Games Subforum Chat

[Kíeros]

You know what, just come up with whatever questions you may have, and I'll try to provide final and definitive answers on them all in one go. With examples and such.

[Wheeeeeeatthins]

Anyway, does anyone else agree with me here or am I just seriously overreacting? If not, where should the line be between "acceptable activity" and "replacement times"? At what point do lurkers stop being town's problem to deal with and start being the mod's? How should the mod go about prodding lurkers, in thread or through pms/quicktopics? What should the mod do when they have more empty player slots then replacements? All these answers and more on the next exciting episode of "Overthinking Mafia Theory!"

I think you're overreacting. When my newbiemafia starts, I'm going to use something like this except it's going to be based on the details on any social networking sites they have posted on line and I've tracked down. It will be called the "human worth scale" and it will provide based on objective criteria matchups who you should not like and do the job of modkilling instead of playing the game based on posts, a game that cannot be played at all since all other excuses for voting based on posts up and left after being dissected to hell so the mod has to play the game for you now and give you an excuse to use the day period.


It's things like this that make it funnier that when I posted some jargon I made up on the spot about MULECOC that some people believed it was a real thing and intellectuals were actually out there researching game theory for a game that people play for fun on the internet.

[A Killer Cuppa Tea]

Alright, so I haven't played much mafia in the last couple months due to work, but I have seen a very strange concept crop up recently. Activity Scores.

For those of you that haven't seen any of this before, it's basically where the mod decides to rate every living player based on how well he or she believes each player has been contributing.

Now then, I am only person who thinks that this is way, way, WAY out of line? I mean, part of it's just my personal opinion that constantly analyzing how much each player has posted makes for a boring, unfun game that I'd be even less likely to want to post in, but the really disturbing implication here, I think, is that someone could end up lurking through a large part of the game, only making insubstantial posts here and there, and then get lynched because THEY GOT CALLED OUT OVER IT BY THE GODDAMN MOD.

Anyway, does anyone else agree with me here or am I just seriously overreacting? If not, where should the line be between "acceptable activity" and "replacement times"? At what point do lurkers stop being town's problem to deal with and start being the mod's? How should the mod go about prodding lurkers, in thread or through pms/quicktopics? What should the mod do when they have more empty player slots then replacements? All these answers and more on the next exciting episode of "Overthinking Mafia Theory!"

In my opinion - which may be biased - it becomes the mod's responsiblity when the person's lack of activity impacts on everyone else's enjoyment of the game. I mean, rarely is a guy replaced in a game without people asking the mod to replace said person, right? To be fair, people should be prodded first - by any and all means possible, including thread, PM and QT (i especially like that some mods have recently taken to PM'ing all the living players day/night starts) - and then replaced, by all means, if they do not respond. I didn't think/realise we were being so gung-ho about replacing until you mentioned it, actually.

The saddening thing is that lurkers/inactives kill so many good games. It's fun to play when you feel that the other people in the game are participating (and enjoying!) as much as you are, even when you lose...but it can be really frustrating when certain people put in a minimal amount of effort into a "serious" (and i use the term lightly) mafia, and coast to a victory on other people's hard work. Its also confusing: what enjoyment would you get out of not really participating?

As for what you really seem to be talking about, which is Kíeros's game (that went totally over my head, cos i aint really been following that game)... i'm not sure what i think about it. I'll give it a little think and come back to you with my opinion.

[Solaris]

It's things like this that make it funnier that when I posted some jargon I made up on the spot about MULECOC that some people believed it was a real thing and intellectuals were actually out there researching game theory for a game that people play for fun on the internet.

How DARE you speak against the MULECOC study group and their hard factual results???!!!
You Sir, Mr. Thins, have gone TOO FAR.

[Red709]

ohhhh shit thongs just got REAL op in hear 8^y

[ardentApathy]

I have implemented a means of replacing inactive players in Let's Play HOMESTUCK.

Basically, the gist of it is: I will not be actively replacing players unless it's exceedingly obvious that they have no intention of playing. However, I have given potential replacements two options to get in:

1) PM a current player, ANY current player, and convince them to give up their spot.
2) Call out a current player in the LPH thread. If they don't respond in any way, shape or form within 72 hours, they will be replaced with the person who called them out.

