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Multi-accounters
The easiest way to understand is to look at an in-game screenshot. If the concept is still strange read the intro to phpDiplomacy.
The gameplay is quite self explanatory, but if you're unsure about something read the intro to phpDiplomacy, and feel free to ask for help or clarification in the public forum.
The GNU Affero General License
(Open Source Initiative approved),
which basically says you can download and change the code as you like, and put it up on your
own website, but you can't claim you wrote it, and you have to give any changes
you make back to the community.
See the credits for information about the
small elements which are under different licenses.
To pause a game all surviving players have to enter '/pause' into the chatbox's Global
tab. Once every surviving player has done this the game will be paused.
To remove your pause vote after you've entered '/pause' type '/unpause', and the '/pause' will be cancelled.
When everyone is ready to continue all surviving players enter '/unpause'; once all surviving players have entered
'/unpause' the game will continue.
Can we end our game with a draw?
To draw a game all surviving players have to enter '/draw' into the chatbox's Global
tab. Once every surviving player has done this the game will be drawn.
To remove your draw vote after you've entered '/draw' type '/undraw', and the '/draw' will be cancelled.
Occasionally we get this complaint, but every time we have checked the input logs to see what order
was actually entered it turns out to be the mistaken order. Also the mistaken orders are often the
'Bulgaria'/'Budapest' sort of mistake which are easier to imagine human error than a bug.
Try finalizing your orders and then checking them over, so you can be sure of what you entered.
My orders gave the wrong results!
Before reporting this as a bug double check that you entered your orders correctly and you're
not misunderstanding the rules. 95% of the time adjudicator bugs turn out to be a player mistake.
If you're still positive there's a problem let us know in the forum.
Why did the game start with only 5/6 players?
Germany and Italy are set to civil disorder when there are only 5/6 players, as the official rules state. You can always pause the game and wait for a player or two to take over the civil disorder placeholders, but a 5/6 player game is still playable.
You can't run out: Your total number of points include the number of points which you have 'bet' into games you're currently playing in,
as well as the points you have in your account. Your total number of points never falls below 100; whenever it does
you're given your points back.
To put it another way; any player who isn't currently playing in any games will always have at least 100 points, so
you won't run out!
How are the points split in a draw?
In a draw the points are split evenly among all the survivors still in the game,
regardless of the number of supply centers each player has.
Read the points guide for more info about the points system.
I have an idea for a better system
We constantly get new ideas for the points system, but usually they're either missing
out in some aspect (the points system serves multiple functions), or they improve in one area but are worse in another.
The points system does the job fine, so it's unlikely to be replaced.
There's no real way to express how good a player really is in a single number, the points system as it is is
probably good enough for now, and there's definitely no agreement on what would replace it.
Can you draw the game, but give 2/3rds of the points to this player and ...
Draws can only be given one way; an even split to all survivors.
Once everyone has finalized their orders the game moves forward to the next turn immidiately; so a game can go as fast
as the people playing it want it to go. This is the effectively the same way the game works face-to-face, and
it doesn't work well when you don't know the people you're playing with since they may have to leave.
In general you can get a good fast game online with friends who finalize quickly, but fast games with strangers don't work online.
A better forum would be good, but getting it to fit in and appear as part of phpDiplomacy, rather than just a separate site, is difficult.
Variants would also be good, but there's not enough willpower to add them on at the moment. Unless you're interested in adding them yourself (see the Help subsection below) you'll have to wait.
phpDiplomacy has a software development philosophy that less is more, and unless a feature is going to benefit a lot of people it shouldn't be added. Things should be kept as simple as possible, and features shouldn't be added just because they would be easy to add.
Sure; all donations are very welcome, and will go directly towards the server fees.
Can I help develop the software?
You sure can! If you're an HTML/CSS/JavaScript/PHP 5/MySQL/Silverlight/Flash developer, or want to learn, check out the dev info, and if you get lost you can get help/discuss ideas
Feature suggestions are best made in the developer forums, elsewhere they're likely to be missed. Remember that unless you can back-up your suggestion with code even good ideas may not get far.
Tell your friends about phpDiplomacy, put links on your website, help people out in the forums, and play well and help new players.
Why are some orders missing from the map?
Not all orders are drawn on the small map. Below the small map there is a set of icons;
the one in the middle opens up the large map, which contains all orders.
Also at the bottom of the board page is a link to open up a textual list of all the orders entered in the game, if you can't see
something in the map.
I can't tell the difference between Germany and Austria
Color-blind people may have trouble distinguishing Germany and Austria's colors. We hope to fix this problem in the future.
Someone who has more than one account (this is banned).
A meta-gamer is someone in more than one game who lets one of his games influence how he plays in
another one. The classic example is threatening a stronger player in a weak game with a country in a different game where the tables
are turned.
Meta-gaming is usually frowned on, but is acceptable in some cases and not seen as being as bad as multi-accounting.
What action is taken against multi-accounters
Data is logged which makes it possible to spot multi-accounters. Eventually they're spotted and banned, and their points are removed. Because of this the players with the most points are the least likely to be multi-accounters.
I think someone is a multi-accounter
Double-check and try and get lots of good reasons for your suspicion, then talk to the 'multi-accounter'. If you're still sure then post your evidence to the forum.
I play on the same computer as someone else, I dont want to get banned
The data used to tell whether someone is a multi-accounter
is a lot more thorough than just IPs. More evidence than just having the same IP is needed for a ban.
However if you know the other player well you may want to avoid playing in games with them, or you'll have an unfair advantage. You
should at least let the other players in the game know that you know the other player in real life.
