Mastin Academy

[DrippingGoofball]

into getting those that I think are scum lynched or wagoned as after a few posts of back and forth I find myself getting beat down.

Don't give any reasons, just repeat that a player is scum often enough and people will vote him to shut you up and prove you wrong.

[Untrod Tripod]

fix my modding

[notscience]

mastin I require your expertise

[Untrod Tripod]

you may also fix my mafia skillz

[Om]

All right! I shall await for your help and till then play more newbies, just to build a good foundation.

[phokdapolees]

That's the best tips I can give to everyone in general. If you want me to help you, specifically, just say so and I'll add you to the list.

Sure, why not? I could use some help (a lot of it, actually). And thanks a lot for the advice, will do my best to utilize it.

[JacobSavage]

fix my life / modding / playing

[Natirasha]

Put me on the list, mastin, for modding and playing. I wanna compare notes so to speak.

[Desperado]

The best townblocs I've seen are the townblocs that weren't formed strictly as townblocs.

That's a lie and you know it. Why are you lying to your students, Mastin?

[T-Bone]

Who wants to form a protown voting bloc right now?

[Om]

Me?

[Kazekirimaru]

Teach me to harness the scumhunting power of the illustrious face.

I really could use any amount of help, actually. I'm pretty rubbish.

One question comes to mind: Is tunneling something to be avoided? Is there a "right" way to tunnel?

[T-Bone]

Tunnel without putting yourself in a position where you can't possibly change your read. If you get too rigid in your reads your destined to fail when the game progresses.

With that said ride that wagon all the way to a lynch, or at least until other players see your no doubt valid points.

BAM MASTIN I CAN DO THIS TOO ONLY WITHOUT WRITING A 10 PAGE ESSAY ABOUT THE DEFINITION OF TUNNELING FIRST. BOOYAH

[mastin2]

Whoah. Was not expecting that many people to come in so soon.

General disclaimer--I'm not going to be actively going through the players until around Monday. For that matter, my theory talks might not happen 'til then, either, though I'll certainly try.

That's a lie and you know it. Why are you lying to your students, Mastin?

I'm not. Dead serious, most of the best townblocs I've seen are the ones which weren't meant to be townblocs. You can, on rare occasions, have a townbloc form with the intention of it being a townbloc and have it be all-town and have no paranoia dissolve the townbloc. But that is the exception which proves the rule. Heck, even in *shudder* Walking Dead mafia, the townbloc had scum in it (Thor), and paranoia was beginning to dissolve it. Because it formed with the intention of forming a townbloc, rather than forming at a later time naturally. (The speedlynch on D1 and fairly-quick lynch on D2 were actually quite bad, because that's the time where people begin to form natural townblocs. Them not having had the chance, an artificial townbloc was formed instead, and the results were showing by the end.)

Could I get some feedback on my play sometime?
I'm willing to hydra up.

Sure thing! I'll add ya to the list.

Espeonage--a reply to you will be coming soon. Short answer is, however, "don't". I'll explain why in a bit.

fix my modding

you may also fix my mafia skillz

Alright, will do.

mastin I require your expertise

I can

almost

do this one without more games, but all the same, I think I need another game or two with ya to be sure. So, definitely on the list; I'll see what I can do for ya.

Phok--got ya. Adding you in.

Put me on the list, mastin, for modding and playing. I wanna compare notes so to speak.

Got you as well.

fix my life / modding / playing

I realize the bit about "fixing life" is meant as a joke, but believe it or not, I consider mafia a great tool to do exactly that, if used properly. (It can ruin your life if done wrong, but enhance it if done right. Basically, so long as you take a realistic mafia workload, you'll be fine.) I consider mafia to be a game of humanity, and part of the game of humanity is you, as a human, so by playing it, you can help fix the flaws in your life and overcome hardships. Butyeah, all the same, adding you to the list.

Kazekirimaru, you're better than you think from what I've seen of you. All the same, adding you to the list. But as for your question...

