Diplomatika was developed from the original idea of “The Crop Game” which was invented by Kirsty around 2010 whilst working at Christian Youth Ministries, Ipswich, UK. Since Kirsty, successive leaders in Becca, Lucy, Kymmene and Josh, all of whom contributed new value to what the Crop Game was. Each leader continued to develop the main aims of raising awareness of the lives of underprivileged communities with school aged children and of how our actions impact those in other lands. The innocence and uncorrupted hope that was practiced in The Crop Game showed a possibility for the global community and cross-cultural relationships that was rare in an older audience. It was a hit and continues to be fifteen years after its conception. Josh (mentioned above) uses it to great effect with younger people in his daily job at that original charity, but in 2023 he began thinking of a way to make the game more applicable to a broader audience.
Through his passion for other cultures and stories that provide a broader worldview, Josh steadily developed the game. He gleaned hopeful stories and values shared by many of the people he came across in his travels and applied them to the scenarios that appear in the game. Through these scenarios, the game raises awareness, advocates for a broader cultural understanding and strengthens critical thinking to some of the biggest questions of our time, empowering players to envision the consequences of their decisions. It shows that peace-building, reconciliation and global relationships aren’t easy, but are certainly worth investing in.
In early 2025, Josh approached Alan Cutting with his framework and vision for a broader game for an older audience. Many conversations led to the evolution of the game into what you see today. The core aims of fostering imagination, learning advocacy, kindling hope and raising awareness toward goals of peace-building and reconciliation.
Josh and Alan brought this newer generation of The Crop Game to a forum in Croatia later that year. They played the more involved and complex version with an international audience heavily weighted toward the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Out of its success, a small team of passionate people was inspired to join further development.
Thus Diplomatika was formed through the creativity, passion and cooperation of Josh, Alan, Nicole, Conrad and Layan. All from vastly different backgrounds and all bringing different skills to the team, but each with a shared motivation to advocate for peace-building.
“Through this game we dare to dream of a peaceful global community. We hope that this experience will unleash that power across borders, throughout cultures of our world.”
Josh Ambrose