timmer ISO
~addendum after full compilation: it started an ISO and became a case. he's suspicious.~
timmer wrote:Okay, so I'm likely only going to skim the game up to this point, I just never have time for Day 0's, it seems. I arbitrarily chose Position 2 in the poll. From the look of all of the roles, each position seems to have its issues so really, where we start seems to me not very important.
How are people going to handle the unrecruited side of things? Last game, I rather infamously flamed out, and it all started when I admitted that I didn't give a crap who got lynched since I was neutral. There was more to it than that afterwards, but that was essentially the big issue. It was pointed out that the rules of R3 said that an unrecruited player was sort of a civ, but in THIS game, I see the rules state that an unrecruited player is neutral and has only to survive to win. So how does that play out this time? Are you guys still feeling like it makes more sense to "think civ"? Or is this sort of a LMS format that segues into a more traditional team format, with an awkward middle?
I'm happy either way, I just need clarity for my own sense of sanity, lol.
Hosts, one question about the clans. I see that you've mentioned how they aren't really tied to the recruiting leaders, that the leaders will recruit players who happen to be from any clan, but do the leaders get any kind of bonus if they happen to recruit someone from their clan?
This is timmer's second post on Day 0. It's always important to acknowledge that content from this stage of the game can really only be called suspicious if it is compatible with a baddie
recruiter. My feelings about this are mixed (hence the variety of colors!).
Yellow = This may be a minor point, but I'm going to account for it in my considerations of Day 0 content where there is precious little to work with in the first place. I think it was inherently easier for people to make "arbitrary" votes in the Day 0 poll, and I also have my doubts about the honesty of it. Everyone's choices were probably at least a
little influenced by their own roles. timmer chose position 2, which was widely regarded as a scary choice, so I am willing to view this with some suspicion.
Orange = Can anyone who played in Recruitment 3 recall this incident and report on its significance? I merely want to gauge how believable timmer's innocence was when posing this question -- asking for people's unrecruited strategies and wondering aloud how he might play his own.
Blue = People took some flak for proposing an LMS structure in this game and at the time I didn't think it was that suspicious. I still don't, really. It can be noted though that timmer literally mentioned his own uncertainty about the wisdom of neutrals "thinking like civilians". We have to ask ourselves whether one of two baddie recruiters had the balls to suggest something so blatantly spooky in his second post. I'm not sure.
Green = WIFOM. I'm not sure why anyone
except a recruiter would care about whether recruiters get bonuses for drafting within their own clans. I'm also not sure why an actual recruiter would ask this question publicly instead of safely PMing the hosts.
Overall I think he
could be a recruiter, but I can't say that without a lot of trepidation. Thoughts, anyone?
timmer wrote:So two recruitments have happened already? And yet my inbox is empty.

timmer wrote:Ricochet wrote:timmer wrote:So two recruitments have happened already? And yet my inbox is empty.

Huh?
From the recent host post:
"Azura Nokomis stood over a map of the realm, carefully arranging the ornate pieces that represented the concentration of the forces of various factions. A polished scrying stone stood to her left, and as she turned to gaze deep into it, she could see
Ubzargan the Ruthless clasping hands with a shadowy new ally. "So, cyborg," she hissed. "You too are recruiting powerful allies to your faction!" She grinned evilly - the only kind of grin anyone ever saw on her face. "Your pathetic brutes cannot hope to stand against my mastery of the very elements that compose our existence!
And my own new ally will be particularly... useful."
So we've had at least two recruitments, already.
If he is a recruiter, then he recruited right in our faces on Day 0.
timmer wrote:Epignosis wrote:
I'll color it above. That's four different criteria. Why is Golden seeking advice for this? What is his purpose? Couldn't Golden use his own knowledge to determine the best recruits?
But why, when asked for his view on recruitment, did he name four different possibilities instead of being direct?
That is what I find suspicious about Golden.
^I like Epig's thinking so far. Golden's chatter about recruiting felt a bit phoney-chatty.
What is "phonyy-chatty" and why did Golden's chatter about recruiting feel that way? timmer, you're needed at the front desk. I'm not a fan of piggy-backing Epignosis in such vague terms.
timmer wrote:Turnip Head wrote:All the recruiters are equally naughty. What makes half of them more civvie than the others, other than that's what we're told to call them? They all seem nearly equal in power.
