These are the ground rules that I use for any Diplomacy game that I run on the Judges. Any rules in the listing of a game are in addition to the ground rules specified here. If there are any discrepancies between these rules and the listing of the game, the game listing shall take precedence.
Your registration information with the Judge must be complete and accurate. I reserve the right to require additional verification (such as a "real" email address) from anyone using a free email service.
If you join a game, you are expected to stay with the game until it is finished (unless you are eliminated). If you absolutely must resign for some reason, please give me advance notice so that we have time to find a replacement.
Settings that affect the basic nature of the game (e.g., DIAS and press settings) will not be changed. Deadline calculations can be changed if the players unanimously agree.
If you need the deadline to be extended, please request the extension a week in advance. You must provide a reason why you need an extension. Any reasonable request (of up to two weeks) will be granted, as long as your extension requests are specific and infrequent. If you need more than two weeks (or if you require multiple extensions that would unduly slow the game), you should find someone to substitute for you while you are unavailable. Please do not sign up for a game if you anticipate that you will often be late or will need frequent extensions.
You may not purposely miss a deadline for any reason (such as waiting to receive press from another player). You may not send press if the deadline has expired and you have not yet submitted your orders. Anyone who is repeatedly late or abuses the grace period will be ejected from the game.
You should play each game independently, without regard for any other game in which you are playing (or have played). You may not make your actions in one game contingent upon the events of some other game. If you know one of the players from another game, you may make use of your general knowledge of how that person plays, but you may not make specific correlations between two games. You may not join a game if you intend to automatically ally with (or oppose) one of the other players.
You should not play frivolously. You are expected to try to win. If it is not feasible for you to win, you can try to share in a draw.
If I believe that a game has stalemated, I have the right to declare that the game will terminate in a draw if no supply center changes ownership during the next three game years.
It is your responsibility to verify that the judge has correctly recorded your orders. Once a turn has processed, it will not be replayed, unless the judge misadjudicated correctly-entered orders.
This paragraph applies only to "gunboat" (anonymous) games: You may not make any claim (whether true or false) as to your real identity. You may not attempt to contact other players outside of the Judge press facility. You may not join the game if you know the real identity of any of the other players.
In non-anonymous games, please use the Judge press facility for your negotiations with other players. If the Judge is down, you may resort to emailing the players directly.
In games that allow press, you may send messages on any subject during all phases of the game. However, you are required to submit your orders before the deadline, even if you are waiting to receive a message from another player.
Please refrain from profanity and abusive language. Please use the English language (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) for all press. I have the right to read all press, but I will not publish your private press without your consent. In games that do not allow partial press you may not attempt private communication (e.g., via cryptography or a foreign language) with another player. The use of cryptographic protocols is forbidden.
I will not send messages to other players on your behalf. If a game does not allow press, your only means of communicating with other players is through your orders. Do not expect me to announce draw proposals.
Once you are assigned a power in a game, you may never rejoin that game as a power other than the one you originally played. You may not resign from a game then reclaim your power in order to delay the game, pretend to be a replacement player, or authenticate your control of a power.
You may not attempt to signon as another player or deceive the Judge or the game master in any way. You may lie in your press to other players all you want, but "out-of-game" trickery is forbidden. Please notify me if you have evidence that someone is cheating, but do not discuss your suspicions with other players. I will expel and blacklist any player that I determine to be cheating.
These rules are my published policies and guidelines. I reserve the right to make amendments and exceptions at my own discretion.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at any time. If you need to contact me regarding a game, you can either email me directly or use "press to m". (I can not guarantee that I will read broadcast messages.) If I do not respond within 48 hours then please resend your message. I can not be held responsible for email that is lost or delayed. You should make a note of my email address in case you need to contact me when the judge is down.
Rod Spade
rodspade@acm.org