Themed or not themed

[PolarBoy]

Norinel's definition is a good one. The point of having themed sign-ups seperately is to make sure that people know what they're in for when they sign up for a game.

[PolarBoy]

It's true that every game is different. But what I'm getting at is that there's a basically unified definition of what constitutes a "normal" game, whereas themed represents everything else. Therefore the more "normal" a game is, the less explanation it needs; The less normal, the more explanation required.

[PolarBoy]

Another good way to look at it is that a themed game is one where you aren't necessarily sure that there will be a lot of interest in it. If one takes into consideration that this is primarily a mafia site, it is fairly obvious that there will always be a good player base for a standard mafia game. On the other hand, not everyone will necessarily want to play a game based on a particular novel or movie or video game, or with some altered mechanic like time travel or highly formalized discussion or even

gay

roles.

Yes, I am aware that this still puts standard vs. themed on a continuum rather than creating a hard distinction between one and the other, and also that this means that the answer to the question "how themed is themed" is still subjective and constantly fluxuating. It's really a case by case judgement.

[PolarBoy]

er...what? This is a discussion thread.

[PolarBoy]

I don't know if it's necessary for a fun game. It's certainly necessary for a game of mafia. Usually games that share characteristics with mafia, such as the day/night cycle or popular lynches, are called "mafia mutations" and fall into a similar category with themed games.

It might be instructive to go into why we even make a distinction between themed and unthemed games, so I submit to you this parable. Imagine if you will, a roller coaster. This is the most fun roller coaster ever devised, and lots of people love it. So many, in fact, that they wait in line to ride it over, and over, and over again. One day, though, someone says, "Sure, the roller coaster is great, but what if we ran it backwards?". Most of the people in the line, because they love the roller coaster, boo and hiss at this idea, but a few, enough to load up a full ride once, like the idea, so they get to run it backwards once. Some of them decided they liked it better this way, and some who saw it wanted to try it too, and of course there were many who had other ideas about how the roller coaster could be run faster or slower or with spinning cars. So they all built another ride alongside the original one, one that could be re-engineered to suit the tastes of those riding while at the same time allowing the purists to enjoy the classic version.

Themed mafia exists for the same reason, that being that it allows for experimentation without upsetting the flow of normal mafia games. Basically, if having it in a normal queue would upset the flow of normal play, it belongs in a themed queue.

[PolarBoy]

Actually I should clarify something else. By general consesus there are three classifications as to what doesn't count as normal: the first is themed games; which usually are based on a popular piece of culture and very often require specific information about said source material to be fully understood and enjoyed. the second is "experimental" or "variation" games; these include significantly altered game mechanics and are often highly experimental. The third are "mutations", and they aren't really mafia at all (Not by Dimitri Davidoff's definition). However, since they include many elements of mafia, they are often treated as themed games.

However, there is no organizational signicance to any of these classifications, so it's really a moot point if all you want to know is what queue to sign up in.

Three allied serial killers is scary. If the other "half" are vig, then the SK's will frequently win by the end of night 1. If it were a twelve player game, they'd still be extremely likely to win, seeing as they won't accidentally kill each other.

Also, "one-shot" vigilantes are a near tautology. It is true that sometimes a vig will kill two or more scum during the course of a game, but it's rare for a vig to even attempt more than one kill. Also, something many mods don't take into account is that vigilantes base their decisions on roughly the same information. It's likely that if one of them is certain enough of scumminess to risk a kill, any other vig will be as well, so all but one waste their night actions (See Mixed Theme Mafia). The reasoning is different and much more complicated if the vigilantes are aware of each other's existence.

[PolarBoy]

Well, what I'd like to do is have a symmetrical game. What if there were two uninformed groups? You'd need some voting mechanism: maybe each group has a leader, and everyone can PM his leader, or maybe there's only daytime.

See Gay Mafia and Spy-Hunting Stand-down. It has potential--I myself am toying with the idea of a symmetrical game I call swing state (the name pretty much says it all)--but it can come off pretty badly. If you think day one is bad now, imagine one where everybody can't pretend to be on the same side.