When I came in as Admin, I carried with me a specific mandate for myself: Find a way to reverse the downward trend. This isn't to say that prior adminstration mishandled anything or contributed to the trend, of course, but simply an acknowledgement that forums in general and forum mafia specifically just isn't in the same place in Web 3.0 as it was 22 years ago. I knew I needed to buckle down and focus on the fundementals of what makes this site (and its userbase) the premiere spot for playing Mafia online. And that lead me to one conclusion, one that, once I thought of it, was so simple: Every game on this site must be a UPick.
I know this will come as a gut punch to many users of the site, especially since we already overhauled the queues fairly recently, but I assure you this is in the best interest of the site. A few users have noted that we need to do more to attract newbies. We recently did a review of the "how did you find us" section users are asked to fill out when they join, a 66% of new users who play at least one game on this site mark "wanted to join the birthplace of UPick". For better or for worse, this is the powerhouse of recruitment for the site. And the queues themselves aren't going anywhere!
The
Normal Queue
will continue to function as normal, with game mods restricted from creating roles from submitted concepts that go outside the prescribed boundaries of Normal roles.Likewise, there will be minimal changes to the
Open Queue
. The distinction between "Open" and "Semi-Open" will be eliminated (since UPick requires some randomization and all games will now be UPicks). Open UPick games may still be run using Approved Open Setups, simply by taking an Approved Setup of roles and applying those roles to submitted concepts. Other Opens simply would need to post a full list of all generated roles at the beginning of the game to be Open compliant. The
Theme Queue
will undergo the biggest modification, but for a good cause. They will be returned to the basics. No longer will new setups or wacky roles be lumped in with "theme". Rather, the Theme Queue will host games specifically about a specific theme. If you want to run a UPick where all players must submit Gossip Girl characters, for example, this is the queue you will go to.All other UPick games that don't fit any of the other categories (or the mod doesn't wish to run in the other queues for one reason or another) will be run in a new Queue: The
UPick Queue
, which I will personally operate but which will otherwise run like any other queue. To kick-off this new Queue/site change and in honor of the 20th anniversary of UPick, I will for the first time since June 2004 run a Mafia game on this website. And, for the first time EVER, it will be UPick.
For the moment, all non-UPick games in sign-ups can proceed as normal, but any games waiting to enter sign-ups that are not already UPicks will need to be converted.
Thank you all and remember, you can pick your nose anywhere, but only on Mafiascum can you pick your roles!