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New Player Tips and Information


peacesells

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Posted

The following tips are meant only for beginning mafia players. They are designed to help get a brand new player past the normal pitfalls new players often stumble in.

 

 

Mentality - Approach the game with an understanding that other players will get under your skin. Guaranteed.

 

It is very important to understand that Mafia is a game of liars. Be aware that both the good guys (town) and bad guys (scum) are capable of lying and both can have legitimate reasons for doing so. Your statements will be misrepresented. When this happens, try and push down the normal emotional reaction it will illicit. You may feel offended when someone makes inaccurate statements about you. Keep in mind that this is not personal. The scum team have clear reasons for doing so and a town player may have his/her own reasons for doing so.

 

Understand that other town players do not know your alignment. So, they are just as suspicious of you as you are of them. They may provoke you on purpose just to see how you react.

 

When someone seems scummy to you, do not focus solely on them. This is called tunneling and can cause you to miss important clues from other players. Keep an open mind. Be willing to change your mind.

 

 

Posting - Your words a two edged sword.

 

What you post will do 2 things. It will be a vehicle to express your thoughts about other players or defend yourself. What you post will also be used against you. Expect this. Consider this when you post. Also, it is not necessary to post everything you are thinking. This will come across poorly. Form a concise thought, think about it for awhile, then post.

 

Try and get around 3 solid posts per game day. (Not real day.) This is a good amount of activity for a new player.

 

All new players seem to have the urge to react to everything posted. Don't do this. It's understandable. You are excited about playing your first game. The game will be way slower than you think it should be. Keep in mind that others have "been there, done that" so they won't have the same urge as you. Also, most of us have lives that take away from constant refreshing the page looking for a new post. So, say what you have to say then go away for awhile. Let several other people have their say before you post again.

 

If you are on the scum team participate in the quick topic provided by the mod. Elicit advice from your team mates. Do not copy/paste anything from the quick topic as the formatting will make it obvious in the game thread.

 

 

The Game - Know what you are playing.

 

Here is a good link to browse through before you play your first game. http://wiki.mafiascu...title=Main_Page

 

Read through a completed "BASIC" game. Try and figure out who is scum and who is town as you read. This is the best way to get a feel on how the day and night phases work.

 

Read the rules at the beginning of the game carefully. Each mod will have a slightly different set of rules. The biggest rule you should be a ware of is to NOT discuss the game with ANYONE outside of the game unless specifically told to do so by the mod. Also, once you are dead don't post in the thread until the game is over. Some mods allow you one post to say "bah, I'm dead!" But do not include any game info in that post.

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Posted

Common mafia terms. An in depth glossary is located here. http://wiki.mafiascu...?title=Glossary

 

Town: A collective term for the uninformed majority within the player set. While the Town is not explicitly structured as a faction (that is, any given Townie does not know who else is on their team), everyone in the Town has the same win condition and should work together to eliminate scum. For instance, "this person is so obviously Town", referring to that player having the Town Win Condition.

 

Vanilla: A town player with no role.

 

Scum: Scum is a catch-all term for any member of an informed minority, such as Serial Killers and Mafia. During a day phase, everybody is seemingly trying to locate and eliminate these roles.

 

Meta: short for metagame, is a term for the knowledge of how a player or moderator will act based on previous experience. It only makes sense that people will pick up on, say, an ordinarily active player lurking in the games where they are scum.

 

Lynch: The lynch is the Town's collective killing method. The majority of living players (both Town and scum) generally must agree on who to lynch by casting votes for the person they want to see dead. A successful lynch usually requires a majority vote.

 

Day phase: This is the phase in which players will discuss and vote on who to lynch.

 

Night phase: This is the phase when most roles are acted upon. This includes the scum team submitting their decision on who to kill to the moderator.

 

WIFOM: Read all about it here. http://wiki.mafiascu...n_Front_Of_Me�� It is important to understand this concept as this term will be used often.

 

Tunneling: Focusing on one player at the exclusion of all other players or evidence. Think tunnel vision.

 

Bussing: Bussing is the act of distancing yourself from your scum partners, usually by helping to lynch them (and hopefully playing a major role in convincing others that they are worthy to be lynched)

 

Role: Your pm from the mod at the beginning of the game will describe your character. This will be your role. Examples are Doctor, Cop, Scum, Vanilla Town.

