Posted April 12, 2012
This is something of a personal rant, but the mafia community here is having problems, and I think we should do something about that. One of the things I believe we have to do is run a few simpler games in the near future to expand the player base, because as it is, we're making mafia a lot more intimidating towards the newbies than we should, but prior to that, I drew up three rules which I think could be useful right now. It's not researched, wiki-worthy stuff, just personal observations, and I know I've broken all three of them myself before; but I do think that these rules together could help with the current situation. We all know forum mafia can be a thrilling, funny, emotionally and intelectually stimulating and all-around fantastic game -- that's why we are playing. But most of the time, we're just standing around in a quagmire looking at our watch, which is not really it.
So your good uncle baz says you're playing mafia wrong if:
1. You're not posting at least once every 48 hours. That rule we include in all games? That's not a general guideline, that's actually a rule. Because without that, the game just will not work. Of course, we all know the game can eat up quite a lot of time, and sometimes you just can't afford it, and that's fine. But it must not become a habit; it becomes contagious and before you know it, no one is posting, and when they do, the post just sort of sinks into the mud that's covering the thread.
2. You're not voting, or you're voting wrong. The vote is the only weapon town has, and the only chance it has of winning. If you're town and you're not using your vote, you are not positively contributing to the game. But it's not just fire and forget; if your vote isn't doing anything productive where it is, you ought to move it somewhere else. Votes create pressure, pressure generates discussion, discussion is gameplay. Without votes, the game is not a game, but a staring contest. And ask anyone, staring contests are boring. (Well, except cats. Cats love them.)
3. You're waiting for something to happen. If nothing significant is going on in the thread at the moment, it doesn't mean the game as such is on hold. This is a game that's very much focused on the past; it may not seem so, but rereading the thread is playing the game. Old posts gain new meanings in different contexts, and that is fuel for discussion, which, again, is gameplay.
(Also, I feel we tend to overthink things a lot. Not every post has to be a wall of text with well-researched cases. Sometimes, the information you are looking for can be found just in random banter. This is something of a double-edged sword, though, which is why I'm putting it down here in parentheses which no one is going to read anyway.)
So your good uncle baz says you're playing mafia wrong if:
1. You're not posting at least once every 48 hours. That rule we include in all games? That's not a general guideline, that's actually a rule. Because without that, the game just will not work. Of course, we all know the game can eat up quite a lot of time, and sometimes you just can't afford it, and that's fine. But it must not become a habit; it becomes contagious and before you know it, no one is posting, and when they do, the post just sort of sinks into the mud that's covering the thread.
2. You're not voting, or you're voting wrong. The vote is the only weapon town has, and the only chance it has of winning. If you're town and you're not using your vote, you are not positively contributing to the game. But it's not just fire and forget; if your vote isn't doing anything productive where it is, you ought to move it somewhere else. Votes create pressure, pressure generates discussion, discussion is gameplay. Without votes, the game is not a game, but a staring contest. And ask anyone, staring contests are boring. (Well, except cats. Cats love them.)
3. You're waiting for something to happen. If nothing significant is going on in the thread at the moment, it doesn't mean the game as such is on hold. This is a game that's very much focused on the past; it may not seem so, but rereading the thread is playing the game. Old posts gain new meanings in different contexts, and that is fuel for discussion, which, again, is gameplay.
(Also, I feel we tend to overthink things a lot. Not every post has to be a wall of text with well-researched cases. Sometimes, the information you are looking for can be found just in random banter. This is something of a double-edged sword, though, which is why I'm putting it down here in parentheses which no one is going to read anyway.)
