Diplomacy and Conquest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] History & Description

Diplomacy & Conflict was created in November 2003 using a discussion board layout, similar to that of the current Invision design.

It was one of, if not the first, of its type. D&C had accurate descriptions and prices of military units, boundaries based on realism and an Avatar Team that also posted news based on real life current world events, without having to have actions sent to them by a player.

The colours of the board were red & white and had many different gameplay forums such as an arms market, UN Forum as well as having forums to help players express themselves such as a suggestions forum and OOC (out of character).

The Budget System was non-automatic and had to be done by the player but it was made easier by the creators by getting rid of the amount of calculation done by the players so they could be done as swiftly and as easily as possible.

The Avatars were also very particular about military actions and movements and the creators mostly oversaw military actions as they felt they had a duty to make sure that it was done properly.

The Avatars kept close watch on the actions and intentions of players and spoke to them regularly via Instant Messaging to offer them advice, tell them to spread the word, and to generally promote a friendly atmosphere between the Avatars and Players.

This is something the creators felt also lacked in Nationsims: A dedicated and friendly avatar team that catered for the players and kept a hold on things to prevent them from going out of control.

Unfortunately, the game was not to last for very long.

Due to the inactivity of a few crucial players (large and influential nations such as the United States, China & the U.K) and the fact that the creators did not have the time, the game fell into a lull and eventually ended with the Avatars and players going their separate ways.

[edit] The Creation and End

One day in November of 2003 the Creators set out (online of course) on a mission to obtain the correct information and support for the creation of their game. They found many enthusiastic players eager to try something new, including the current Head Administrator on SuperPower Classic, Itake.

After much canvassing and practically spamming of other players and games, the game got underway just after the new year with many members applying at once.

The game went fine for a few months until important players went missing and others started to get uninterested because of the lack of influential countries in the game. The Avatars, seeing that the lull would probably never lift, promptly ended the game, only to be approached by Itake to ask for permission to utilise their idea and use it for his own game.

The Creators were flattered that their idea had, although not delivered, impressed someone enough to inspire them to make a game based on their own ideas. They promptly accepted and waited with anticipation for the outcome. The outcome of course was SuperPower Classic.

[edit] About the Creators

The creators of the game were Peter White & Dustin Spiegel.

Peter lived in England and Dustin in the United States. They met whilst playing the Nation Simulator Qpawn 2000 and soon became friends by constant contact on AOL Instant Messenger.

Peter was still at school and Dustin had recently joined the National Guard, but both found they shared a lot in common, like music and politics, despite the differences between their lives.

After playing many different nation simulators, they found that they were unsatisfied by the quality and choice of most games. They found that most lacked detail, realism and a dedicated team of Avatars or Game Managers.

They wanted a game where you could use specific military units, realistic budgets and where they could mould and shape new players into intelligent and creative players, something that also lacked on most other nation simulators.

Although they wanted to have specifics regarding military units, they actually intended the game to be more political and less chaotic because they had seen games plunge into full-scale wars and lose the realism and quality of the game.

They also found that the Avatars began to be lazy and incompetent in their duties.

After the game expired Peter & Dustin rarely spoke again due to both being offline for long periods at a time.

Peter, after a 2 year lull, started playing nation simulators again in January 2006 and is currently playing SuperPower Classic.

Dustin is, apparently, no longer online.