I'd be down for playing live games sometimes!

I have the feeling most live games never started as they are created at a random time with too little players interested/available. Only for 1v1 games it works every now and then, yet it's difficult to get variants with more players off the ground.

The only problem that remains is that it will require quite some coordination as many players live in completely different timezones. Might be difficult to get enough people available for 1 or 2 hours if you want to do a 7+ player variant.

I would enjoy playing live games. I am available between 3 am and 4 pm GMT on most days in the holidays.

I'm around evenings Pacific Coast time most of the time, and would love to play full press live games.

BobRoss: How about you, any timezone you favor? I have had the same (very limited) experience about live games not taken off, likely because of them being too spontaneous. We could probably start with trying out smaller maps and see if it works.

yoak: Glad you're interested! I'm not sure about full press games though, 5 or 10 min phases are probably not enough unless you're only talking to neighbors? I think even public press might be quite chaotic in shorter games.

I am experienced at playing live games and 10 min/phase should surely be enough.

I regularly play live Classic games on webdiplomacy.net. Gunboats are often 5 min/phase and press games often 7 min/phase (an option we don't have here), though 5 min/phase and 10 min/phase for press games also happen regularly. These games are playable, though you have to make decisions quickly and don't have much time to ponder on your strategies.

An advantage that vdiplomacy.net has over webdiplomacy.net is that many maps here have the IA map. With use of the IA map, you can enter orders much quicker than without.
I sometimes play live games with friends on vdiplomacy.net. The latest game I played was gameID=30710, a 10 min/phase press game on a map for 9 players. We had plenty of time to talk and to enter orders. The IA map helped with entering orders quickly, but I don't think was even necessary, because if you make quick decisions, you can do a lot in 10 minutes.

I agree with Mercy. I've played quite a few of these over on webdip. It allows basic coordination and alliances, but I wouldn't try to negotiate Key Lepanto (unless I knew the other guy was already very familiar, cause there is only time for yes / no). I find the restrictions in bandwidth in talking an interesting additional component of the game. Identifying the skill level of opponents goes up. Sometimes decisions about who to work with even emerge based on the other player's ability to communicate enough in the time frame allowed. Another neat phenomenon is that no one needs all that time during retreats and builds, but it always gets used. This puts a premium on an ability to project, because at certain phases you get 2x or even 3x with retreats to discuss with allies, and if you can see further into the future, it makes later, quicker communication easier and more effective.

You might start out with things like, "DMZ the Channel and both press hard on Germany? I'll take Belgium and you take Holland, and we'll support each other in from there." And barely get a yes, but by retreats in the fall, you can be mapping things out, discussing what Italy and Russia are up to, etc.

Or maybe all this is just rationalization from a guy who really hates gunboat. ;-)

Thanks guys for the insight, I guess it might be more accurate than my assumptions based on very little live-game experience :) Unfortunately yoak and I are in quite opposite time-zones so I'm not sure we'll find a suitable time for both of us. So maybe I'll set up a game for next Sunday at 12 pm GMT and see how it goes (set it up tomorrow so it'll start at the right time).

Your observations about full press games got me curious, so maybe we could start out with the Classic map (first come, first served), and I'll try to figure out whether 5 or 10 min is best, as I'm perhaps not that used to making very quick in-game decisions.

I guess 5 min should suffice as most players are pretty familiar with the map.

^ I cannot play at that time, too.

How about the next weekend?

Probs I won't be available in the near future but I would like to keep the option open, therefore I am curious: anyone around the GMT+8 timezone?

I am currently at GMT + 2, but I go to bed and wake up really early so you can almost count me as GMT + 8. :p
Like I said, I play between 3 am and 4 pm GMT. I can never play at 12 pm GMT.

I'm interested in live games, but first I have to figure out the time zones.

Okay. I am GMT minus 6. Well, nobody ever said coordinating across the world was easy.

12 PM Sunday would be 5:00 AM for me. On a Sunday. :-) I don't think I can play then. Ideal for me would be 3 AM - 7 AM GMT.

I'm US West Coast time. Evenings generally work best.

I'm in Central European Summer Time which equals GMT + 2 i believe.

These weeks I have quite a load of time on my hands, so most afternoon/evenings would work for me - though i'd like to know beforehand so i can schedule my other obligations and activities around it if necessary.

Mercy: Actually 12 pm means noon, 12:01 pm is one past noon, 1 pm comes after 12:59 pm etc. I know, it confuses me as well.

Noon is what I meant though.

Abadu, are you saying I have it wrong?

Nope, you have it quite right. And sorry, I think it may be difficult to get us in the same game. I'm usually sleeping in on Sunday so 7 am GMT is too early, 9 am GMT - 9 pm GMT are most optimal for me.

What if we had an North/South American group and a European/African group?

We could incorporate players in Asia and Australia into each group as we see fit. (Australians would probably play with us Americans, and so on.) This way, the people in the live games wouldn't have to be up at all odd hours.

It's just an idea. If it's awful, tell me so. If it's good, let's get it organized.

@abadu: ''Mercy: Actually 12 pm means noon, 12:01 pm is one past noon, 1 pm comes after 12:59 pm etc. I know, it confuses me as well.''
What? I am indeed confused now.

Well, to avoid further confusion, I can play between 03:00 and 16:00 GMT, which is between 05:00 and 18:00 Central European Summer Time (GMT +2).

@Mr. Finkelmuiyer: I am not in favor of having geographical groups because people not only differ in timezones, but also in the times they can play within their timezone. There are certain times that more people can play than at other times, though, so I think adding groups that play at certain times is a good idea. I would then suggest creating multiple groups and allow the possibility to join multiple groups.
When I play live at webdiplomacy.net, there are two different times when my live games always start. I either start a live game between 03:00 and 04:00 GMT and play with Americans (who then play in the evening or night), or I start a live game around 13:00 GMT and play with Europeans (who then play in the afternoon). I have never seen a live game start in the middle between 04:00 GMT and 13:00 GMT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock Although, not a bad idea to start using the 24-hour clock :P So in my earlier suggestion I was indeed referring to 12:00 GMT in the 24-hour clock system.

Okay. It was just a thought.

Looks like I'm also gonna be pretty busy this weekend so I'll try to get this thing going one week from now. Since there's no absolute consensus about a good starting time I'm just gonna go with Sunday, July 23rd 12:00 GMT and see if we'll get enough players.

I will play.

Anyone else?

I think i'll be able to make it!