’m not talking about players who accidentally miss a turn and remain in the game due to an excused NMR. I’m not talking about kingmakers, intentionally trying to help someone else solo. I’m not talking players who sacrifice their own position to take revenge on someone who attacked them. I’m not talking about players who give up on the brink of elimination, meeting their end more quickly by not supporting their final two or three units and disbanding their retreats. Those situations can all be frustrating, but they’re all well within the realm of fair play.

I’m talking about players who join a game and then simply choose not to play. They submit nothing but unsupported holds for years on end until they are finally eliminated. Often they’ll take over a strong position from a player who missed a turn and got put in civil disorder. A position with allies and enemies, with a good chance at reaching a draw, that suddenly becomes a black hole occupied by standing units. They won’t lift a finger to support an ally or stop a solo, even if they have the ability to create a stalemate line and force a draw. They just simply refuse to play.

I know that the moderator team is spread thin and overworked, but is there anything that can be done about these players? I’d love to see this become a bannable offense, but at the very least I would like to see these players forced into CD and blocked from rejoining the game they’re trolling. Worst case scenario, the country remains in CD until it is eliminated and nothing about the outcome is changed. But at the very least, another player has the chance to take over the position and the troll is not given reliability credit that allows them to continue ruining games with unfair play.

Here’s one of the most egregious examples I’ve seen, which ironically led to a solo for me: https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=56900 In spring of 1897, player AleChoel takes over France after an NMR. At the time, France is the largest country in the game, with a whopping 38 supply centers (12 away from victory) and successful wars being waged on two fronts, with a real opportunity to solo. Over the next NINE years, a total of 45 turns including builds and retreats, this player submitted nothing but unsupported holds, retreats and disbands, eventually leading to my solo. If at ANY point they had been replaced by an actual player, or simply decided to start playing in themselves, my solo could have been prevented - even in the final year. All of the other players in the game had been working together for years by the end, fruitlessly trying to stop me from walking into undefended supply centers.

Another example that led to a solo: https://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=52930 This one was devastating in a 35-player game. In autumn of 2127, player “10321027” took over Illinois after an NMR. At the time, Illinois had more than 50 supply centers and was the largest country in the game. This player actually did submit orders for two years, but after voting concede in Spring 2129, they spent the next 6 years (30 turns including retreats and builds) submitting unsupported holds until going into CD themselves. By that time, they had just 8 centers remaining and their replacement was eliminated by the time South Africa soloed two years later, having walked into dozens of undefended supply centers despite the best efforts of the UK (Illinois’ former ally) and the rest of the board. This player “10321027” has employed this non-strategy this in several other games to date, though they have blessedly been inactive for the last two months.

These are not the only two examples I have, and I’m sure others have experienced this phenomenon as well. We can block the players to prevent them from joining future games with us, but it’s incredibly frustrating to have a large, lengthy game completely ruined by a troll. It would be very helpful if we could report these players and have them forced into CD early so that these situations can potentially be salvaged by people who actually want to play diplomacy.