The Syndicate

she just means at the end yeah

Alison wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:42 pm

Enrique wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:36 pm It didn't come out of nowhere. G-Man left hints, and not just in the flavor but especially in the set-up. It was winnable. It wasn't that bad.

I don't read flavor.

Flavor being relevant to in-game mechanics is also bastard.

i think there were hints other than just in flavor though tbh

even in the original sign up he said the number of players literally didn't matter lol, and the increasing flips and lack of night deaths etc

but gman has been known to have game relevant flavor so there could have been notice of that i guess

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:39 pm While much of this setup is hardly original, it first came to me as an interesting idea about two years ago. At first I dismissed it and set it aside, but then I witnessed and played a game or two in which the civvies just brutally savaged each other while the baddies sat back and let them do most of the work. People just couldn’t see past their own biases and preconceived notions of how mafia is solved. It bugged me enough to revisit the idea.

Around that same time, 'no lynch' options were appearing in a few game polls, and that stood out to me as the way to make this whole system actually work, rather than just let civvies off each other one at a time until only one or two remain. Stringing things along for that length of time would be cruel. The Racket format also jumped out at me as a way to lessen the blow of the ruse. By making the game fast and limit posts, I saw an opportunity for players to engage at a minimal level, hopefully reducing the amount of time 'wasted' by taking part.

The point was never to put certain, mechanically-focused mafia players in their place. That’s a form of nastiness that isn't normally in my nature. We're all stubborn in our own ways anyway. Rather, the point was (and is) to see how much evidence it requires in order for a group of people to look past the assumption that there is a mafia faction and vote against their instincts. In this case, it required more time than the civvies had before crossing the point of no return.

I told my wife at the very beginning of this game that I could very well get in trouble for this one. In its most base form, this kind of setup is little more than a dirty trick for the host's amusement- a "troll game" as JaggedyJimmyJay referred to the possibility on more than one occasion. I hope you can believe me when I say that this was not intended to be, nor ever was a "troll game" for me. I included numerous hints in the flavor posts that pointed toward the truth of the matter. I wanted you guys to see it, factor the flavor in with the ever-growing list of potent civvie roles, and push past the normal bounds of game thought.

Despite what some of you have said, you were never playing against me. I am the host- I cannot win anything as the host. I was always on your side. I wanted this game/experiment/whateveritevenis to be a success. The first two days were amusing to watch, for sure, as you all got situated and subsequently bounced around, but I was always cheering for you all to figure it out. Days 3 and 4 I was like the goblins at the beginning of Labyrinth- leaning in, wondering if it was all going to click.

By Day 5, things turned, and it was much more uncomfortable to watch play out. Things got testy, and the mood grew bleaker and harsher than I had hoped for. For a game designed for low content, it was a real mental struggle to watch long stretches go by with no activity. I could tell that I had created a game that ceased to be fun or even interesting to some of you. I won't lie, it stung a little, because I pride myself on creating games that are wild and confusing, but also fun. It wasn't the first game where I ceased to have fun hosting it, and I'm sure it won't be the last.


To be continued...

well said, yeah this is all totally valid imo

i think it would be good in the future to include "bastard game" disclaimers but this was very much an experiment and you clearly put a lot of careful thought into how to go about it -- obviously people still ended up not enjoying it a ton but i think it was fine for what it was and there were some subtle hints etc

Alison wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:27 pm So now we have a game explicitly declared bastard that contained no bastard elements and a game marketed as simply "mafia" that contains no mafia

I suggest we create a Game of Champions next year where only players who have not won a game on the Syndicate in 2021 get to sign up.

lol

that's two extremely strange and bizarre and unorthodox endgames on the site within a few hours of each other wowee

it's like uhhh what's some analogous media where everyone is set up to be paranoid that theres a mole but there really isnt and you just watch everyone turn against each other

he was making a point with the flavor too lol

NANOOKTHEGREATANDFEARSOME wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:15 pm "What if everyone is town" is a funny idea but annoying and a waste of time jn practice

i've toyed with "what if everyone is mafia" ideas lol

i didn't play so i can't blame yall for being upset but i think experiments like this are kind of cool every once in a while, G just fooled you all

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 10:09 pm When the bad guys exist only in your head, everybody loses.

this whole thing was a psychological.... social morality lesson

what the fuck