what Diplomacy is about… and coming from the man who tried to break the international Dip community to get his way for WDC 2027, it’s something.

Diplomacy isn’t about that. Of course, you’ll get the hatemongers in Diplomacy who will do and say whatever they can get away with, as you will in any community. In general, though, the people who play Diplomacy are thoughtful, intelligent people.

Diplomacy is a game that is tough. It’s a game where you will be betrayed, whether or not you lie to anyone else. It’s a game in which, to win, you will have to betray someone else.

But it’s a game. If you can’t play the game without being comfortable with this, then the problem is yours.