Hey, everyone. It's been a while since I last visited the 'Gym, but I stopped by to do a quick checkup. I have some topics I'd like to touch on. Please note I didn't get deep into all the data, and I mostly skimmed through parts of the discussion.
The first big problem I see is the lack of vanilla roles. This is bad for the game for a couple reasons. Firstly, the main excuse for not having many vanilla roles is that they're boring to play. I contest that anyone who can't stay interested in the game with a vanilla role is just as likely to flake in any given situation. While they are somewhat less interesting, they are an important factor when it comes to game balance. I believe this is why the town has such an overwhelming percentage of wins, and the wolves have done so poorly. Anything you do to dance around having to put more vanilla roles in the game will only be a band-aid fix to the issue of game balance. The town is over powered.
Let us not forget, at their most basic level, power roles are simply meant to be a counter balance to the fact that wolves have information and the town does not. "Fun," "whacky", and "unpredictable," doesn't always mix so good with "well-balanced". Ask yourself, "Which is more important to have for the health of the game?"
Secondly, receiving a vanilla role forces people to
actually play the game. When the game is properly balanced and everyone and their momma don't have power roles, 90% (I'm just throwing out numbers here) is reading what goes on in-thread and gleaning what information you can from that -- and, at its core, that's really what this game is all about. Vanilla roles force new players, and experienced player alike, to learn how to play the game well and constantly improve on their strategies. If 90% of the game is reading what goes on in-thread, 90% of your information should come from within the thread. I mean, when you stop and think about it, it only makes sense. Anyone can shout out, "I got a role PM! YOU'RE BUSTED!!!" but it takes a special skill to catch wolves in a well-crafted lie. The addition of more vanilla roles will make this a more skillful game in my opinion.
The issue of vet reverence really just makes me frustrated. It shows that players will put their blind trust into anyone if they have the right excuse, which shows a fundamental lack of concept of how this entire game works. Every time vet reverence is brought up in a game, newbies need to be explained why it is bad and why they should never mention it again, and vets need to be
instantly shot down for using poor reasoning as any sort of defense or excuse. The only line of logic used for not lynching someone should be, "They haven't done anything suspicious enough to warrant being lynched," definitely not, "Well, they're experienced, so they'll be helpful." Generally, it is the job of wolves to come up with reasons to
keep people, while it is the job of townies to come up with reasons to
lynch them! It is inevitable that townies will die. Protecting townies should almost always be secondary to lynching wolves.
Other small issues I saw:
A couple of quick points:
1. Mods should write their own rules for their game. Rules should be about 10-15 and be concise. General explanation of how mafia is played should live elsewhere and not clutter up the opening posts.
QFT.
Roles should always be assigned 100% randomly. Period.
Role revealing should not be banned under any circumstance.
Co-mods are awesome. I was going to suggest that before my hiatus.
