Dipsters.org Forum » Tag: Dipsters

Dipsters.org Forum » Tag: Dipsters - Recent Posts http://www.dipsters.org/forum/tags/dipsters First please read the post, "Welcome! Using the Forum". en-US Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:10:26 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.dipsters.org/forum/search.php Chris Babcock on "How to Create and GM Dipsters games" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/how-to-create-and-gm-dipsters-games#post-211 Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:48:28 +0000 Chris Babcock 211@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ I really want to encourage GMs to use USAK.I know there's "How to GM" material out there still that tells people to contact Ken Lowe if the want to start a game, but that's not USAK. I will mentor, train, shadow... anything to get more GMs using the judge for their games as long as they fill and complete. The math is real simple. It costs just over $1000 a year to run the server. If there are 250 players, the average cost per user is $4 a year. If there were twice as many players the average cost per player would be half that. The only way to double the number of active players is to double the number of games. I run the USAK house games so that players can always find a forming game in the most popular configurations on USAK. That means USAK doesn't lose players because they can't find a game when they want to join one. Retaining players better and having a "go to" judge to find a forming game should make it easier for GMs to fill their games quickly. So the house games seed a positive spiral. It will work better for forming games once I have more game information on the listing page, but it's already been great for finding replacements. The average time to replace an opening in a novice game on USAK went from 10 days to 1 day when I placed the replacement positions on the USAK game list page. I think I can have a comparable improvement for forming games with the next improvement. Alan Mennel on "How to Create and GM Dipsters games" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/how-to-create-and-gm-dipsters-games#post-208 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:15:11 +0000 Alan Mennel 208@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Mark: It is very nice to contact the GMs prior to creating a game on their judges but I do not think that it is necessary. There are a number of JKs who run very reliable Ken Lowe judges and who are also members of Dipsters. USAL: Alan Lange USAK: Chris Babcock USAZ: Todd Lawson DEDO: Millis Miller Sam Tyler, who I believe subscribes to this list, currently runs USDP, which is probably the most popular judge but not a Ken Lowe type judge. There are also reliable Ken Lowe judges where the JKs are not members of the Dipsters Group: USOS: Nightshade (Dejan Milosavljevic) FROG: Philippe Lalande This is not a complete list by any means but it represents the judges I use most of the time. Best Regards, Alan Mennel Alan Lange on "How to Create and GM Dipsters games" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/how-to-create-and-gm-dipsters-games#post-207 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:02:09 +0000 Alan Lange 207@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ USDD judge has one game waiting to fill. If it hasn't filled by the time it has waited a year, it will be deleted, and the judge will be shut down. If it does fill, then the judge will be available until the game is complete (plus a little time for EOGs. USAL is open and available for new games: <a href="mailto:usal@dip.game-host.org">usal@dip.game-host.org</a> Alan Mark Gallagher on "How to Create and GM Dipsters games" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/how-to-create-and-gm-dipsters-games#post-206 Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:23:48 +0000 Mark Gallagher 206@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Back from a series of vacations and looking to GM my first game EVER. Haven't seen much in the way of Judge selection. Seem to recall reading awhile back that it was polite to ask a judgemaster for permission prior to setting up a game on their judge. Is there a shortlist of Dipster friendly JMs? What's the story on that USDD judge? Perhaps I'm over analyzing the situation. However, I don't want be guilty of any GM faux pas. Thanks and sorry about the noob question. Mark Alan Mennel on "Dipsters Spring Variant Tournament" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/dipsters-spring-variant-tournament#post-202 Wed, 05 May 2010 16:13:04 +0000 Alan Mennel 202@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi again, everyone! This is just a warning to those of you who want to play in this tournament but have not yet joined the queue. In the first 24 hours we had 50% of our quorum sign-up. If you do want to play in this interesting variant tournament, I suggest that you join the queue right away, before the registration suddenly closes. <a href="http://www.dipsters.org/dvt.