One's first look at a Diplomacy set often leaves one thinking of games such as Risk or (worse yet) Axis and Allies. Fortunately the likeness ends with appearance. Diplomacy is a game about social interaction, not a game about carefully moving hundreds of pieces across an impossibly crowded map.

Diplomacy's similarities with chess are many. Both games have no luck at all. Both games emphasize thinking ahead as a primary skill, and both games can be enjoyed at all skill levels.

The human aspects of Diplomacy are much like those of poker. Poker and Diplomacy are both games that reward skillful bluffing, deceit, and out right lying. Some players find Diplomacy difficult at first because they are uncomfortable with lying to their friends. To those people I offer this (unoriginal) analogy: It's wrong to hit people, but within the rules of boxing it is okay to hit people. Similarly, it's wrong to lie to people, but within the rules of Diplomacy it's okay to lie to people.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Copyright (c)2002 Ry4an Brase