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[YesNOnoNOYes]

Season 4 has now concluded!

Huge congratulations to:

• The three main game runners: RetroMG, Salvapot and nin1000 and Palmer_v1! (click on their names for links to their awesome games)
• Additional game runners for side and mini games: ScraftyDevil and …ME!

And to everyone who had taken participation and shared laughter and tears in the last season :> Great games, everyone!

Firstly, our next generation of games.

The growth of our game submissions has been exponential. We have currently 8 numbers of main games proposals and 16 numbers of mid-season games. Players population has stabilised at 90 (it was 88 in Season 3).

If you have a game idea, the procedure is to submit it with the below form. I’ll add your game to the existing Game Register.

I’ll be using Crab’s application form here, this is it:

Number of player slots for the game:
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up:
Theme:
Game Category: (click link for the scale)

If you want to moderate a game, please do not discuss the details with anyone except with tutor moderators. If you've already spilled the beans with someone else, that's fine, you can continue with them, but otherwise it can become a tactical way to end up in a particular game by ruling yourself out of others. Obviously none of you would do that, but I think it's a fairly bad precedent to set.

I’m assuming there are at least three games that will run in Season 5.

Secondly, we need to sort out a new recruitment thread.

I think the current set up for the recruitment thread is okay, so if there are no objections, we should keep the format. Only, if any of you have any fab ideas for a catchy title, please holler.
What did you think went best about Season 4? Is there anything you felt was missing or would change?

Some discussion points:

• Game Selection Issue:
  
  Note: I want this to be discussed and agreed by the whole community, if possible.
  
  Currently we have a growing numbers of games submitted (both main and mid-season). In Season 4, there were 6 games submitted to run and we chose to run the top 3 (by popularity). Moving forward, we will not conduct voting process any longer. The reason being that it is not quite reasonable to expect the games that didn’t run to go through another round of voting process.
  
  Therefore, the community needs a mechanism to address which games are selected to run.
  
  Suggested below are points from the Moderators’ Chat:
  1) Games submitted earlier, and in a "complete" (as in complete by the designer, but not signed off by other mods) state get first priority
  2) Games that meet the mods' requirements for a relatively good game go first
  3) Games that require some retooling, etc., get pushed down the pile a little bit
  
  In a manner of speaking, we will be appointing a few people into a panel that decides which games are good to run in the up-coming season. Is this a good solution?
  
  If you have other thoughts or ideas, please let us know!
  
  
• Inactive players. Did Season 4 approach towards inactive players work better than Season 3? As a comparison, 22 players dropped off in Season 3, and only 8 in Season 4. People were randomly assigned to games in Season 3 whilst in Season 4 they had a say in which games they preferred. No one dropped out from Nightvale and only 1 dropped from Harry Potter. Werewolf had 7 drop outs but it was also the one game ran without a brand name.
  
  
• High Activity / Low Activity play style. I see a number of the high-activity posters have already reined in their post counts, which is appreciated and noted :> But if there are further discussions on this point, please chime in! Sorian, please keep up the self-restraint …. Or Gorlak would probably tease you about it, as usual :>
  
  
• Were the games well designed? What did you like? What didn’t work? What could be improved?
  
  
• Any other feedback / gripes / constructive criticism you wanna raise, PLEASE SPEAK UP!

Resolutions on Previous Issues

• One Game per Player – Now enforced as a rule in our community.
• Swapping prior to Role PMs – worked OK last time.
• Assigning players to game preference – worked OK.

I imagine this will be open for around a week or two..., just to give everyone time to have their input, then we can start the recruitment thread for Season 5.

So in Crab’s awesome parting words: …… in memory of a gaming great, please drop the bomb.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

GAMES SUBMISSION TRACKER:

Number of player slots for the game: 30
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Palmer, Retro, Crab, roytheone
Theme: Love Boat
Game Category: 6 (the design is quite mild, but the pair mechanic ups the score).

Number of player slots for the game: 23
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Ouro, Retro, nin1000, Crab
Theme: Disney Princess
Game Category: 5 or 6.

Number of player slots for the game: 20+
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: MagnumBoy20xx, SalvaPot, Palmer, Burbeting
Theme: Danny Phantom
Game Category:6-7, still unsure which.

If any of the other mods want to take a look and give me their opinions, PM me and I'll send a link to the Google doc, all thoughts are appreciated.

Number of player slots for the game: 21
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: YNNNY
Theme: Phoenix Wright
Game Category: I think it's a 6, YNNNY thinks it's a 7

If anyone else wants to mentor my game, please PM me. I don't mind the extra set of eyes.

Number of player slots for the game: 23 (flexible)
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: n/a to date
Theme: Pirates vs Ninjas
Game Category: 6

Guess I could use a forum on Outer Gafia for this as well, and also a volunteer or two to examine what I have so far.

Number of player slots for the game: 15-20
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Various people
Theme: Town Of Salem
Game Category: Depending on how much shenanigans the higher-ups will allow, probably 8-11

Number of player slots for the game: 21-25
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Kalor, Burbeting
Theme: Battle Royale
Game Category: 9-10

A mid-season game because of its unconventional nature.

Number of player slots for the game: 18
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Burbeting, Retro, Palmer, Gorlak, Ourobobobuls.
Theme: Batman
Game Category: 6-7, mostly basic roles with a couple of weirder ones.
Mid-season.