^THIS. While I believe Long Con and Black Rock have styled the four factions as Civ 1 &2, Baddie 1&2, namely by having limited BTSC in the civ team but larger numbers, going by things they've said, does it really behoove us to think that way? Are not all four sides ultimately trying to rule this realm? Why can't people embrace the LMS-hybrid quality of this game? Why wrap yourself in the civvie flag when there are 4 civs or so out of 30+ players right now?
If he was a baddie on Day 1, then he was being a baddie right in our faces. "Should we really be playing like civilians???" Danger, entering an industrial WIFOM area. Hard hats required.
timmer wrote:MovingPictures07 wrote:
I think your argument against Llama strikes of bias, since you and he always butt heads.
You really think Llama's behavior indicates that he is a recruiter?

Furthur to this, why does someone being a recruiter mean anything? If they are one, they might be a civ recruiter, which means eliminating them will hurt the civ cause. There are equal numbers of bad and good recruiters. And once you are eventually recruited to a team, that's your team, so why gun for a potential recruiter when that may end up your own team down the road?
If he's a baddie recruiter, then he was baddie recruiting right in our faces. "Stop trying to kill me, I might pick you up later!" To accuse timmer of being a recruiter is starting to demand enormous WIFOM. I'm losing my ability to maintain any of that specific suspicion without feeling like a conspiracy theorist.
timmer wrote:MovingPictures07 wrote:
I also want to highlight this post because I feel it has some merit.
What do players think of BWT's post? bea's post?
I think several people - Golden, Epig, llama, BWT - are trying to act like they normally do but it is often coming across as false because we all know they are at least mostly likely still neutral. Golden's chit chat in prticular sounded like he was playing the part of civ Golden when in fact he likely isn't civ. BWT's posts feel a bit forced as well. llama's feel a bit more natural, as do Bea's, Epig's and SVS's, and yours.
This post confuses me. I don't understand why timmer was critical of people for fulfilling their perceived civilian metas. What exactly are a pile of likely-neutrals supposed to do in a Mafia game otherwise? Play tic-tac-toe until someone recruits them? Moreover his perspective of Golden in this post -- that he was playing to his civ meta -- seems to clash some with his prior assertion that Golden seemed "phony-chatty".
timmer wrote:Bullzeye wrote:
Personally (as usual) I'd rather vote a low poster/no-show than an active participant on day one if nothing more meaningful shows up.
I think this is a good thought process, and I'll second it.
What was the appeal of this thought process?
timmer wrote:JaggedJimmyJay wrote:timmer, could you please reference something specific in Golden's content that you think is indicative of his falsely fulfilling his civilian meta?
It's more of a sense than anything, but Epig kind of nailed it with his colour coding. The fact is, any of us who have been a part of this group for a long time could have been chosen recruiters/team leaders, and made, in the moment, a decision in recruiting targets that goes completely against the grain of everything people think of us in terms of our gameplay. None of the players who have been around for a long time are so boring that they are blindingly predictable. Golden knows this. So his answer, which Epig coded, feels false. It's like, he's trying to have a discussion and show the different facets of how he would come to a decision when we all kind of know that those facets are weighed by everyone in that position. Golden, in short, made a lot of words string together to make it sound like he was saying something - in more real terms, he was playing the "part" of Civ Golden, which often works for him. But the odds are against him in fact being that.
But as for the lynch,
I don't see how this makes Golden a lynch target. We all have to post our thoughts, and say things, and get through this awkward part of the game where we have abilities but no guiding purpose. A clan, but no team. It's a weird feeling, so really, if someone is participating and at least trying to contribute, even if it feels false, it's good enough for me for Day 1. I want this game to be legend, the series' cred demands it, and I'd rather vote for a lame-o non-poster than an active one for now.
@Bea, lol, I was caught off guard by that as well.

I don't like this post. I should have noticed it earlier since it was in response to my own question. timmer's effort here to explain why Golden's post about potential recruiting strategies seems quite belabored -- like he's really working hard to find a way to paint it in a bad light. That's meaningful to me because I think that is a task that really did demand hard work. The Golden post being referenced just wasn't that suspicious (granting that Epignosis genuinely felt otherwise).
