Mafia 91 - Battle for the Sunset Strip - GAME THREAD [Hidden]

[Balki Bartokomous]

Balki what do you think of spirit

I generally liked their early, confused posts about the mechanics and then insta-retraction. But still in a pretty NULL zone for me. The slight-town side of null.

[Vecna]

OK, getting into it and responding to what I missed since I’ve been working.
It was said that Glitter needs to explain how Glitter plays – agreed! And I thought I’ve been doing that. Will continue to do so. Here’s some points to get us going.

The Vecna/me thing identifying as a newbie has been massively overblown. I mentioned in one of my first posts not having played with several of the players that are in this game. And then Vecna came in as an all-caps robot (which I wasn’t expecting because their first post was a non-robotic “yay”) asking for me to identify myself, which is what I did. I also clarified this (myself) in post 91 first thing this morning.

Other Vecna observations… Post 36 raises concerns for me. Why is Vecna stating that Spartaculous’s probability of continued survival are low? It seemed like they were specifically calling out Spartaculous, but it may have been everyone that the comment was directed at despite tagging Sparta’s post? Intriguing to me.

Post 49 could be interpreted as me defending Vecna…. But I was just engaging in conversation with Sparta about Brain’s comment saying that gimmicks can be potential tools.

Post 55 – Spartaculous states that everyone survives D1 and we go into N1 as 14 – is that true? Aren’t we voting someone out during the day and subsequently going into N1 as 13? Am I missing something?

Defending Brain? Maybe a bit, but I’m also usually always looking at every perspective. I agreed with Bunny that I noticed a lack of small talk and that I didn’t necessarily get a scum read out of that because if I did then I’d have to say that about a good chunk of the players in this game who go right into business. Vecna’s assertions that I’m protectively shielding Brain based on those minor comments I made are wild.

I never said people weren't friendly. If anything, just lots of personalities which is to be expected. What frustrates me is the number of inactive folks.

And as far as playing differently based on what I’ve learned in my other games, I’ve been trying to take it all in and adjust, yes. But I also do believe there’s something to be said for gut. My first game I suspected and voted for Eden because of massive amounts of posts and directives. I listened to others and turned my attentions elsewhere and turns out, I was right in the end. So that’s what made me paranoid about Bunny in my second game. He seemed to be posting similarly to how Eden did, so I was wary of it. I was wrong. Also in my second game, Worcej went all mechs heavy. I don’t know if that’s a common thing for folks to do in most games, but I don’t recall it really happening much in my first. The amount of analysis Worcej did made me totally let up my guard on him (for the tiny bit that was maybe remaining suspicious) and turns out he was scum. So I’m hesitant to say that Spartaculous is scum just because of the probability/mechs post. What I’ve been trying to do is group behaviors across players and that doesn’t necessarily seem to be applicable. So that’s what I’ve mainly learned and am using to adjust how I play.

Back to work I go!

im ditching the gimmick as its already tiresome.

This wall is a major towntell.

Why? Because Glitterbomb is scared of being associated with me. Looking bad for defending me.

Genuine fear of my slot potentially being scum and potentially smearing their reputation.

Scum would not act this way, unless we were both scum

[Vecna]

Balki, do you feel so far you have talked at the game, or interacted with the game?

[Spartaculous]

Havent you only played like once with me?

I mean, I've only ever played once, period. But that game involved me writing this:
https://webdiplomacy.net/contrib/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=400680#p400680

Sparta,

(1) I love the energy and effort you bring to these games. Please don't every change.

(2) Here is what I see as a significant difference between your deep dive post in M88 and your deep dive post in this game: the one you did in M88 seemed targeted at something really useful and alignment indicative. It was a meta read on Will's wolfgame, which reflected serious effort and an actionable conclusion:

The important lesson to learn here is that Will does *not* seem to like to put out *any* town reads on his teammates, or at least not in the first day or two. I don't think this is the kind of part of his gameplay that would change.

So, if your Role PM is Mafia in this game, I would imagine that you felt a bit of pressure to replicate that in this game here. I can see you coming to the thread wanting to look like Town!Sparta and therefore wanting to put in a lot of effort on some detail and writing a long post about it.

But I think where you went wrong is that, in trying to replicate that, you wound up presenting a lot of numbers and words that lead no place at all because you had no puzzle to solve.

Just looks a lot more like someone trying to replicate Town!Sparta than actual, sincere Town!Sparta.

I'd be interested in your reaction to that take.

Thank you for taking the time to genuinely engage with me. I will tell you a story about Sparty.

