Diplomacy House Rules

These house rules apply to all games that I (Alan Lange) moderate on an email Judge system. Signing on implies your acceptance of them. Much of this document has been lifted from Russ Blau's house rules.

1. By signing on to a game, you implicitly agree to both these house rules and the game's particular settings.
2. All games are subject to the default house rules published by the Judge (get file 'house.rules'), except as modified by these rules. These house rules prevail in the event of any conflict. Any changes to these standard rules (e.g., for a variant game) will be announced in the game listing, and will prevail over these rules in the case of a conflict.
3. All players must have complete and accurate registration information on file with the Judge. I set all my games to "manualstart" and I will not start a game until I have verified that all players have filled out all required registration fields, including Name (first and last), Address (city and state/province), Country, Email, and Level.
4. Players joining a game (either at the start or as replacements) are expected to not have an outside connection (such as family relationship, personal contact, etc.) with another player in the game. Players having any such connection must disclose it to me before they join, and I reserve the right to reject players who appear to be too closely connected. If they do join, all other players will be informed and they will be expected to play as if there was no connection between them. Failure to disclose a pre-existing connection is grounds for expulsion from the game.
5. Players who have been in a game at any point may not re-enter the same game as a different power.
6. It is forbidden to sign on as another player, even if that player asks you to.
7. Once a game begins, the game settings can be changed only by a vote of the players, except as noted in these rules. Votes involving changes to 'significant' game parameters must be unanimous. For votes involving less significant changes (such as long extensions), a majority vote is sufficient. In all votes, abstentions will count as 'no'. A 'significant' change is one which, in my judgment, materially affects the nature of the game or the ability of the players to participate in it.
   1. I may change the List flag and the dedication/on-time-ratio/CD-ratio settings without a vote.
   2. I may change the Level setting without a vote if it appears that doing so is necessary to obtain a replacement player without extended delay.
   3. I may extend deadlines and grace periods for individual phases without a vote, although I usually will not grant extensions in excess of two weeks.
   4. I reserve the right to refuse certain changes to game parameters after the game has commenced if, in my opinion, they will skew the game too much. Under NO circumstances will the DIAS flag or press settings be changed once the game has started.
   5. The previous paragraph does not prevent changing the press settings after the game ends, in no-press games, to allow end-game statements.
8. Ignorance is no excuse. It is the player's responsibility to know the judge syntax and commands, or else to ask me for guidance in advance of the deadline. I will help with judge syntax as much as possible.
9. Once a turn is processed, it will not be rolled back, except to correct an error in Judge ajudication. In that case, it will be re-processed using only the orders that were originally received by the Judge before adjudication, with such changes as are minimally necessary (in the GM's judgment) to correct the adjudication error. Claims of judge failure, lost email, etc. will not be accepted.
10. Never go abandoned. Never resign your position if it is humanly possible to keep playing. If you must resign, you should inform me first. Failure to do this may prevent you from returning to the game or playing in other games of mine. The only exception is when you are eliminated (though I encourage staying to contribute to the end-game statements).
11. I ordinarily will not allow any deadline extensions or absences during the first game-year.
12. I reserve the right to remove persistently late players from the game with no appeal. Players will be warned at least twice before their removal.
13. Press:
    1. All press to other players and to me should be via the judge mechanism, unless the judge is down. (If you do send me email outside of the judge mechanism, please put the judge and game name in the subject header, for example NZMB:targetof).
    2. A message sent to me using the 'PRESS TO M' command should receive at least an acknowledgement. If it doesn't, assume I didn't get it.
    3. Do not count on me reading broadcasts or press to other players and copied to me, for example, 'PRESS TO AEM'. I consider such press part of the game, and not to me.
    4. Press from observers to players relating to the game in progress is not permitted.
    5. All press made in a game should be in the context of a game. Any critical comments of a player are to be made of that player's play and not the person themselves.
    6. If I receive complaints about offensive language, I will ask the offender to be civil. Repeat offenders will be asked to leave or ejected as necessary.
    7. Unless noted in the game comment, press shall be in English.
14. I will not give tactical or strategic advice on a game in progress. I may be consulted about a rule interpretation, and I will give my opinion, to the best of my knowledge. There is no guarantee that this is correct however, and I take no responsibility if found to be in error.
15. I will not enter commands into the judge for a player (although I may not apply this rule strictly in novice games). I also reserve the right to submit meaningless final retreats for eliminated powers in order to keep the game moving.
16. Where dedication points are lost because of abandonment due to a judge failure, I will ask the Judge Keeper to restore them. Small dedication losses due to missed deadlines are not worth troubling the JK.
17. I will not broadcast draw or concession proposals, or any other form of indirect communication on behalf of players, in a no-press game.
18. If I believe that a game has stalemated, I may start the "three-year clock" as described in the Judge house rules. If I receive a request to start the draw clock, I will acknowledge the request but not otherwise respond, to avoid inadvertently commenting on the game while it is in progress. I will start the draw clock only when it is necessary in my judgment, not based on player demands (although I will rarely, if ever, start it without receiving a request). It is very unlikely that I will start the draw clock if any supply centers have changed ownership within any of the last two to three game-years. Players should be aware that the draw clock is a last resort and will not be used merely to shorten the game.
19. Anyone found to be deliberately cheating will be removed from the game and, if the game is irrevocably ruined, the game will be terminated. If in doubt, ask me. If you try to break these rules intentionally instead, you may well be ejected from the game.
20. The GM reserves the right to resolve any situation not provided for by these rules, in the exercise of his discretion.

There is a wealth of information available at The Diplomatic Pouch and many strategy articles at diplomacy-archive.com. Alain Tésio's online tools are also very useful. The official game rules are available from Hasbro.

Please remember that this is a game. Enjoy it!