 

Win Condition: This will be provided to you in your role pm. It describes the circumstances that must take place in order for you to win the game.

 

Basic Game: This will be a game mostly vanilla town players and a few non-vanilla roles. Usually a Doctor, Cop and a serial killer or vig (vigilante) along with the scum team that may include a godfather.

 

Advanced Game: This game will have many roles. Every player involved in the game may have a role.

 

FOS (Finger of Suspicion): A term used when a player is suspicious of another player yet they are unwilling to vote for their lynch at the moment.

 

L-1: This means the player named only needs 1 more vote to be lynched.

 

OMGUS: (Oh my god you suck). This basically means you are voting for someone because they have voted for you or they are pressing a case against you.

 

Lurking: Not participating in the discussion yet most likely reading everything.

 

Flailing: A bit of a hot button word that is used to describe someone defending themselves erratically.

 

QT (Quick Topic): This is a mod provided place for selected players to communicate off thread. 99% of scum teams will be provided one. Example. http://www.quicktopi...hRGfk9Cn��Other players may be provided one depending on their roles. In a basic game usually only the scum team has a QT.

Posted
  On 10/10/2013 at 3:12 PM, Darthe said:

Game Ethics - Mafia is filled with potential for strategic maneuvering and unorthodox play.  The anonymity of the internet, not to mention the ease of information sharing, creates an environment in which manipulation of other players is all too simple to do.  To keep the game a fun and enjoyable experience many moderators set particular boundaries within the game.  This is because without those certain boundaries the games could be easily broken, like a puzzle that you already know where all of the pieces fit at.  If you are an individual that enjoys that sort of thing then that is fine, however, any game at hand consists of more players than yourself and to keep a pleasant environment for the game each player must be conscientious and accountable for their interactions with those other players.

 

Cheating - Cheating in mafia usually comes in two forms.  Players either discuss the game outside of the moderator's will or knowledge (such as by creating private messages with other players) or they reveal information that they are not allowed to in the game (such as a picture of their role PM).  Choosing one of these actions will get you instantly killed in whatever game you play and is likely to also get you banned from some future games.  

 

Angleshooting - Angleshooting refers to an action that is legal but unethical.  This would be taking any action that benefits you or your team but is only possible through manipulation of game rules, setup, or the good will of others.  Examples of this can include (but is not limited to)

 

Claiming a leave of absence (LoA) when you really aren't leaving.  

Using a loophole in the moderators rules to your advantage (known as Game-Breaking).

Attempting to use commonalities in role PM's to confirm other players.

Intentionally breaking the rules to force a modkill.

Keeping the bare minimum post count needed to stay alive (known as Active Lurking).

Attempting to get the mod to confirm personal things on thread.

Revealing Bah! posts (typically considered cheating).

 

 

Other unethical plays - Some things do not fall into either category but are simply impolite to do.  All is fair in love and Mafia so these are typically considered a grey area but it is worth noting so that you do not find yourself using them as regular strategy.

 

Flaming threads

Personal attacks 

Signing up for games you don't have quite enough time for

Using real life as a basis for on thread arguments (great way to get yourself lynched)

Using your emotions as a shield/sword (great way to be hated by everyone, DO NOT GUILT TRIP)

 

 

Exceptions

 

If a moderator does not list these rules it is because they expect you to anticipate them.  All above statements are generally accepted as protocol for how to play the game.  Not being listed does not exempt any player from them even if a mod does let them slide.  However, on occasion a moderator will specifically mention that you can do specific ones.  Most commonly players are allowed to:

 

PM other players

Get a bit more heated than normal (within reason)

Edit posts on thread

 

...and rarely the moderator will be stricter than is typical.  

 

Read the rules every time.  It is the only way to be certain.  Beyond that, if you fear that any action you are about to take could be unethical send a PM to the moderator or simply don't do it.

 

Talking about the game.

  On 8/20/2014 at 2:04 PM, Mrs. Cindy Gill said:

Ooh ooh I have one!

 

And if it's been mentioned it bears repeating cause I've seen it quite a bit lately.

 

Do not mention ongoing games in other games.

 

Even if you're dead in the game you're talking about, you could still affect that game by what you say elsewhere.

 

That is all.

 

 

 

 

 

Isolating posts of a player.