Sparty spent lots of time hanging around on the forum playing Twenty Questions. He got intrigued by all of the Mafia games, and decided to join M88 because it seemed like a nice, uncomplicated round.

Part of Sparty's personality is that he tends to take things either super seriously or not seriously at all. So, Sparty was completely in not-serious mode for the entirety of Day 1 in M88. He thought that everyone else was silly for taking Day 1 really serious, hyper-analyzing everyone else's posts for the tiniest slip of something that could be construed as mafia-indicative. This was silly! What point was there to doing this with literally no voting data whatsoever? So Sparty contented himself with making filler posts whose initial letters spelled out a hidden message to amuse himself. At some point on Day 1, a replacement player started a wagon on Sparty. Sparty was okay with that - if he got killed off Day 1, it would just go to show how silly all of the other players were, and he would never have to play Mafia again - but he survived.

But then during Day 2, everyone seemed to suspect Sparty. Now that there were some flips, he had things to say - but everything he said seemed to make things worse. Then a small lagomorph from Maine took the time to explain how to be a useful town player to Sparty, and so the switch in Sparty's mind flipped over to super-serious mode, and you know how that went. Sparty ended the game feeling content that he had done well.

Sparty didn't play for the next few games (some combination of busyness, along with not liking the themes or the mechanics), but then decided to come back for this round. When he was signing up for the game (long before he had gotten his role PM), he was thinking about what a town-optimal distribution of guns and roses would look like, along with how this could be simulated using computer programs he was learning in classes he was taking this semester. Moreover, the mechanics now gave Sparty something to talk about on Day 1! It's the type of thing that he would just naturally find interesting. He was hoping some other players would have some insight - he generated a bunch of data that he wasn't sure what to do with, but maybe posting it would cause someone to get some ideas, or suggest another version of the simulation to run.

Instead, everyone is still focused on pulling out fine-toothed combs for slips, which is their prerogative. And that's fine, and some people do produce interesting thoughts in that way. It's hard for Sparty to do the same on Day 1.

Anyways, that's a story. I've enjoyed thinking about what the optimal distribution of guns and roses would be, even if that's not really others' cups of tea. If I survive past the first phase or two, hopefully I will have some thoughts for deep dives *that attempt to deduce alignments*. But who knows if I will make it that far.

[Balki Bartokomous]

Balki, do you feel so far you have talked at the game, or interacted with the game?

I'd say a little of both, but most of what I've done is catch up with the game.

Thanks for seeing me. And thanks for stopping your gimmick.

[Vecna]

This sparty kid is pretty endearing

[Vecna]

I feel that noone that is posting is particularly scummy atm.

[brainbomb]

Scummy or not scummy aside whose arguments do you find compelling so far Vecna? What talking points do you think are ridiculous?

Whose posts are you most in disagreement with

[Balki Bartokomous]

This wall is a major towntell.

Why? Because Glitterbomb is scared of being associated with me. Looking bad for defending me.

Genuine fear of my slot potentially being scum and potentially smearing their reputation.

Scum would not act this way, unless we were both scum

This read from Vecna seems to come from a town place. I dig it.

[Balki Bartokomous]

Damn. I am a sucker for mea culpas and third-person storytime.

[brainbomb]

If worcej were scum this game and you were on his team Balki which of the phrases would you most identify with below

A. Worcej doing it again nice work buddy

B. Worcej playing too much like he usually does hopefully he does more this phase

C. Man worcej is carrying the team as usual

D. I gotta play as good as worcej is here or our team is hosed

[Balki Bartokomous]

If worcej were scum this game and you were on his team Balki which of the phrases would you most identify with below

A. Worcej doing it again nice work buddy

B. Worcej playing too much like he usually does hopefully he does more this phase

C. Man worcej is carrying the team as usual

D. I gotta play as good as worcej is here or our team is hosed

If worcej and I were scum together, I'd be feeling like he's doing a good job seeming like Town!worcej. Which one is that? A?

[brainbomb]

If worcej were scum this game and you were on his team Balki which of the phrases would you most identify with below

A. Worcej doing it again nice work buddy

B. Worcej playing too much like he usually does hopefully he does more this phase

C. Man worcej is carrying the team as usual

D. I gotta play as good as worcej is here or our team is hosed

If worcej and I were scum together, I'd be feeling like he's doing a good job seeming like Town!worcej. Which one is that? A?

Yes.
And I agree that if he were scum here he is doing a great job of establishing his baseline to navigate from.