This is the Golden post in question for reference. timmer is criticizing Golden for discussing the "facets of how he would come to a [recruiting] decision" (which was the point of the discussion at hand) despite the factors he mentioned being "facets weighed by everyone in that position". This strikes me as an effortful reach to assert Golden is providing filler content for the sake of seeming like his civilian self -- something which is already not even a good reason to be suspicious of Golden on its own right.
Moreover, let's examine the second paragraph. timmer has expressed clear suspicion of Golden -- thrown shade all over him. Then this highlighted bit comes into existence, and I am baffled. He is both condemning and exonerating Golden based on the same point simultaneously.
timmer wrote:JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I am playing like I would as a townie despite the fact that I am not a townie. What does that mean to you, timmer?
Since I know neither your civ game, your tactics or your tendencies... absolutely nothing. We're all actors in a wonderful, as yet unwriiten story.
I tried to goad timmer into throwing shade on me because I was doing the very thing he "accused" Golden of doing (playing to my civ meta while neutral). He wasn't willing to do so. I struggle to follow his mindset.
timmer wrote:Morning, all!
So I thought a bit about things this morning while I tried to pretend to be asleep so my kids wouldn't bother me... so if these games usually end up with a traditional 60/40 split in terms of civ teams vs baddie teams, I can thus see the logic in attempting to sniff out a baddie recruiter. However, here's my problem. I personally don't think I can pull that off on this particular Day 1.
Whether we are talking about Golden, or Epig, or whoever, everyone is playing a certain part right now - I'm choosing to be neutral, others are saying they will be civ until they know what they will be... but at any moment, possibly even ALREADY, those same people will get recruited to a team, and in some cases it will be a team that is at odds with the persona they have chosen to portray in the thread. And so it means that EVERYONE is a potential liar, to me. Anyone saying they are civ-thinking may already be lying their asses off.
All of this to say that the odds of me sussing out a baddie recruiter today, with such a mess of acting and lying going on is low. And I don't have the time to try to find minutiae that would suggest it.
So I'm going to stick to the idea of voting for someone who is not around, for today. And I will be at work later and so will not be posting too much today.
This post can be summarized as "I am going to play neutrally because the people claiming to play pro-civilian could easily be lying". Again, I don't understand this line of thinking. I see two problems:
1.) The notion that certain players "could" be lying shouldn't inherently affect timmer's approach. I don't understand why he'd feel the need to play neutrally just because he isn't sure he can trust people who aren't.
2.) People who claim to be playing neutrally (like timmer himself) could also "already be lying their asses off". What's the difference? What is gained? The thought process is a mystery to me. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a baddie thought process, but if I can't relate with it at all that's not a great sign.
timmer wrote:In regards to SD and Devin (and anyone I missed) who don't like my stance on the game. I've been pretty clear in saying that I think it is an LMS game that will then segue into a traditional mafia game. I'm not saying LMS forever, just LMS for now. An unrecruit has no allegiance, no alignment, no task except to stay alive until said recruitment can happen. That's it. Right now, day 1, there are apparently 8 people on teams, and something like 25 not on teams. So the majority of us have survival on our mind, plain and simple.
My problem with people saying that they are playing civvie until they get recruited is that it could all be such a lie already. Someone could say that as the leader of a baddie team, lol. Whether someone wants to admit it or not, it's all lying because half of the people saying it will end up bad and their stance will then be strategic tactics, or already are.
You must see how there is at least anelement of LMS in these early days?
Again, the highlighted point is applicable to more than just claims of pro-civilian thinking. It's also applicable to claims of deliberate neutrality, like timmer's own claim. I am struggling to decide whether this is just a logical discrepancy or something actually suspicious. I know I'm confused though.
timmer wrote:So as I'm reading along, the endless back and forths regarding Golden and MP truck along. They haven't play out yet and I've got a lot of pages to go, but for now I will say that I don't see a problem with MP's game, I'm a fan of his thinking in this game. Golden's playing a sort of similar game, but he seems to be shying away from admitting that his stance on Epig was odd, even for this game. SVS keeps mentioning it, but he isn't directly addressing it, even as he says he is. I'm liking MP more than Golden. And SVS' game is topnotch.