Tunnel without putting yourself in a position where you can't possibly change your read. If you get too rigid in your reads your destined to fail when the game progresses.

This part is accurate, the part following it not so much. (Not in my school of thought, anyway.) I'll be explaining why in the actual lesson. (And, yes, using ten or so paragraphs. ) Until I finish the typing, use T-Bone's summary if you can; it's basically a different wording of what my summary will be. ("Show confidence in your reads, but have your reads fit the evidence, not the other way around.")

[Desperado]

I'm not. Dead serious, most of the best townblocs I've seen are the ones which weren't meant to be townblocs. You can, on rare occasions, have a townbloc form with the intention of it being a townbloc and have it be all-town and have no paranoia dissolve the townbloc. But that is the exception which proves the rule. Heck, even in *shudder* Walking Dead mafia, the townbloc had scum in it (Thor), and paranoia was beginning to dissolve it. Because it formed with the intention of forming a townbloc, rather than forming at a later time naturally. (The speedlynch on D1 and fairly-quick lynch on D2 were actually quite bad, because that's the time where people begin to form natural townblocs. Them not having had the chance, an artificial townbloc was formed instead, and the results were showing by the end.)

That D1 town block was 10 names deep and Thor was the only scum. And the "paranoia" that was beginning to dissolve it was almost entirely focused on him.

[F-16_Fighting_Falcon]

Add me for sure.

[Unmasked Kit]

Why does RVS suck so much, or why do I wish RVS didn't exist?

You wish the RVS didn't exist because nobody likes the RVS, but there's no way for games to begin with content in a day-start game. Heck, even in most night-start games (rare as they may be these days), there will still be an RVS. Pretty much the only games that don't feature an RVS are games where there was a mechanism in place that allowed for content discussion immediately.

The reason why we use the RVS is because it's impossible to start a game immediately with content unless, as mentioned, there is a mechanic in place that strongly favors there being content from the get-go. Thus, a method of generating content must be used. Other alternatives have been tried. The RQS, for instance, being a popular one, albeit one that ultimately favored scum more than town and didn't get the game rolling any sooner. There have been games where players have suggested skipping the RVS and generating content immediately--but in the process of discussing generating content, you take just as long if not longer to get actual content than using the RVS methodology.

We use the RVS because it's the method that has, by-and-large, proved the most effective at getting the results we want--content, soon, and useful content at that. Using it, a game can typically be out of the RVS before the end of page one (generally in smaller games) or two (in larger games). You might occasionally get an RVS that lasts longer thanks to some posting a ton of times in it, but even then, it typically ends in the same amount of time. (Generally within two real-life days, the Random Voting Stage has passed.) Not only is it easier to generate content soon in, but it's also something that can be fun. You can make jokes that don't otherwise fit into the game, you can have in-jokes that reference previously-played games, you can basically do your own thing for fun.

Thus, why it has such a strong hold over games. That doesn't mean we like it. I might have fun in the RVS, but I hate it. I find it awkward, and while I can get reads immediately from it, my accuracy is typically skewed as a result. I much prefer games that have that content rolling. There are ways to get more than the RVS. For instance, while the RQS is typically scum-oriented, you can ask questions in the RVS that (while more random than in other stages of the game) are beneficial to getting out. You can have RVS votes that are semi-serious as well, in that you're immediately discussing things and generating content, albeit in a more light-hearted way.

Still, though, RVS are a necessary evil of games by-and-large, because there's no method on the players side to avert the icebreaker that they give. On the modding side of things, though, you CAN influence this. As I said, simply by introducing a mechanic that changes the dynamics of the early-game, you've given a MASSIVE chance to the game lacking an RVS and having that immediate content, because the dynamics of the game have been changed. There may still be RVS votes, but they won't be the focus of the game.

