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Risk Game Strategy Guides: Psychology

 

How to Turn Your Weakness into Strength

How to Turn Your Weakness into Strength
Psychology, Tactic, Strategy, Beginners

Article Rating:::: 67 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Saturday, December 15, 2007

While playing Risk with random initial positions, sometimes you may find yourself all over the place owning a country in just about every continent! You blame your luck and wonder how other players managed to get half of some continents already and seem to be way ahead of you.

Consider the following configuration. You are playing as Red and you are indeed scattered everywhere. Is there anything you can do to get out of this dilemma? How can you turn your weakness into strength?

Total Diplomacy Risk Map: ScatteredRedOnMap_1

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How to Respond to a Rude Player

How to Respond to a Rude Player
Psychology, Diplomacy

Article Rating:::: 14 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Suppose you are playing online Risk and a player starts to behave rudely in the game. For example, in the chatbox he states that: “You moron, why the hell did you do that?”, or, “%^$ newbies! They haven't got a clue how to play. %%%^&^ get rid of them!” and similar aggressive remarks. If you say “I don't like the way you chat”, or “I am not happy with your tone” or similar statements, it is likely that you start a long argument that will only make you more upset and the game less enjoyable.

It turns out that there is a simple technique you can use to completely turn the table around and put the ball in your opponent's court. An angry player is likely to make mistakes and you should avoid to become angry yourself. The solution is as follows.

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When Words Can Make All The Difference

When Words Can Make All The Difference
Psychology, Diplomacy, Real-world example

Article Rating:::: 11 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Thursday, September 6, 2007

Words can be quite powerful and have profound effect on the audience. The correct use of words can make your life a lot easier. Usually, it comes down to the tone of your argument and the incentives it provides.

To illustrate this point further, a series of scenarios are provided in this article. In each scenario a concept is stated in two different ways. One way is much more efficient than the other. The difference between the statements can show you the subtlety of choosing words and the consequences of using the wrong ones at the wrong time.

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How to Know if Someone is Going to Break a Deal

How to Know if Someone is Going to Break a Deal
Psychology, Diplomacy

Article Rating:::: 11 Ratings :::: 2 Solutions ::::Monday, August 20, 2007

Have you ever wondered how can you protect yourself against a new player who may choose to break a deal with you in the current game? If you have never played with this player before, how can you discover what type of a player he is? What if you agree over something with him, and he comes back denying it later on? You could end up in trouble. Is there a technique that you can use to know if he has a tendency to stab you in the back? It turns out that there is indeed an effective method.

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Are You an Opportunist or a Moderate?

Are You an Opportunist or a Moderate?
Psychology, Strategy

Article Rating:::: 8 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Friday, July 13, 2007
I came across an interesting article which discussed Iceberg Slim's writings. The world was divided between two types of people which I call, the opportunist and the moderate, defined as follows:
  • Opportunist. They approach every task with multiple potential solutions.
  • Moderate. They see the world in steps. They make one move at a time. They are to the point.
Using Risk as the pretext of examples, the following, which is loosely based on Iceberg Slim, makes this more clear.
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How to Say No and Stay Friends

How to Say No and Stay Friends
Psychology, Diplomacy, Negotiation

Article Rating:::: 4 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Sometimes it can be incredibly difficult to say ‘no’. It is a simple word, but it just feels wrong to say ‘no’ when someone asks for a favour. Of course saying ‘no’ is easy if you don’t care about the person. What if you did care about the person, but you still wanted to say ‘no’ without hurting his feelings.

An example of a Risk game may clarify this. Suppose you are playing Risk online and your strategy is to conquer a continent such as South America. You also have some armies in Europe. A player approaches you and asks you to move your armies out of Europe. You want to say ‘no’. However, you want to say it in such a way that your opponent doesn't become hostile to you. There is no point in making enemies in the process. How do you do this?

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How to Win in Risk or Any Competition - Part 2

How to Win in Risk or Any Competition - Part 2
Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy, Series

Article Rating:::: 16 Ratings :::: 0 Solutions ::::Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Contents

This article is part of a series of articles that show you how to win in any competition, including Risk. In the previous article you were shown how to be in command of your own mind. Control the mind and you can control everything. Here, the focus is on your opponent's mind. You will learn how to control it or even break it.

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How to Win in Risk or Any Competition - Part 1

How to Win in Risk or Any Competition - Part 1
Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy, Series

Article Rating:::: 1 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Thursday, May 31, 2007

Contents

When it comes to competitions, everyone wants to win. The problem is that there can be only one winner. If you want to win, you have to stand out from the competition. Is there a secret behind this? It turns out that there is. After all, not everyone can win.

This series of articles provide a number of techniques that enable you to compete effectively in any competitive environment. Winning in Risk is no exception and examples are provided to demonstrate the key concepts.

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How to Make Sure Your Opponent will Follow Through with the Deal

How to Make Sure Your Opponent will Follow Through with the Deal
Psychology, Diplomacy, Strategy, Negotiation

Article Rating:::: 6 Ratings :::: 3 Solutions ::::Saturday, May 19, 2007

My father said: "You must never try to make all the money that's in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won't have many deals."

Jean Paul Getty

After a lot of diplomacy and propaganda, you manage to get your opponent to the negotiation table. You make fantastic moves in the negotiation and manage to convince him to make a deal with you. So far you are very happy with the results. However, there is one issue left. How do you make sure that your Risk opponent will commit to what he just promised? Surely, after all the hard work, you don't want to see all your efforts going to waste. What should you say or do to put him under pressure, so that even the thought of quitting on you does not occur to him?

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How to Influence Others and Get Them to do What you Want

How to Influence Others and Get Them to do What you Want
Psychology, Diplomacy

Article Rating:::: 3 Ratings :::: 1 Solutions ::::Wednesday, May 16, 2007
There always comes a time when you want to influence others. You may need to use a variety of psychological tactics depending on the situation and the person you are dealing with. In this article, a number of scenarios are presented and for each a course of action is suggested. Remember, what matters is always the end game. If you want someone to do something for you, you need to keep focusing on the outcome. You need to make it easier for the other person to make the right choice, the choice that you desire. Here are a number of scenarios and solutions to help you get what you want.
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About the Author

I am a board game and Risk game enthusiast. I like thinking and talking about strategy in games which has led me to the creation of this website. Although Risk is a classic, I feel one can never get tired of playing this game. Read about what I think of the game and I am always eager to know what you think.

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The worth of money is not in its possession, but in its use.

Fables Aesop