Again I get some vibe that timmer is reaching for a reason to criticize Golden. He asserts Golden was "shying away from" or "not directly addressing" points made against him, which I would say is bunk. Golden addressed literally every single point against him about ten times each (that's why the discussion around him dominated the thread so thoroughly).
timmer wrote:Voted for Golden. At the point I'm at in my read back he's the one standing out as being odd. If I can find time to continue reading before deadline I will but I'm happy with my vote for now.
This vote was always a piece of cake for most of the people when Golden was lynched.
timmer wrote:Okay, so I'm pretty well caught up.
I'm going to try to sum up all of my thoughts in one post.
First, any and all cases that revolve around people not playing like their normal ____ game are irrelevant to me. Whether SVS has seen "this" Golden before, for instance, is useless to my view of this game. We are all stuck in some part of a meta, where we are neutral, then some of us aren't neutral, and some were never neutral, but we are all choosing our own unique path to portray ourselves, and this format is rare thus there IS no meta to actually map out, from a reading perspective. No truth, no tea.
timmer is suddenly dismissive of meta as a means of reading people in this game despite his original beef with Golden being entirely based on meta (Golden "falsely fulfilling his civ meta").
timmer wrote:Third, unlike in a normal game, I don't mind at all the people who are suggesting that quieter players should get votes. Only a nutter would recruit from a pool of absentees, imo.
He advocates lynching lurkers
and acknowledges that they are unlikely recruitment choices. Thus, he is advocating the lynch of neutrals -- a pro-baddie approach.
timmer wrote:Fifth, where I'm still at a conundrum is that (and take this with whatever grain of salt you want, I recommend Kosher personally) I still have no team and thus I'm not sure which kind of case to get behind, as any of them could affect my future employer. For instance, Canuckle makes a very good point about TinyBubbles. She seems like she's recruited and unsure of how to act. But what if that's true but Tiny's team will be my team?
This is nonsense, in my opinion. He acknowledges some validity in Canuckle's case against Bubbles, but doesn't actually lend any real support to it "because he might end up on Bubbles' team". He seems terrified of actually
doing anything. My confusion persists.
timmer wrote:Finally, while my vote is on Golden, having said everything I just said, I'd appreciate it if someone could show me the logic in voting elsewhere. Golden's evasiveness has bugged me, but it's not exactly meaty. I'm not sure how to really rally behind the current cases due to my position in the game, so please, give me ideas of how to proceed that sound reasonable, and I may bite.
Regarding the highlighted portion -- Golden was never evasive of anything while he was alive.
Otherwise this post continues the hyper-timid approach timmer has employed the entire game thus far. I can grant that this would be awkward baddie behavior, but I'm not inclined to give him a pass for that.
timmer wrote:voted for tinybubbles.
I agree with the basic thrust of the case against tiny bubbles, her posts have been the epitome of both wishy and washy. But moreso, I'm liking the gameplay of the people voting her, so I'm willing to follow their lead on this.
When timmer voted for Bubbles, the other two voting that way were Canuckle and thellama73. He'd stated earlier his agreement with Canuckle's case on Bubbles, so that is consistent. I believe this is the first time timmer has even indirectly mentioned llama though, at least in a long while. He should explain why he felt inclined to trust llama's lead on this matter. Both Canuckle and llama have seemed to play a pro-civilian styled game so far -- not the pile of neutrality timmer has claimed to desire.
timmer wrote:Roxy wrote:
You have been recruited. I would bet my sweet ass on it.
While anything I say in reply is obvs wifom-y, I'm actually still unrecruited. I have no preference of whether I'm bad or good, I've been applying to all of the recruitment drives, but so far...
But, again, I know, WiFOM, etc.
Roxy peered straight into timmer's soul and saw the recruitment all over him. Whether she was right about that remains to be seen. His response is admittedly all it could be in the face of that statement -- WIFOM.
~~~
The early content is a mixed bag. I have reasons to suspect timmer as a recruiter and reasons to doubt him as a recruiter. Still, the full breadth of the content is troubling enough to me that I am willing to call timmer a legitimate suspect who might earn my vote this phase.
My cases have been unpopular in this game, so I encourage everyone to review this and tell me if you disagree.
