Dekes beat me posting the Dead Lounge, but yeah, read that.
Lessons Learned is the name of my favorite thing to do once the game ends. Here's a list of things I found most important and might help you in future games.
I've brought up one or more points that people disagree with in past editions of this, so absolutely feel free to debate these if you have another vantage point.
Imbeciles Can Be Scum, Too.
That one's aimed at myself. I was guilty of giving Makeorbreak the benefit of the doubt far too much, when in fact, dispensing with the shenanigans was the right way to go.
There's not a lot I can embellish this point, just the fact that I need to keep a more open mind about stuff like this.
You've Gotta Keep Scumhunting, Keep It Going!
This is all montgomery's points:
I honestly think that Make is a troll. First off she says she is 17 in game but her profile states 19 and then she continues to make inane chatter and remarks about how she is crying with nothing to set it off. I'm not sure if MS has much of a trolling problem but it seems very suspicious.
Makeorbreak isn't an "obviously erractic" player, they are an obvious troll.
For the record I think MOB emailing is another act of trolling, the exact same thing happened to me last game and instead of resorting to emailing a fellow member of the game, I waited.
None of it actually explained
why
we should lynch Makeorbreak beyond her obnoxiousness, and that's what garnered incorrect suspicion from me and some others. This is potentially active lurking- you have to consistently prove that you are actively believing that MoB is the best choice.
Watch Out! Don't Sound Informed!
tans wrote:Well, if she gets modkilled then we have one less person to worry about
tans, you celebrated that as if you knew she was going to flip scum if she got modkilled. She is scum. That tipped me off on D3 because it sounded too much like you were exceptionally happy to see her go. I don't even recall you "finding her scummy" at any point before then.
Don't "Solve The Puzzle" Too Many Times
The frustrating thing with Beanman that ultimately proved to frustrate himself at one point was the fact that he tried to say "You are absolutely 100% obvscum" to too many people, as Cliquey pointed out. The problem is is that you run the risk of incurring scumminess if you go about it in that way because it amplifies the vote-hopping scumtell.
How to fix this is hard even for me to explain- but I think it ultimately comes down to making sure you've genuinely looked at all the options. Here's another...
Relationship Tells Don't Mean Jack Until There's a Flip- Don't Tunnelvision!
I'm pointing out Beanman again here because he was the led to the conclusion that Cliquey was scum
because he was ripping down his case on McGriddle.
But consider- what if one or both is Town? I think once Bean got deadset on the idea that McGriddle was scum before the flip even came, he twisted himself into knots trying to pick up relationships with people who hadn't flipped yet, and was led to believe Cliquey was scum because he was cross-defending.
That's another thing. Some people make the asinine statement "Your defense of [name] is noted," but it's nothing more than BS considering that they may be trying to add reason.
You're Town. Why The Hell Are You Voting Obvtown to Be Lynched?
Just don't do it.
When Doing Player-By-Players, Actually Take Stances!
I walked away from this suspicion for whatever reason, but pacman actually did a sub-par job of doing that player-by-player. It was really cloudy how exactly he felt about everyone in the game alignment-wise (supposedly). You actually have to take stances and make it clear what alignment you believe they are (again, supposedly). It pissed me off to no end that Beanman called my player-by-player a piece of shit, because I thought I did the best analysis ever by clearly showing how I felt about everyone, or stating why I wasn't sure of certain people.
Squabbling Is Distracting And Fosters Lurking!
When arguments tend to get to the point "no you're wrong, no you're wrong", you're cluttering the thread. tanstalas was mega-lurking through out the majority of D3 and nobody batted an eye in his direction because they were too tangled up in their hubris trying to prove that they're the best player and trying to get their opponent lynched. It's a team game FFS. Don't drag your teammates down by distracting them with white noise arguments that don't accomplish scumhunting. If you've made your point, that's it. You don't have to dive into every sentence and feel compelled to call every single damned post scummy. We get the hint.
Cliquey, I'm upset that you degenerated to that level. Come on, you're a groupie from the C7 days. Show them the right way.
Don't Chew The Replacement Out!
Why did Fenhl not get a chance to talk? Replacement catch-up posts are extremely valuable as they provide a fresh vantage. You squandered the chance.
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Overall, I'd say that this game went to shit because everyone got tangled up in their own selfish pride. Beanman, pacman's insult was like throwing a
pillow
at you. It kinda stings, but you've gotta get over the fact that it wasn't seriously hurtful and throw the pillow back like you were before. You basically became a crybaby at that point.
Jack, I... there's a bit to be said for your modding. I would not edit in flavor commentary in players' posts as it runs the risk of being mod WIFOM, and you need to de-emphasize the ruleset. Making the joking rule 18 was pointless, and the "Rule 5 triggers Rule 2 and therefore triggers Rule 1" thing, likewise. If you're trying to cut game discussion before D1 starts, I'd do PM confirms. I'm sure that "no font craziness" rule is going out the window too as it's A) hypocritical to the fact that you yourself post in blue/red at all times in all threads and B) is too strict and wasn't adhered to.
Cool beans on the flavor though.
Yeah, I'm a bit ticked that I'm getting an unearned loss if it isn't evident. But at least there's a lot to be learned from this. The issue of white noise:content is definitely one that comes out in a lot of threads, and this is a shining example of why a severely skewed ratio towards white noise can kill a game. Again, debate encouraged (but PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE don't make it a flame war).
Beanman, I don't know if you're going to play any more games after this- but you need to not ruin it if you're ticked off at someone. I think your denial is false, I think you were emotionally compromised and that damned you. If you can't handle such an environment where people can and will insult you lightly at times and try to consistently rip you down (which is the point of debating!), I'm going to bluntly suggest you quit Mafia.