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dipsters.org/dvt.html</a> Hope to see you all in the tournament! Good luck! Alan Mennel Alan Mennel on "Dipsters Spring Variant Tournament" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/dipsters-spring-variant-tournament#post-201 Tue, 04 May 2010 15:00:15 +0000 Alan Mennel 201@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Now that it is May, it is time for the annual Dipsters' Group Variant Tournament. All tournament games are 24 hour no-press games with weekday (Monday through Thursday) deadlines. The tournament games start under a staggered schedule with the last game beginning approximately 12 weeks after the first game starts. This year we are playing a variant which we call 'Open Build'. There are two special settings for this tournament variant: 1) Players may build in any owned (home or non-home) center during a build phase. This is an interesting setting because it allows strong governments in exile even after one's homeland is overrun. 2) Players may disband any unit during a build phase (and thus gain the option to rebuild on a buildable center if desired). If interested, please join the queue right away: <a href="http://www.dipsters.org/dvt.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dipsters.org/dvt.html</a> You may access the tournament rules through this page. Since we are starting this tournament a little late (as usual), please join right away as we may start as soon as we reach a quorum. To play in this tournament, you must - be a member of the Dipsters' Group, or - be a member of Diplomacy Direct, or - have an ontime record of 90% or better on the Ken Lowe judges with no willing abandonment. Best of Luck, Alan Mennel Alan Mennel on "How to Create and GM Dipsters games" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/how-to-create-and-gm-dipsters-games#post-124 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:45:05 +0000 Alan Mennel 124@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Everyone: Near the top of any page on the dipsters.org site, there is now a navigation tab that reads, "Hosting Games". This contains instructions on how to host Dipsters games along with a number of game templates which you may use and modify in creating your games. Enjoy! Alan Alan Mennel on "More News" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/more-news#post-123 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:45:22 +0000 Alan Mennel 123@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Rob: There is now a navigation tab on the top that reads, "Hosting Games". This contains instructions on how to host Dipsters games along with a number of game templates. Enjoy! Alan Alan Mennel on "More News" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/more-news#post-121 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:15:56 +0000 Alan Mennel 121@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Rob: Thanks for offering to GM. I appreciate it. I will put game templates up on this site within 24 hours. You are free to use the templates as they are or to modify them for the particular type of game that you want to run. You may create whatever type of game you desire although the most popular seems to be a 24-hour no-press game with weekday deadlines. Once you create the game, notify the Group Moderator (me) and I shall put it on our list of Dipsters games. Regards, Alan Robert Sharp on "More News" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/more-news#post-120 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:59:20 +0000 Robert Sharp 120@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ I'm happy to GM a game or two, I have a little experience of the process of setting up a game and the day to day GM-ing of them. However, I do not have experience of how the Dipsters games are arranged. Should I just setup a game and then advertise it on the Dipsters forums, or am I supposed to canvass opinion on which format of game would be most desirable? Rob Alan Mennel on "Membership classifications and bylaws in the new Dipsters group" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/membership-classifications-and-bylaws-in-the-new-dipsters-group#post-117 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 10:17:57 +0000 Alan Mennel 117@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Guys: Viewing the members will require login. Since email addresses will be part of the member list data base, the member list will be kept within the secure members area of the site. For right now, the member list will be manually updated (by me) but very soon I would like to see portions of it maintained by the individual members through a program interface and password access. I hope to use something very simple such as MySQL for the database. Alan Andre "Nick" Gumiero on "Membership classifications and bylaws in the new Dipsters group" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/membership-classifications-and-bylaws-in-the-new-dipsters-group#post-116 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 09:15:17 +0000 Andre "Nick" Gumiero 116@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi, there Since yahoo group will be abandoned, I think the new webpage must have a list of e-mails of all the members, like yahoo, in case we need to send private mails (like voluntering for a gunboat game or gunboat game replacement). Is this information avaiable already? Gumiero Chris Babcock on "Membership classifications and bylaws in the new Dipsters group" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/membership-classifications-and-bylaws-in-the-new-dipsters-group#post-115 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:26:00 +0000 Chris Babcock 115@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ I'm trusting that viewing the members will require log in. I'm also curious whether the member list(s) will be manually