The Syndicate

I just went through my own games to see what the ratio is.

Masters of the Universe- Civilians
X-Men- Independent faction
Cars- Civilians
Biblical- Civilians and Independent
Star Wars- Mafia and Independents (3 factions)
Arkham- Civilians and various Independents

Thomas & Friends- Mafia
Classic Super Mario Bros.- Civilians
Shawshank Redemption- Independent (serial killer)
Willow- Civilians and Independent
Are You Being Served?- Civilians and Independent
The Legend of Zebra- Mafia
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?- Civilians
Watchmen- Independents
Angry Birds- Mafia
Dune- Civilians and Independents
Spirited Away- Mafia

Game of Champions 2014- Civilians
Omertà- Mafia
Home Alone- Mafia

++++

Of the twenty games I've hosted here:

Civilian win: 50%
Mafia win: 35%
Independent win: 45%

Maybe I need more powerful mafias.

rabbit8 wrote:Fun exercise, basic game. Baddie NK and BTSC and no civvie powers. I would be down in a heart beat. I enjoy a game with fun powers and flavor as much as the next player but I really enjoy the game for the mental sparring exercise that it is at its core.

The Heist games here are supposed to be that or close to that, with no more than three powers and 15 roles.

Dragon D. Luffy wrote:@Rabbit

"Horrible civvie play" is relative, civilians are not gods who can overcome any difficulty and Sherlock Holmes their way to victory. If baddies are winning games way more often in this site, it's because games are not being designed well enough to be balanced.

Knowing roles upon death, using cops results, changing votes, all of those are tools that civilians could be able to use to overcome the baddie's tools. The game isn't automatically better if it's harder for civilians to win. It has to be balanced first.

With a few notable exceptions (I mean notable in the sense that the game was broken from Day 0), most of the time the civilians lose on this site because many of them don't make a praiseworthy effort to win. They are absent 45 of the 48 allotted hours each Day phase, which minimizes discussion. They miss votes. They self-vote. They fail to send in night actions. They develop tunnel vision. They devote pages to back-and-forths which minimize other discussion and make other civilians disinterested in reading or overwhelmed. And so on.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:He just likes killing people; MP the Killer Accountant.

Creditz befo debitz, bitchtez

Er, something like that.

HEY~ Stop shooting me with the stapler, Alex!

S~V~S wrote:

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Here's another addition to role-use: silencer, post-restriction, and/or insanifier roles or mechanics.

As a civilian, it is extremely disheartening to be told you can't post for 48 hours. When a civilian gets such a role, they should be careful how they use it. For example, these two roles were in Downton, and LoRab and Dom used them effectively. They targeted players that they suspected, but sometimes didn't use their abilities if they weren't feeling strongly about their suspicions.

On the other hand, in Turf Wars, I was post-restricted for two consecutive days before being nightkilled thereafter. I did enjoy that game otherwise, but that is my one complaint about that one.

I HATE silencing. HATE IT. Noting ruins games for civs like being silenced. I don't know why any host would want a mechanic that reduces posting, interest and keeps people from voting. I won't have it in my games, and won't allow it to be used as a curse for curser roles. I so strongly prefer curses & insanities.

The best use of silencing for a civ is to protect people, although recently the taboo against lynching the silenced has worn off becasue a few baddies have self silenced. In a game at RM I silenced DP several times cause I knew he was civ, and the baddies kept making moves towards him re "let's lynch low posters". But yeah, I especially don't understand silencing as a civvie power.

I remember in my first hosting experience here, I silenced half my players for eating spiders and you were like, "Dude, you just silenced half your players."



At least I didn't modkill them like MP.

Speaking of 48 hour days, a number of people prefer them, but don't use them. They "catch up", post, and vote in the last few hours of the Day.

There you go.

One thing that is a major reason is that, traditionally here, civilians only won if they were alive and eliminated the Mafia. If civilians won dead or alive, I would have a lot more banners down there. However, the prevailing mindset among many has been, "As long as the lynch isn't me, everything is okay." This would lead to less than optimal play.

As a Host, I am all but divested of that view, and most (not all ) of my games will reward players who put forth the effort to find Mafia with a victory if it is earned. It is discouraging to work your butt off and get killed, and thus be deprived of a win. I have found that my ability to engage in the hunt is unleashed when I don't have to worry about dodging the night kill too.

However, I am still adamant that an open setup game should be designed to punish info-dumpers, not reward them. If you get info from the host via your role, it's good sportsmanship in a fully open setup to make a proper case and spar with the person you are trying to get lynched.