The biggest flaw I can see with this is if real-life issues happened to crop up unexpectedly, and then a player gets called out and simply can't do anything to defend themselves. Therefore, I think I will institute a failsafe to ensure this does not happen. It'll involve PMing the called-out player, and checking their recent post history, to weed out the disinterested from the differently interested.

What do you guys think? Does this sound fair?

[anacreon]

Actually that system sounds like something that would be good to use in any forum game.

[BlazerC]

1) PM a current player, ANY current player, and convince them to give up their spot.

If I'm playing a game that I enjoy, I don't think the game should encourage people to nag me consistently till I give up my spot (either by being convinced or just plain raging so they can leave me alone) so they can play, even if I am partially inactive. I know most people are sensible and wont do that, but there's no escaping that some people in the world are just stupid, ignorant, arrogant, unemphatic, simply do not care about others opinions (those type of "It's my way or the highway people) or even combinations of the above. It's going to happen.

2nd one sounds fine though. If they can't respond in 72 hours that's obviously bad.

EDIT: That problem with the 2nd can be remedied by the players letting the GM in advance know that they will be away, and can have a temporary player control their character. If they can't respond due to an event happening without warning though, you can add a grace period system. After the new player has jumped in to control their character the slot is put in a grace period while the new player is controlling that character, eg: a Week or two. If the previous player returns in that time, they can take back over. If they don't return in that time however the replacer gets the spot for keeps.

It should be noted that I once saw a Mafia Game with a funny replacement system though. If a player was inactive, a spectator could jump into the thread and attempt to replacement kill them, if they were deemed inactive enough by the mod, the spectator would kill them in some flavor text and assume their identity, by wearing their skin as a hat or something. Basically: Getting their role and slot in the game. It was pretty silly.

[ardentApathy]

If I'm playing a game that I enjoy, I don't think the game should encourage people to nag me consistently till I give up my spot (either by being convinced or just plain raging so they can leave me alone) so they can play, even if I am partially inactive. I know most people are sensible and wont do that, but there's no escaping that some people in the world are just stupid, ignorant, arrogant, unemphatic, simply do not care about others opinions (those type of "It's my way or the highway people) or even combinations of the above. It's going to happen.

This is a completely valid point. It is also not a problem whatsoever. Remember those forum rules? The ones that are stickied in every forum and subforum? Yeah, those'll weed out those people real quick.

EDIT: Shit, it's still February? Fuckin' leap years, man.

[Crilly]

This is a completely valid point. It is also not a problem whatsoever. Remember those forum rules? The ones that are stickied in every forum and subforum? Yeah, those'll weed out those people real quick.

EDIT: Shit, it's still February? Fuckin' leap years, man.

Yes, but it's a policy that makes people get angry at the people playing the game for not playing.

And why should I have to deal with people going 'HEY CAN I HAVE YOUR SPOT'? Some sort of 'this player says he no longer wants to play, please pm him and argue why you should get his spot' works better.

[ardentApathy]

Yes, but it's a policy that makes people get angry at the people playing the game for not playing.

And why should I have to deal with people going 'HEY CAN I HAVE YOUR SPOT'? Some sort of 'this player says he no longer wants to play, please pm him and argue why you should get his spot' works better.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of RULE 1.

That's the Respect one, right? I never really got the rules straight in my head before I started posting.

Also, my system has been a rousing success so far. The only player to be replaced at this point gave up his spot willingly. Ain't that something?


EDIT: Crosspost:

Maybe this will spark some interest:

I have already decided what my first lynch vote will be, and have decided precisely what the accompanying post will say.

This will not be influenced by my role in any way, shape, or form.

Hee. Hee?

The thread I posted that in has my seal of approval.

[youdont12know]

You think everyone always obeys the rules? In the GAMES subforum?
Ahahahahaha

[Solaris]

I don't think that you can expect people to not consistently nag people about their spot just because of respect though, you can respectfully, relentlessly nag at someone, sending them a bunch of polite PM's inquiring if they are still playing and if they could steal the spot and it isn't really something enforceable at all.
It would be annoying as shit and some people have limited PM space and they don't need 10 odd PM's asking me to gtfo.
It would sure as hell demotivate me.
It probably wouldn't work well at the end of the day, especially if it is a game where people don't have to post to look like they are doing something.

