Is is fair that a player keeps holding the whole game?

[Faust87]

Hi! I hope this post doesn't sound whiny, but there is a situation in a ranked game I am playing that is annoying and unfair for some of the players involved (game number: 173842). I'm playing as Germany, and this game has had quite a lot of surrenders and players that replaced France, Russia, Turkey, and Austria (that surrendered just before he lost). Now, the new Turkey player, with his three armies in his home centers, has just kept holding with barely trying to attack Russia. I am pretty sure he gives those orders otherwise the game tells you when a player does NMR. Also he's unresponsive, me and my allies tried to write him multiple times but he just doesn't reply. If this was another type of game, I'd say that he's camping. And he can afford to do that thanks to the defensive position of Turkey, if he was any other country it would have been different. And as you can imagine this situation is quite unfair as it helps Russia and Italy quite a lot, not having to worry about this neighbour.
What do you think about this attitude? Do you think it's fair? And is there anything that can be done about this player? I at least hope I can blacklist him so that I don't have to play with him ever again...

[Charleroi]

You can't comment on active games in the forum because it is unfair to the other players (crowdsourcing your tactics, basically).

Speaking purely generically, there's no requirement that a player engage in any amount of messaging or attack-minded moves. If an opponent chooses not to engage with you, that's frustrating but not unfair.

If you are looking for games with fewer NMRs/Surrenders or games where you will expect a more constant conversation (even with opponents) I would recommend you join the Classicists. Classicist games generally have reliable players who will message consistently and have fewer NMRs.

https://www.playdiplomacy.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=118

[DQ]

Not liking the way somoene plays is absolutely not a reason to consider it unfair, nor is it their responsibilty to communicate with you.

Are they being a jerk? Possibly. Is the situation frustrating? Absolutely.

But as long as they get their orders in on time, they have no other obligation to you.

[ruffdove]

I would concur with the other respondents and add this bit of hard earned wisdom: the absolute worst way in the world to get strangers on the internet to stop doing something that annoys you is to let them know that it annoys you. On this site, this most often comes into play when you see people complaining that others aren't finalizing their moves--that almost guarantees that someone will cease finalizing as a matter of principle--but it can also apply to strange tactics or forms of communication.

EDIT: ...and not for nothing, but those three idle armies/SCs may not be helping you, but if Russia and Italy had conquered them, those armies would be green and purple and most assuredly NOT sitting idle, so I'm not sure this is the curse on the western powers you seem to think it is.

[Faust87]

Thanks for the replies! I didn't know that I was not supposed to comment a current game, which actually makes sense now that I think about it. Sorry for that.

I never complained before, I don't have problems with players that don't finalize their orders or they input their orders late, it is part of the game and it happens. I just like Diplomacy and its diplomatic aspect. I know that I cannot expect much by playing with random strangers, but so far my games were all good, I was lucky to play with mostly communicative players with whomI had often a fun chat! But I got frustrated by this player that is not only uncommunicative (and ok, he's not forced to talk with me I know), but also barely plays and he's probably just camping till the end of the game to earn those ranking points. Anyway, I understand that you don't consider this kind of play unfair, but at least you recognize how frustrating it is.

So far I tried to never surrender in games in the hope of one day getting into the rank of Ambassador, which I seem to understand are players that proved to be reliable.
But I'll look into your suggestion about joining the classicists too, thanks!

[Thyrfing]

Definitely join the classicists and try to get a game going there! The situation you describe is super frustrating, you could play Risk for that.
I recommend patience in finishing this game and trying to get quality games going instead. Even if it's not in the classicists, games organized in the forum are usually more reliable than random games created directly in the site. But if possible, definitely go with classicist stuff!