Diplomacy Game Guidelines

Ewha GSIS Spring 2024: International Security

Author

Dr. Kadir Jun Ayhan

“At the beginning of the 20th century, Europe was a complicated cauldron of political intrigue. You are about to travel back to those times and change the course of history in your favor.”

Diplomacy Rulebook

Instructions and Information

  1. There are seven countries representing the European great powers of the early 20th century: England, Germany, France, Russia, Austria, Italy, and Turkey.1

  • 1 Much of this content is adapted from the supplementary file provided by Eric R Rittinger. I appreciate him for making these materials available for adaptation.

    Rittinger, E. R. (2020). Inspiring students to think theoretically about international relations through the game of diplomacy. Journal of Political Science Education, 16(1), 41-56. doi: 10.1080/15512169.2018.1516556.

    1. We will use an online platform to play the game. I will distribute id’s and passwords to all team members.

    2. Everyone must study the game rules, which are available here.

      The instructions on using the online point and click interface are here.

      You can find clips that explain the game on Youtube or other platforms. Here are two examples:

      1, 2.

    3. Knowing the rules is essential to winning the game.

    4. You will play both in and outside of class. In-class game sessions will progress at a much quicker pace. Outside the class, you will make moves every 24 hours.

    5. Make sure to communicate with other teams, using the in-game messaging.

    6. Please take note of your individual experiences playing the game. The notes need not be long. These notes will be useful when you answer my guiding questions for the mid-term essay.

    7. For the mid-term, I will give you guiding questions for you to reflect upon.

    8. The bonus point scheme is as follows:

    • 1 winner: 4 points

    • 2 winners: 5 points to be allocated among the winners

    • 3 winners: 5 points to be allocated among the winners

    • 4 winners: 5 points to be allocated among the winners

    • 5 winners: 6 points to be allocated among the winners

    • 6 winners: 7 points to be allocated among the winners

    • 7 winners: 8 points to be allocated among the winners

    • The allocation of points will be written in the final agreement when finalizing the game and will be signed by the winners.

    • The points can only be non-negative integers (i.e., 1, 2, 3 etc.)