Play around. Experiment. See what mechanics work and what don't. (For instance, one mechanic that might help is giving votes far more power than normal, thus, making players more cautious to simply throw them out.) Ultimately, your efforts will merely put a dent in the dominance of the RVS. But it's something that's different, something that's fun, which can set the bar high for other mods to aspire to accomplish, that breaking of the norm, of the RVS.

I want to add that it's fairly easy to catch scum within 2 pages of RVS, or their first page. Town are loose and airy, scum are awkward and scared of being caught.

THIS is a great example of scum getting steamrolled in RVS. They were caught due to their reactions to RVS being unnatural (in this case, bandwagonning, and being wagoned).

[Kazekirimaru]

Very much appreciated.

[kuribo]

kuribo might actually give me some help on this question.

As a timid player, I'm not averse to trying to stand toe to toe with intelligent posters that are more articulate and methodical than I, however I have great difficulty in actually making headway (I always noticed my play as an SE in newbies as apposed to my play elsewhere on the site is vastly different) into getting those that I think are scum lynched or wagoned as after a few posts of back and forth I find myself getting beat down. What are the best ways to fix this trend to make myself feel louder, especially in larger games where there are more competing voices?

you don't have to be the smartest player in the game, just the loudest. When you play by gut and emotion, you're not trying to convince the town to vote with you based on "reasons," you're trying to push the scum into such a tight, uncomfortable position that they slip up and reveal themselves. It does happen. Alternatively, you may find that their reaction to you makes them seem more town in your eyes.

Finally, being loud and angry tends not to work so well after someone's had a couple of games with you. Once they know you're going to yell at them, they can adapt more easily and not be caught off-guard. Some players just aren't good at being loud, so if you don't pull it off, expect the town to try and wagon you because "lolololol dat fakerage"

So, to fix that--- don't ever fake rage. Some players can tell the difference very very easily. If you go into a thread expecting to rage, it'll come off as forced and whether you're scum or not, they'll call you out on it. Instead, take whatever emotion you're feeling and dial it up a few notches.

like so:
Happy -> grudgingly pleased ("hi guys let's play some mafia!" -> "jesus christ, you guys again? fine, lets find scum")
Mild irritation -> sneer ("Why are you voting me?" -> "ohhhh no you fucking didn't")
Annoyed -> angry ("Seriously, there's a wagon on me?!" "OHHHH YOU WANT A SHOT AT THE CHAMP, HUH?! BRING IT! WHO WANTS TO EAT?!")
Mad -> MURDER MURDER MURDER ("I can't believe you people have me at L-1!" -> "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?! I'M GOING TO WHIP OUT MY SOUL POLE AND FILL YOUR ASS WITH MY DEMON SEMEN@$!@$!@#%@#%%@!##@ AAAA BRING IT FUCKER BLACK RAGE BLACK RAGE"
sadness -> soul crushing misery ("whoa the doc died?" -> "ohhh great, the one fucking person who was obviously town and you morons couldn't even sheep him, I hate you all, you pigs."

People find a free-and-easy posting style to be incredibly town, so the more you're posting, the more most people will see you have nothing to hide.
Just don't post for the sake of posting. People call that "fluff" and getting accused of that engorges my soul pole with hatejuice.

In short: if you want to be louder or more noticeable in games, you have to make yourself a presence. Develop a rapport with the other town leaders. Above all, have faith in your reads and even better--- be right about them. If you're doing it right, scum will NK you anyway.

[CrashTextDummie]

Mastin, please teach me how to stop wall posting.

[kuribo]

Mastin, please teach me how to stop wall posting.

i can help you with that, just do what i do




click submit after every paragraph

[CrashTextDummie]

Oh, I believe that pretty much answers my next question on how to reach ridiculous amounts of posts. Thanks, Kuribo!

[CrashTextDummie]

Or would that be clicking submit after every sentence?

[JacobSavage]

Word

[AngryPidgeon]

Can I be a Teacher's Assistant

I want to read this but Im at LAV airport and low on time atm.