The Out-Come
Oriented Approach, or
"If I had known
you had wanted to win, we could have done something about
it!"
by Tom
Hurst
from Diplomacy World #42
In my last article, I indicated
that players approach the game of Diplomacy from three different directions,
outcome-oriented, process-oriented, and other-oriented. In this article, I will examine the
first of these approaches, the outcome-oriented.
The outcome-oriented approach is
the realm of those players who are most concerned with the ultimate outcome of
the game. They concern themselves little with how they got there, or why they
played in the first place. Members of this group can be divided into four
sub-groups:
The
Emperor
The Emperor is the player who, like
Napoleon, goes all out to conquer the world. To him, there can be no substitute
for first place, as anything other than this is considered losing. In order to
win, a player of this type will stop at nothing.
An Emperor’s playing style is
characterized by the offer of one-sided deals benefitting himself most. Alliances are dropped just as soon as they can
no longer benefit the Emperor, usually for an alliance that allows him to rip
off his former partner. A true Machiavellian, the Emperor doesn't care who he's
with or what he does, just as long as he comes out on top.
Surprisingly, the Emperor rarely
has need to lie to anyone, as his "What's in it for me?" attitude puts everyone
on notice that everyone is his friend for just as long as they help him toward
his win, and not one second longer! Unfortunately, he is disappointed often, and
usually ends up surly and a burnout before too long.
The Henchman
The Henchman is the second sub-type
of the outcome-oriented approach. This is the type of player that believes that
Diplomacy is a team sport. If he finds another Henchman on his side of the
board, watch out! They will form an
immediate alliance which they will stick to through thick and thin, and use the
combined forces of their countries like a single superpower in an attempt to
sweep the board! Never will there be even the remotest possibility of a Henchman
stabbing his ally. The Henchman's ultimate goal is a draw with his ally.
A Henchman's playing style is
characterized by a game-long plan for domination of the board with his ally. Any
and all offers from other than his primary ally will be accepted for only so
long as they fit into that master plan. A Henchman rarely writes to anyone other
than his primary ally, unless it is to convince others of something that would
benefit the alliance. The Henchman can and will lie often, except to his partner
in crime.
An interesting sidelight is what
happens if a Henchman forms an alliance with what he thinks is another of the
same ilk, but is actually a closet Emperor. When the Emperor finally stabs him
and takes the win all by himself, the Henchman's
screams can be heard throughout the hobby. Often, the Henchman then plots
revenge by stabbing his partner back in any other game they might be in together
(a process known as cross-gaming), and blackening his partner's name by telling
everyone he has contact with about how "untrustworthy" he was. Be very careful
when allying with a Henchman. They are very clannish. Once you stab one, rest
assured you will never ally with one again!
The Survivalist
The Survivalist is the type of
person that never walks out of a basketball game before the end, even if the
home team is losing by 70 points!
"By God, I've paid for the ticket, and I'm going to get my money's
worth!" That's his philosophy. He
believes that the yardstick of good play in Diplomacy is not whether one wins or
draws, but whether he can keep from losing, losing being defined as being wiped
out. To this end he will use any tactic.
The Survivalist never actually
starts a game believing that he won't win or draw. However, his dread of being
wiped out leads him to make friends with everybody, stifling his growth because
he won't attack anybody. He thus usually never grows much beyond his original
strength, save for a neutral or two snagged in 1901. When his weak sister status
is taken advantage of later on by the remaining powers, the Survivalist will go
to any lengths to avoid being wiped out.
Whining, groveling, and boot-licking then becomes a way of life for this character. This is the type of
player the word "toady" was coined to describe.
If the Survivalist manages to
convince his attackers to let him live on until the end of the game, even with
only one center, he will feel that he has accomplished a great feat of
negotiation. No matter that he had no influence on the game from the first turn.
He will then bore the socks off
anyone who cares to listen, telling them just how well he played.
The Scavenger
The Scavenger is the person that
would have you believe that second place is good enough. After all, doesn't that
mean that you were better than five other players? At heart, the Scavenger is an
Emperor that doesn't like to make an enemy, or at least make an enemy that can
fight back.
A Scavenger doesn’t actually begin
the game working for second place.
He is perfectly willing to take a win if it is presented to him on a
silver platter! Failing in this,
however, he starts the game much like a Survivalist, keeping his head down and
not becoming a target. Unlike the
Survivalist, though, he will grab a center here and there, usually from the
backsides of the targets of other alliances, most times under the guise of
"helping prevent them from sweeping the board." At the same time, the Scavenger
is negotiating with that same alliance, "helping" them take this guy out so that
they can go on to bigger and better things. After all, it does not pay to make
an enemy that can hurt you!
The end of the game usually takes a
Scavenger by surprise, as a player who doesn't mind making an enemy takes his
last one out for the win, leaving the Scavenger a center or two from winning
himself. The Scavenger then tries to convince everybody that second place was
what he was after all along, If this happens often
enough, he may even start to believe it himself!
In Closing
The outcome-oriented approach is
the realm of those players who are primarily interested in how the game turns
out. However, this is not the only way to approach a game of Diplomacy. Some
players are more concerned with how the game is played than with its outcome.
These players will be the subject of the next article in this series.
Until then, Ciao!