Hello everyone,

As some of you may know, I'm a very vivid Diplomacy gamer; in fact, you could probably consider me an addict. I've gone for some time until fairly recently without playing Diplomacy not even so much as 1 on 1 with my uncle who taught me the game 12 or so years ago.

I would like to voice that abandonments are both avoidable, and there's lessons to be learned by losing. Such as you learn traps to watch out for, you also learn ways to either counter them or turn a trap against you against the player (a feat I admittedly haven't quite gotten the handle on), or you learn ways to either find ways to be useful or strike the game's dynamics or more the game's present political state.
Winning is fun, but I believe abandonments ignore that losing can and is fun too.

Technically, you're never out until you're our. Granted, when you're losing or in an undesirable position, there are great difficulties; however, it takes time, dedication, and determination to make the best of your situation and better it.
1). Losing can also teach you to adapt your playing style by either adopting styles and strategy/tactics you've seen, or you can create an alternative playing style.
2). Playing out losing positions often does hold a fruitful benefit of learning the map better, and this provides you the useful information on how to use your position to attempt impacting the present trend of the game. Sometimes, this is all that is needed to get back into the game, or you can find ways to make yourself useful.

Ideally, it may be easier to approach the game with these in mind:
1). Play to attain a winning seat not just a solo. A win is still a win even if it isn't the preferable goal of a solo.
2). Play to survive, many players are more likely to eliminate/conquer a player who doesn't offer or emphasize its usefulness.
3). If you can't survive looks to support a player, often referred to as kingmaker, sometimes this will help you survive, but sometimes it does help you get back into the game.

I hope that this helps out newer players to the hobby, and thank you for taking the time to read this post.