 

  On 10/29/2013 at 6:46 PM, Pralaya said:

1. Open the thread that you want to search

2. Click on the magnifying icon on the top right corner, next to Search box

3. Enter the User's name in the Find Author text box (has to be the exact name)

4. Press Enter

5.?

6. Profit

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Posted

Just closely watch what I do.  If you've never played with me, sign up for a game that I'm in.  I'll show you the way of mafia.  Take notes.  Study those notes and then maybe one day you'll have the skills to stand toe to toe with me.

Posted
  On 3/29/2013 at 1:29 PM, BooBoo said:

Just closely watch what I do.  If you've never played with me, sign up for a game that I'm in.  I'll show you the way of mafia.  Take notes.  Study those notes and then maybe one day you'll have the skills to stand peen to peen with me.

 

awkward.

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Posted

Peace, would you mind writing in a little section about game ethics and the importance of posting?

 

Additionally, can we create a mini FAQ for how to handle specific situations such as: First time as mafia,, working with your team, how to react to votes based on alignment etc?

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Game Ethics - Mafia is filled with potential for strategic maneuvering and unorthodox play.  The anonymity of the internet, not to mention the ease of information sharing, creates an environment in which manipulation of other players is all too simple to do.  To keep the game a fun and enjoyable experience many moderators set particular boundaries within the game.  This is because without those certain boundaries the games could be easily broken, like a puzzle that you already know where all of the pieces fit at.  If you are an individual that enjoys that sort of thing then that is fine, however, any game at hand consists of more players than yourself and to keep a pleasant environment for the game each player must be conscientious and accountable for their interactions with those other players.

 

Cheating - Cheating in mafia usually comes in two forms.  Players either discuss the game outside of the moderator's will or knowledge (such as by creating private messages with other players) or they reveal information that they are not allowed to in the game (such as a picture of their role PM).  Choosing one of these actions will get you instantly killed in whatever game you play and is likely to also get you banned from some future games.  

 

Angleshooting - Angleshooting refers to an action that is legal but unethical.  This would be taking any action that benefits you or your team but is only possible through manipulation of game rules, setup, or the good will of others.  Examples of this can include (but is not limited to)

 

Claiming a leave of absence (LoA) when you really aren't leaving.  

Using a loophole in the moderators rules to your advantage (known as Game-Breaking).

Attempting to use commonalities in role PM's to confirm other players.

Intentionally breaking the rules to force a modkill.

Keeping the bare minimum post count needed to stay alive (known as Active Lurking).

Attempting to get the mod to confirm personal things on thread.

Revealing Bah! posts (typically considered cheating).

 

 

Other unethical plays - Some things do not fall into either category but are simply impolite to do.  All is fair in love and Mafia so these are typically considered a grey area but it is worth noting so that you do not find yourself using them as regular strategy.

 

Flaming threads

Personal attacks 

Signing up for games you don't have quite enough time for

Using real life as a basis for on thread arguments (great way to get yourself lynched)

Using your emotions as a shield/sword (great way to be hated by everyone, DO NOT GUILT TRIP)

 

 

Exceptions

 

If a moderator does not list these rules it is because they expect you to anticipate them.  All above statements are generally accepted as protocol for how to play the game.  Not being listed does not exempt any player from them even if a mod does let them slide.  However, on occasion a moderator will specifically mention that you can do specific ones.  Most commonly players are allowed to:

 

PM other players

Get a bit more heated than normal (within reason)

Edit posts on thread

 

...and rarely the moderator will be stricter than is typical.  

 

Read the rules every time.  It is the only way to be certain.  Beyond that, if you fear that any action you are about to take could be unethical send a PM to the moderator or simply don't do it.  

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

Can someone (can't remember who described it first) post the method for ISO searches again? Haven't been able to find it and need it. Worthy of its own pin even (or thread) IMO. Essentially useful at this point.

Posted
  On 10/29/2013 at 5:46 PM, ReleaseTheEvil said:

Can someone (can't remember who described it first) post the method for ISO searches again? Haven't been able to find it and need it. Worthy of its own pin even (or thread) IMO. Essentially useful at this point.

 

Youngsters these days... Back in my day we didn't have a fancy search machine that found posts for us; we had to read entire threads from the start again just to find the one post we were looking for, and sometimes after searching for what felt like hours you still couldn't find it. It really made you appreciate the cases people made. Those were the days. :wink:

 

 

But seriously I agree with RTE. Could someone explain the ISO method again? :biggrin:

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