[brainbomb]

And hes probably not scum, but hes very good at it. Sounds like were on the same page in townreading him with caution

[Jamiet99uk]

VOTE COUNT 1.4

Brainbomb (2) BunnyGo, Ghug
Vecna (1) Chaqa
BunnyGo (1) SpiritoftheRadio
Worcej(1) Spartaculous
Chaqa (1) Brainbomb
Spartaculous (1) Balki

Currently BRAINBOMB is set to be deleted.

23 hours and 3 minutes remain in the first day.

[brainbomb]

1. Brainbomb

2. Ghug - has taken some stances, moved votes around to a few people. Nothing stands out as super scummy to me. Slight scumlean.

3. BunnyGo - has posted a good amount and seems extremely skeptical of me. Null but activity is more in par with his town meta. Has refused to engage with me and actively dismissed efforts to discuss the game with me. Was begging to talk to anyone but me and became very rude and shut down all efforts to talk.

4. Glitterbomb - null, I assume will play later.

5. Chaqa - has posted and pledged he will Shoot someone; worcej found that towny. Seems to think its stupid that anyone would scumread him. Scumlean

6. damo - no posts

7. Flavius no posts

8. JustAGuyNamedWill- has posted and seemed to imply he couldnt find the game thread. Has chirped up a bit more expressing skepticism of sparta and glitter. Made a comment implying glitter and I are low income and shop at dollar stores? Not sure why that was said but okay. Slight scum

9. Yoyoyozo - no posts but was browsing the thread earlier

10. SpiritoftheRadio - a flurry of activity overnight, formed some quick scumreads. Seems to find bunny suspicious. Spirit is probably not as awkward as he was in spy vs spy game. Hasnt done much; moving to null

11. Spartaculous - asking theoretical questions about the setup and gimmicks. Voted damo early same as prior game. could be a decent thing to ask about since he seems to wonder if gimmicks work; wondering if he considers voting damo a gimmick? Balki scumreads him but vecna likes him. Null

12. worcej - had alot to say. Had some reads. Finds me scummy and said I seem
Nervous; and that he thinks my posts are too wordy. Probably town.

13. Balki caught up and chastised me for asking the wrong types of questions. Seems to like worcej and distrusts sparta. Made a case on sparta and has mostly focused there. Null

14. Vecna dropped his gimmick and thinks sparta is town. Seems to townread me and glitter also. Maybe town
[/quote]

[SpiritoftheRadio]

##vote brainbomb

He's squirreling around all nervous. I don't remember him doing this as town or as scum tbh. But it reads real real deceptive. He got the slightest bit of heat from worecj and then he's been over reacting since. Idk if town bb does this. Last I heard before he starting soft pushing me was I was a decently strong town read, and I haven't posted since both those posts from him happened. Dunno bro, not super happy to kill him early but also he be scummy.

Glitter seems ok.

Balki is poking people in a way that seems like hunting.

Ghug and worecj are developing the same reads I am getting, which isn't town-indicative but I like thinking I have friends to flock together with. They definitely seem themselves and are doing things to hunt a bit. Slight town

My original vote on bunny was a shit post, but I can actually read slight scum there, I could see him and bb sparing as scum on scum, but I definitely feel good about one being scum.

Will is will, not really seeing him as scum personally, I do find it funny bb was theory posting about me and him scumming together, so I'm just going to town read him to make bb's tin foil hat stand at full mast

Chaqa feels right to me, only thing going against him is I remember him being a lot less active. He may just be trigger happy about his gun tho.

Spartacus I gotta reread when I have the time, not sure I've played with him before, kind of feels new but not sure if he is. I feel like I should have a read on him and vecna, but not much as of yet.

Likewise I am pretty null on the rest of folk as of now.

[Jamiet99uk]

GM NOTE

A reminder that all players must make a Rose / Gun choice by the end of Day One.

If you do not do this, you will be removed from the game and we will all laugh about how much of a loser you are.

Thank you.

[SpiritoftheRadio]

10. SpiritoftheRadio - a flurry of activity overnight, formed some quick scumreads. Seems to find bunny suspicious. Spirit is probably not as awkward as he was in spy vs spy game. Hasnt done much; moving to null

How dare you call me awkward in spy game, no one scum read me at all until I outed myself. I always come off as town because I just make shit post and the masses lap up my hucks. I'll await you slight scum read of me as my reading status decays each time you mention me, despite me not posting in between.

[brainbomb]

Scum spirit would totally want some justice for spy vs spy mafia. So I cant even be mad about it if he pulls this off. But now my eyes are open and I see you brother.