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Author Topic: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion  (Read 4099 times)

lordnincompoop

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[Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« on: February 15, 2011, 07:28:52 pm »

This is a thread to ask questions about the game of Mafia. Here, newbies can discuss the game at will, without needing to take the plunge into a game or feeling the pressure of a scumhunt without being prepared for it. Unlike the Mafia games, this thread encourages a light and friendly atmosphere to help bring new players in and for all people to feel welcome.

This is also a thread for more experienced players, where they can discuss strategy, scumtells, and share their metagame observations.



Frequently Asked Questions:
  • Oh my god this game seems fun. But wait, what are the rules?
    This is a good Mafia tutorial, brought to you by the wise JoshuaFH. Heed his words. It isn't included here because it's rather too long for that.
  • People are accusing me of being scum! I'm about to get lynched! What do I do?
    The first and most important order of business is not to give up.
    One, two votes isn't much. Even if someone's got a bandwagon on you and people are writing walls of accusals, do not lose hope. You can still turn this around, no matter how bleak it appears. Fight them with your own arguments, and search for people you may think are scum, and try to turn the votes against them. About the worst thing you can do is give up, whether you are town or scum; you are harming the town by making it lose another member, distracting them from hunts for the true scum, and worsening your own game as well.
    The other players have nothing against you: it's just how the game goes. Even if you foul it up and people yell at you for it, once the game is over we're all friends.
    There are still people who give up, saying things like "You'll all be sorry when you find out I'm just town afterwards!" and "I'm not even going to try, there no way to stop this". Don't be that guy. Not only is it rather selfish, it will simply deepen your grave. You have to get out of it with real, meat-laden arguments, and these empty threats and remarks will only make you appear more scummy.
  • Do I have to post so much? I can't be bothered.
    Yes, you do. You have to be an active player to scumhunt effectively, and with a lurking playerbase you might as well just hand it to the scum. There is always something to say; even if someone said what you wanted to, say it anyways in your own words. Always ask questions, always observe.
    This is a very demanding game. If you don't have enough time, then perhaps you should look elsewhere.
  • How do I even tell if someone's scum anyways?
    This is, in face, a difficult question. The game involves a lot of observation, and often it's more about intuition.
    You can often tell with the help of the List of Common Scumtells, provided below, but don't make the mistake of overusing it. Not every accusal against you is an OMGUS, and not all attempts at logic are WIFOM.  If in doubt, always remember Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. Don't take anything for granted.
  • What's all this wine stuff that players keep talking about? Does Mafia cause alcoholism?
    They are likely referring to the concept of WIFOM. It's a name for the kind of circular reasoning that you'd find when scrutinising scum motives, and is described in the CEAs (Commonly Encountered Abbreviations) and Other Terminology Commonly Found in Bay12 Mafia below. It goes like this:

    A: Why didn't our most active player get killed? It would be the scum's goal to kill the most active players to remove accusal, wouldn't it? The only conclusion is that [active player] is scum!

    B: Or is it? What if the scum wants to keep the most active player to draw suspicion on him? The scum could then head the attack ont his player, thus pushing themselves into a position of trust amongst the town! I've got my eye on you, A!

    A: No, that isn't right! Clearly, they would stay in the background, and the people who go for the bait like me would be attacked by the scum, thus making themselves appear insightful! B, how dare you do this to me!

    B: Or perhaps the scum would be someone voting for a person that isn't the subject of a bandwagon, thus appearing both inconspicuous and independent! [lurker], you are scum!

    As you can see here, both A and B are making wild speculations on the motives of the scum. Their votes and eyes are all over the place, and nothing is really getting done. It distracts from real scumhunting, which is seeing people play and making observations from that, not speculating on how people would or would not play.



Resources:


Mafia: A Basic Tutorial by JoshuaFH





If you still have questions, go ahead and ask! We'll try to answer them to the best of our abilities!

Got something for the OP? All suggestions are welcome. Put my name or in bold so I can tell it's for moi.

I'd like someone to write something up for new mods, as I don't think I have enough experience in that field. Also Org.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2011, 06:47:36 pm by lordnincompoop »
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Darvi

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2011, 07:31:31 pm »

li'l mistake there. "Don't bee that guy"

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. *g*
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webadict

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2011, 07:35:42 pm »

li'l mistake there. "Don't bee that guy"

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. *g*
Don't waste precious thread space.

Can we add "Passiveness," "Backtracking," and the obvious "Lying" to the scumtells?

Passiveness is not taking stances on certain subjects, such as whether someone is scum, so that the player can avoid looking like they are supporting a town lynch if that player is lynched.

