Via:        UK.AC.LEEDS.GPS; 15 SEP 92 18:39:15 BST
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.dipl-l
Date:         Tue, 15 Sep 1992 18:37:12 BST
Reply-To:     amt5man@SUN.LEEDS.AC.UK
From:         amt5man@SUN.LEEDS.AC.UK
Subject:      What will we be doing in 1996?

((Reprinted from Europa Express \#10, December 1981.))

              DIPLOMACY IN 1996 OR FIFTEEN YEARS FROM NOW
                           BY GARY L. COUGHLAN

   Let us put 1996 in some perspective before we look closely at the
hobby.  A very popular Jerry Brown (former governor of California) has
been the President of the United States (all 51, including Puerto
Rico) for the last four years and faces an easy re-election this fall.
King Charles III of Great Britain and the ever lovely Queen Diana celebrate
their fourth year on the throne.  (Queen Elizabeth II abdicated after a
reign of forty years).  The world looks forward to the 21st Century
with high hopes.  And the postal diplomacy hobby enters its 33rd year
of existence.

   I said ``postal diplomacy''.  That is not strictly true in this
extremely electronic modern age.  A letter costs \$1.00 to mail and a post
card goes for sixty cents.  However, all letters within North America
are delivered the next day while a letter anywhere else in the world takes
two--three days.  The average annual salary of the working diplomacy
player is \$80,000 for the normal four day, twenty-eight hour week
(not including overtime).

   Most diplomacy is carried out via the visual telephone screen where
opponents and potential allies and enemies can see each other.  No less
a pundit than Mark Berch has said that this `video dip' is virtually
the same as, if not superior to, face-to-face dip.  This form
of diplomacy is expensive when compared to a letter especially when calling
overseas, but it has greatly broadened the appeal of the hobby to the
growing leisure classes of the Western World.  (Some even tape these
encounters to show others!).

   The hobby took a quantum leap in visibility when several celebrities
became known as addicts, among them a former US President, assorted
sports stars and even Miss America of 1989.  Miss America's interest
in the hobby, previously viewed as an almost male province, brought
women of all ages into the hobby.  Women currently make up 40\% of the
hobby.  Even the astronauts play with more earthly foes from their
Astro-Shuttles!

   The bulk of the zines in 1996 are computerized digest products and
feature color graphics.  Virtually all are on two--week schedules
although a handful of weekly zines exist for those who are more interested
in fast games.  Only two zines still cling to their old deadlines from the
1963--1985 period of the hobby: Rod Walker's Diplomacy World comes out
every three months and John Boardman's Graustark appears once a month
as it has from the very beginning of the hobby.\footnote{Gary is wrong,
Graustark appeared two-weekly in the 1960's.}

   Diplomacy World  will soon come out with its long anticipated
``Issue 100''.  This is still considered a major milestone because
DW only publishes every three months and so it reached its 100th
the hard way.  To gain some perspective, we must remember that most zines
in 1996 reach their 50th issues by the end of their second year of
publication.  Two-week deadlines have brought the goal of `Issue 100'
within the reach of almost any publisher.

   But, in any category, Graustark still stands out.  Bets have even been
taken about which event will happen first this year: whether Graustark
will reach its 1000th issue or John Boardman will admit he is finally
65 years old.  No other zine now being published is even close to
`Issue 500' much less No 1000.

   The average sub fee is \$30.00/12 issues which covers a six-month
period.  Zines are published on all continents and rare indeed is the
game which doesn't have at least three different continents represented
in it.  In the pre-1989 era of the hobby, the most `exotic' players
to encounter were women, Europeans or Americans (depending on where
you lived) and Canadians.  Today it is generally acknowledged to be
astronauts from one of the Astro-Shuttles, a player from the
Communist-Bloc and South Americans.  And who can predict what it will
be fifteen years from now?  I know I can't!

==============================================================================

Retyped for dipl-l distribution by Mark Nelson
<amt5man@sun.leeds.ac.uk> on 15/09/92.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Subject: (no subject given)