updated or maintained through some program interface. The difference is how I would access it from a script. Alan Mennel on "Membership classifications and bylaws in the new Dipsters group" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/membership-classifications-and-bylaws-in-the-new-dipsters-group#post-114 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:13:00 +0000 Alan Mennel 114@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Actually the game templates had been on the Dipsters YAHOO! site for quite a while but I will bet that hardly anyone knew where to find them. I will move them to dipsters.org and make it evident where they are, probably under member pages. I will also put the database (list of members) in the same area. Alan Chris Babcock on "Membership classifications and bylaws in the new Dipsters group" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/membership-classifications-and-bylaws-in-the-new-dipsters-group#post-110 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:18:57 +0000 Chris Babcock 110@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ First, changing Diplomacy Direct from a separate "Junior Dipsters" club to a membership status within Dipsters is a great idea as is the inactive member status. For my own part, I would be running games for Dipsters if it wasn't for 3 things: - I don't know what game formats are wanted. - I don't have an easy way to qualify that the players are members. - It's not clear how to list a game as a Dipsters game. Actually, the last reason is pretty weak. I know that if I post it to the forum that Alan will put it up on floc. I only mention it for completeness. :-) Since there's a game mastering requirement for regular membership, it might be good to build on the tradition of making it easier to GM Dipsters game started by having the game templates available in the YahooGroups by posting the templates on the Dipsters site conspicuously. A "How-to GM for Dipsters" article or establishing a tradition of mastering a game as a rite of passage for graduation from DD to full membership would also be recommended. Alan Mennel on "Membership classifications and bylaws in the new Dipsters group" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/membership-classifications-and-bylaws-in-the-new-dipsters-group#post-109 Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:00:45 +0000 Alan Mennel 109@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Everyone: I am curious if everyone has realized the advantage of the changes that I made to memberships in Dipsters, specifically the four classification? Now, should Real Life intervene and force one to take a less active role in the group, one may become an inactive member by putting his membership on hiatus for a time. This will free the member of any obligations to host games while allowing him to still participate in the Members Forum if he desires. Any observations about the bylaws for the new group? All the Best! Alan Alan Mennel on "More News" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/more-news#post-105 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:20:38 +0000 Alan Mennel 105@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Hi Everyone: After having my problems with time management last year (to put it politely), I decided that consolidating the Dipsters and Diplomacy Direct sites from the YAHOO! into a new group here would give us a rare opportunity to improve our group. Based upon my experiences over the last 5 years, I decided to "tweak" the bylaws from the old Dipsters group and adapt them for the new group. I encourage everyone to read the current (new) bylaws in their entirety <a href="http://www.dipsters.org/members/members.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dipsters.org/members/members.html</a> but I shall summarize the major changes here: Membership: We now have 4 classes of Membership 1. Diplomacy Direct - This is a provisional membership for new online players who have completed one to four online judge games. These members may play only in Diplomacy Direct or Open Games. They may participate in the Dipsters Forum but they may not vote. 2. Dipsters Active - While in good standing, active Dipsters members may play in all Dipsters games, participate in the Dipsters forum, and vote. 3. Dipsters Inactive - Active Dipsters Members in good standing may put their membership on hiatus for any length of time. While inactive a member does not need to fulfill the membership requirements relating to GM games. While inactive, a member may participate in the Dipsters Forum but he may not vote and he may not play in any Dipsters games other than open games. 4. Dipsters Charter - This class of membership is reserved for members who have already made a significant contribuion to the hobby, such as Judge Keepers. While a charter member is not required to GM any games, he may play in all Dipsters games, participate in the Dipsters Forum, and vote on all Dipsters issues. Remaining in the Dipsters Group GM Requirements: In order to spread the work load around and to create accessible games for more members, I changed the requirement for active Dipsters members from "playing" a Dipsters game each year to "GMing" a Dipsters non-tournament game each year. Admittedly this does not add very much to anyone's workload but it makes a big difference in having games accessible for all members. I believe that these bylaws will improve our group. If enough of you disagree, I have left the mechanism intact for amending the bylaws so feel free to change them. One other thing: You may have noticed that there is now a section describing the job and duties of the Moderator. I am hoping that having these duties on paper in the form of a time-line will improve our group by allowing us actually to run all the tournaments this year. Although I have run this group for 5 years as you hopefully benevolent dictator or Moderator, I would like to see someone else take over the position in 2011. I want to spend my time playing a few Dipsters games and improving this website since there is much, much more that we can do with our to the benefit of all the members of our group. Wishing you all the best! Alan Mennel Alan Mennel on "TD for Dipsters No-Press Tournament ???" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/td-for-dipsters-no-press-tournament#post-49 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:22:36 +0000 Alan Mennel 49@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Would anyone want to be the TD for our upcoming tournament? I do not want people who have already committed to play or who are considering playing the tournament. I also do not want JKs because you guys are doing far too much already. If anyone is interested, write me privately at <a href="mailto:dipsters@dipsters.org">dipsters@dipsters.org</a> I will be very happy to help you get started. Best, Alan Mennel Alan Mennel on "Welcome! Using the Forum" http://www.dipsters.org/forum/topic/welcome-using-the-forum#post-32 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:58:03 +0000 Alan Mennel 32@http://www.dipsters.org/forum/ Welcome to Dipsters.org and to the Dipsters.org Forum! Anyone may read this forum but only members of The Dipsters Group or Diplomacy Direct may participate in the conversation by adding new topics or by replying to existing topics. Posting to the Forum If you want to participate in the conversation, there are a few things that you must do first. STEP #1: Register for the forum Since you are already here, start by actually registering for the forum. At the top of this page, you should see the line: "Register or log in - lost password?" Click on the word "Register" in this line to begin your registration for the forum. Note that after you register, you will receive a message that you have done so and that the forum is emailing a temporary password to your email address when your registration has been approved. STEP #2: Join Dipsters or Diplomacy Direct Since you must be a member of Dipsters or Diplomacy Direct to post to the forum, join one of these groups if you have not done so already. <a href="http://www.dipsters.org/join.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.dipsters.org/join.html</a> You will not be admitted to the Forum if you have not first registered for either Dipsters or Diplomacy Direct To join the Dipsters Group, you should have completed at least 5 games on the Ken Lowe judges, have no willingly abandoned games, and have an ontime record greater than 90% on the judges. If there are special conditions which have kept you from meeting these requirements, explain them on your application and we will take them into consideration when we review your application. To join Diplomacy Direct, you must have between 1 and 4 completed judge games and you should have a recommendation from one of your GMs. STEP #3: Login to the Forum for the first time Retrieve your temporary password which the forum had sent to your email address. Go to the forum page again (<a href="http://www.dipsters.org/forum/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dipsters.org/forum/</a>) and enter your username (which is now registered) and the temporary password into the username and password fields. Log in. Once you login, you should now see a welcome message at the top of the page: "Welcome, (your username) | Log Out" Click on your username. This will take you to your profile. Click on the "Edit" Tab on the right. Fill in your first and last name and your New Password (the one that YOU want to use, not the temporary one). Click on the "Update Profile" button on the lower right. This will take you to your profile page again where you will see the message "Profile updated. Edit again »" near the top of the page. Click on "Edit again". From the drop down menu next to "Display name as", select your first and last name. Note: This is important because members of this forum may not know you as "the Cougar Hunter" ...unless they were with you on Saturday night of course. ;P Click on the "Update Profile" button again and you are now good to go. RSS Feeds If you explore the link at the live feed icon, you will find a number of possibilities that may be helpful in notifying you of new activity on this forum by feeding forum pages, topics, or new posts to Your Google Homepage, Google Reader, MyYahoo!, Bloglines, or Livebookmarks. Personally I have chosen to add a summary of new posts to my iGoogle homepage. Just 3 very easy steps to set up. It's so easy that I did not even have to ask my kids how to do it. After going to your iGoogle homepage, choose: 1) Add Stuff 2) Add by URL 3) Then enter the forum's URL for new posts: <a href="http://www.dipsters.org/forum/rss/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dipsters.org/forum/rss/</a> That is all there is to it! Anyway I hope that you enjoy this forum and this great group of people here. Just be sure to have fun! Alan Mennel