Backtracking is changing your stance from a previously stated stance so as to appear less scummy, such as supporting the lynch of a town player and then later stating that you did not support the lynch.
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Darvi

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2011, 07:38:11 pm »

Jus' trying to be helpful :<

Also, bussing should probably be mentioned. You know, scum voting for their colleagues to appear innocent.

Oh wait, nevermind >_>

Oh, I know. "That player is being weird! He must be scum!"

Yeah, or he's just being cryptic. Or something.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2011, 07:39:45 pm by Darvi »
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JanusTwoface

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2011, 08:07:49 pm »

Bandwagoning - Usually a scumtell, but smart scum can avoid this one easily
OMGUSing - Also trying to hard to avoid an OMGUS, once again easy to avoid
Defending/Chainsawing - I'd say defending yourself (beyond what is necessary) is scummier
Lurking - Townies lurk too
Appearing Too Townie - Just be careful of the difference between suspecting someone because you can't find anything scummy and someone actually being careful to not be scummy

Resigning yourself to being lynched - Can be a valid town strategy, very common among newbie scum, often turns into a bus

Passiveness - And sometimes people are actually not sure; no matter what some people will have you think, being unsure is *not* a scumtell if you have a good reason not to be sure
Backtracking - Legitimitally backtracking is scummy, but people make mistakes



Long story short, these are great things to keep in mind, but if you blindly lynch people that do them, you're going to lose a lot of games.
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lordnincompoop

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2011, 08:12:43 pm »

That is why Sturgeon's Law exists, along with the caution in the FAQ.

I'll update the OP again soon.

Any questions, newbies?
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webadict

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2011, 08:19:48 pm »

Bandwagoning - Usually a scumtell, but smart scum can avoid this one easily
OMGUSing - Also trying to hard to avoid an OMGUS, once again easy to avoid
Defending/Chainsawing - I'd say defending yourself (beyond what is necessary) is scummier
Lurking - Townies lurk too
Appearing Too Townie - Just be careful of the difference between suspecting someone because you can't find anything scummy and someone actually being careful to not be scummy

Resigning yourself to being lynched - Can be a valid town strategy, very common among newbie scum, often turns into a bus

Passiveness - And sometimes people are actually not sure; no matter what some people will have you think, being unsure is *not* a scumtell if you have a good reason not to be sure
Backtracking - Legitimitally backtracking is scummy, but people make mistakes



Long story short, these are great things to keep in mind, but if you blindly lynch people that do them, you're going to lose a lot of games.
All of those are scumtells. There's a note in scumtells that says that there are exceptions to the rules, and they are not 100% evidence, so don't say they AREN'T scumtells.
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JanusTwoface

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2011, 08:21:20 pm »

I didn't. I just wanted to emphasize how they aren't guaranteed and which ones I think are more common for newer scum.
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Pandarsenic

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2011, 09:06:56 pm »

Massclaim is a good one to add to CEAs, Etc.

The Too Townie scumtell should be changed to something along the lines of Concern With Image. "Too Townie" is a fallacious scumtell where someone looks "too townie" to be a townie. Which makes no sense. At all.
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Darvi

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2011, 09:08:23 pm »

Rolefishing is afaik also a scumtell.
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Akivara

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2011, 09:27:04 pm »

Is not getting emotional no matter what a scum tell, townie tell, null tell, or dependent on their personality?
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Pandarsenic

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2011, 09:27:39 pm »

That would be very much dependent on the person.
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Your bone is the best Pandar honey. The best.
YOUR BONE IS THE BEST PANDAR
[Cheeetar] Pandar doesn't have issues, he has style.
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webadict

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2011, 09:28:30 pm »

Rolefishing is afaik also a scumtell.
I was going to say this, but forgot.

Is not getting emotional no matter what a scum tell, townie tell, null tell, or dependent on their personality?
Appealing to emotion is scummy. Being emotional is not.
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JanusTwoface

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2011, 09:29:43 pm »

Is not getting emotional no matter what a scum tell, townie tell, null tell, or dependent on their personality?
Yeah... I think the best answer to that is yes. :)

Some people get overly emotional as town or scum. Some can take anything and not react. There's only a rare few for which emotion is actually a good scum tell and they usually fix it as soon as they can.

Appealing to emotion is scummy. Being emotional is not.
In most cases. As a counterexample, consider a few recent games with Dariush or some older games with chaoticjosh.
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Akivara

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Re: [Q&A] Mafia Questions and Strategy Discussion
« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2011, 10:30:48 pm »

What's WoT/WOT?  I can't find it in any acronym listings anywhere.
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