The Syndicate

Epignosis wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:27 pm

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:10 pm Nobody has to do anything they don’t want to do as a host.

Excellent. I hate sending out role PMs. I really do.

lmao

I'm not sure it really matters to try and make it easy for "newbie hosts" to figure out the culture of TS. The queues are chock-full, so it will be several months before a newcomer who wants to host can even do that, and by that time they'll have played some games and chatted with everyone on the Discord a bit. And to an extent, new blood is only to TS's benefit even if they're different, no? I've heard stories about "old TS" and it sounds dramatically different than how it is today, and I'd say the changes through time and immigration have only improved the community. Not to mention that members will make their concerns known if someone enters the queue with a setup that clashes heavily with the interests of the community.

Regarding members being unaware of what games are like, they can ask in the sign-up thread. Or spectate. Or join one of the game types specifically suited for those who may be unfamiliar with custom games. And as a player, I'm not sure I would really glean anything meaningful from a newbie guide/orientation that says games can be wild or weird, or telling me to ask questions. Unless you get very specific, this doesn't actually say much about what to expect. And really, what website is going to say you can't ask questions?

I don't know. I really do think just about everyone can figure this out by just paying attention. A newbie player or newbie host who is just doing their own thing will feel out of touch with the culture, but that's not because of the culture... it's because they're not paying attention. If they decide they hate the culture after they've had themselves a gander, again, that's not because of the culture, that's because of them. TS is one of the most popular Mafia sites and communities out there and for good reason. But I don't believe the people who've shunned TS and walked away did so because of lack of transparency or information.

on my homesite host communication happened in basically every game, so understand that I'm working from a different cultural bias on that front

I do realize that elsewhere it's usually frowned upon. When I've hosted on MU, I didn't know what the consensus was, so I opted to be a pretty distant host.

copy-pasting and editing from the game thread:

I think these suggestions should be numbered instead of bullet-pointed.

Some of this seems like language policing which won't work IMO, like the whole referring to mod info thing at the end just doesn't parse for me. Making it a rule that someone has to say "I was told x" instead of "I was told x by the host" doesn't move the needle at all and just makes it murkier, not clearer. I think there should be a total ban on host involvement by players or no ban at all. Like your previous suggestion that players should not interact with the host ITT is solid, and is compatible with a rule that says players can't relay host info shared privately either. No conveying of private info whatsoever, and hosts should probably be recommended to not share elaborations privately either. If it's relevant to the game state, the info should only be shared as a general post by the host and not privately to an enterprising player who thought of asking.

Personally, I really like interactions between players and hosts, so my preference is towards no ban or policing on the host/player communication front, but I wouldn't be opposed to a total ban on it and would be fine with abiding with a rule like that.