Replacement Kills were amazing.

[Jacquerel]

I also have to say that the fact that saying "my system has been a rousing success so far" sounds a little silly and arrogant, as it's been 24 hours since you proposed the idea >_>
It may not have been your intention but it just sounds like you are saying "Look I just know that I'm right and you're not" because it's not even been close to a reasonable time to judge whether your method is actually successful or not.

[ardentApathy]

I don't think that you can expect people to not consistently nag people about their spot just because of respect though, you can respectfully, relentlessly nag at someone, sending them a bunch of polite PM's inquiring if they are still playing and if they could steal the spot and it isn't really something enforceable at all.
It would be annoying as shit and some people have limited PM space and they don't need 10 odd PM's asking me to gtfo.
It would sure as hell demotivate me.
It probably wouldn't work well at the end of the day, especially if it is a game where people don't have to post to look like they are doing something.

Replacement Kills were amazing.

I have had to practically empty my Inbox TWICE in the past month. Meaning, I have reached the 1000 PM limit TWICE.

I did not find a single one of them annoying.

I enjoyed every single one.

EDIT: Also? I just handed the reins of Let's Play HOMESTUCK to Ranter.

It's out of my hands now, friends.

Let's see who wins, shall we? >:]

[GenetiXientist]

It's not a case of "wins," it's a case of people being people and ideas predicated on people NOT being people are silly and unlikely to work very well.

[Jacquerel]

If you didn't want people to answer your question "do you think this is a good idea?" then you shouldn't have asked it.
Messages ending in "Let's see who wins, shall we? >:]" are not appropriate when you have just asked people for critique, and are in fact extremely childish.
I had thought you were a pretty cool guy for coming up with a good idea, thanks for dispelling that notion. I guess I'll try to remember not to bother commenting on your ideas in future, as evidently all you actually want is for people to heap on praise.

[Kíeros]

Replacement Kills were amazing.

Yes. Those were an effective solution. They don't really work in non-cf games, but when they do, they do.

[A Killer Cuppa Tea]

I have had to practically empty my Inbox TWICE in the past month. Meaning, I have reached the 1000 PM limit TWICE.

What the hell. I've literally not had to empty my inbox ever. :S I feel unloved now

[youdont12know]

What the hell. I've literally not had to empty my inbox ever. :S I feel unloved now

I think she's lieing. No way that's true.

[Jacquerel]

It's not that unlikely really, she's got a 34 page topic with 830 replies but much of the game takes place solely through PMs, so it'd only take two and a bit PMs per reply to get over 2000 PMs.

[Red709]

BLAAAAAAAAAARGHFARGH

it's really annoying waiting for INs to start my Bloody Redfia......... mostly because I want to get to the delicious death and Nightaction clusterfuck part

[ProfessorLizzard]

I want to get people for TV Show Mafia, but being angry and yelling "JOIN NOW" is not really a good PR maneuveour :/

[Red709]

According to Dini it is
also this is not me yelling this is me saying "WAITING IS HARD"

I want to watch you guys start killing each other already

[ardentApathy]

If you didn't want people to answer your question "do you think this is a good idea?" then you shouldn't have asked it.
Messages ending in "Let's see who wins, shall we? >:]" are not appropriate when you have just asked people for critique, and are in fact extremely childish.
I had thought you were a pretty cool guy for coming up with a good idea, thanks for dispelling that notion. I guess I'll try to remember not to bother commenting on your ideas in future, as evidently all you actually want is for people to heap on praise.

I want the TRUTH.

Really, is that too much to ask?

Well, I suppose it is, from a Forum Game.

So I suppose winning will have to suffice, won't it?

EDIT: Also, Jacquerel, you may be taking me FAR too seriously for your own good. It's unhealthy, you know.

I am simply competitive by nature. I am also quite good at trolling, I've been told.

EDITx2: I have just publicly called out Jacquerel. He has 72 hours to respond in any manner he/she chooses, or else I can remove him from my game in whatever way I see fit.

...pffffffthaha

EDITx3: Yeah, this means if Jacquerel does not respond, Jack Noir will no longer be a threat in LPH. This just got verrrrry interesting.