Drano, happy you felt pleasure by my post. If you got the whole sense of it, you found that I don't blame who prefers a variant over the others. Tastes are tastes and you have the right of playing the one you like the most.
What I blame is people who lost because they didn't have clear what game they were playing and, instead of blaming themselves, they blame someone else who did not play by some sort of "spirit".
WTA may be more similar to Board FtF game than PPSC, but it's not exactly the same so it's a variant itself. Welcome to internet.
That said, I don't see why someone who doesn't know Diplomacy at all, lands on the home page of a site like this, reads the rules @ http://www.vdiplomacy.com/intro.php, and then looks for his first game to join, I don't see why he should consider one variant more "true" than the other.
After a few games played, if I was him I'd try to make sure I had fully got the differences between the two pot rules in order to be able to properly play each one. Maybe only after months I'd wonder if there's one I like the most, if there's one more funny than the other. And if someone felt to explain me what would be "true" Diplomacy, if interested I could buy the Game Box.
From my point of view PPSC and WTA are 2 variants equally good.
Does who played the box game think WTA is more "true"? Good for him, I don't care what the "true" game is and I don't intend to buy the box to discover it.
To me, "true" games are what I can play here. Tournament, WTA and PPSC are all true.
"That aside, my real issue is that PPSC is the default setting on here ... I would argue that its easier to switch from WTA mentality to PPSC than the other way around."
Agreed. WTA is much more simple (for the reason of secondary goals I told before)[Note: "more simple" doesn't imply "more easy" to win]. Beginners should probably start with it, but I guess it would bring a couple of issues:
a) Psicological. A beginner would probably start with a long row of "defeated". Not encouraging. Nobody excites and become fond to a game he always lose (and gets 0
).
b) Points. With some survive good enough, a noob could improve his points. This is exciting! Encouraging! (Infact noobs often care about points, HoFs and stuff like that)
So basically I believe it's a matter of propaganda in order to encourage new players to stay, don't give up and become mature players.
Ok. Thanks for reading this. Now I expect that some of those will show up.
Not some of those who just prefer WTA, I understand their arguments on why they find one variant more funny than the others and why this variant has to be WTA, for them.
I'm saying some of those who "My God told me that WTA is the ONLY real Diplomacy and He promised that if I'll fight the unfaithful PPSCer I'll get to heaven. There will be 78 virgins, 2 arguable girls and one undisputed big slut waiting for me, there!"
I like WTA after all. I'd like it more than now if there weren't so many bigot religious-fanatics with their pointless arguments.