The player number might change slightly once I look at balance some more but for now it's 14. This would be a mid-season game since it's a small game.

Number of player slots for the game: 14
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: No-one
Theme: Fargo
Game Category: 6/7

...did I say test pilot

Number of player slots for the game: 23
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: no one
Theme: [REDACTED]
Game Category: to be determined

No promises. There's a lot of work to be done on it yet balance-wise, but expect a more, uh, classy game, with a very simple gimmick available to all players from its start.

Number of player slots for the game: 18
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: yeenz and royal_flush only at this stage
Theme: Mythology... ish (Theme will be fleshed out more for marketing later)
Game Category: 8? (overseers, pls advise)

Number of player slots for the game: 16
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Crab
Theme: corgicorgicorgicorgicorgi

Game Category: 6

Number of player slots for the game: 23-25
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Crab, RetroMG, palmer_v1, YesNOnoNOYes, Ourobolus
Theme: Bloodborne
Game Category: 7

 

[Ourobolus]

First in, best dressed!

 

[Burbeting]

First!

//Darn you ourobobulus.

 

[Ourobolus]

First!

HA BITCH

 

[Palmer_v1]

Burb failed harder than he does on N2.

 

[CzarTim]

first

 

[Burbeting]

Main Season game:

Number of player slots for the game: 30
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Palmer, Retro
Theme: Love Boat
Game Category: 6 (the design is quite mild, but the pair mechanic ups the score).

 

[Ourobolus]

Number of player slots for the game: 30
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: Palmer, Retro
Theme: Love Boat
Game Category: 6 (the design is quite mild, but the pair mechanic ups the score).

Dude, I'd seriously put yours lower. It's basically regular mafia with a very minor mechanic.

EDIT: Although I guess since it's closed it's at least a 5. nvm.

 

[Terrabyte20xx]

Should I re-submit my game?

 

[Ourobolus]

Should I re-submit my game?

Let's put it this way. People should all submit their games, and a few weeks should be given for people who choose to mentor to look over them. They should be allowed to provide their top 3-5 games for people to vote on. I think that's best.

 

[Kalor]

Should we submit mid season games or only deal with main games for now?

 

[Ourobolus]

Should we submit mid season games or only deal with main games for now?

Both. We'll figure it out from there.

 

[RetroMG]

I wrote this up earlier, didn't think I would be posting it this soon.

-Splitting the Dead Thread was a mistake. We had a good reason for doing so, but it was clearly not as good as the collaborative dead thread.

-Night Vale seemed balanced when it ran, but clearly wasn't balanced well enough.

-Glad we've made a definite ruling on not having people in more than one game at a time.

-Arsonist Gossip is best new role. The salt in Werewolf was beautiful. Also loved Jailor from Werewolf Game 1.

-Insanity powers are awesome. I don't care if you disagree with me about this. You'll see them again if I have anything to say about them. (Although Palmer is trying very hard to convince me otherwise.)

-Should we vote for games again in the future? I'm not sure. There were some real problems with how that worked last time.

-Next season needs more ONUW, Target game, etc. Maybe I'll take up running those again, since I'll probably be a mentor.

-From the other thread: We've talked about how playing in Gafia games is a commitment, but I want to emphasize that RUNNING a game is an even bigger commitment, especially since we have so many volunteers. Just as an example, I got pulled out of bed to resolve an issue with Night Vale more than once. I was answering questions about Sorian's Gossip role in line for Pirates of the Caribbean while I was on vacation.

-Yeeny did an amazing job as temporary Crab. She should be given much praise, and I would recommend to Crab that he ask her to keep helping.

 

[CzarTim]

Sid Meier has a quote on game design that goes something like "The player should be having the fun, not the designer." It's a lot of fun to come up with a lot of crazy ideas, but it's not always as fun to act them out. Feel like all game runners should keep that in mind.

 

[Ourobolus]

I wrote this up earlier, didn't think I would be posting it this soon.

-Splitting the Dead Thread was a mistake. We had a good reason for doing so, but it was clearly not as good as the collaborative dead thread.

Meh. How so?

-Night Vale seemed balanced when it ran, but clearly wasn't balanced well enough.

No, it was pretty balanced, IMO. It was a matter of people playing rather than the setup.

-Glad we've made a definite ruling on not having people in more than one game at a time.

Yes.

-Arsonist Gossip is best new role. The salt in Werewolf was beautiful. Also loved Jailor from Werewolf Game 1.

As much as I enjoyed it from afar, it needed tweaking.

-Insanity powers are awesome. I don't care if you disagree with me about this. You'll see them again if I have anything to say about them. (Although Palmer is trying very hard to convince me otherwise.)

Yes, but they definitely need to be scum/neutral aligned.

-Should we vote for games again in the future? I'm not sure. There were some real problems with how that worked last time.

Yes, but only after the mentors have determined the list of acceptable games.

-Next season needs more ONUW, Target game, etc. Maybe I'll take up running those again, since I'll probably be a mentor.

I think they're best for the lull we are in right now - between seasons.

-From the other thread: We've talked about how playing in Gafia games is a commitment, but I want to emphasize that RUNNING a game is an even bigger commitment, especially since we have so many volunteers. Just as an example, I got pulled out of bed to resolve an issue with Night Vale more than once. I was answering questions about Sorian's Gossip role in line for Pirates of the Caribbean while I was on vacation.

-Yeeny did an amazing job as temporary Crab. She should be given much praise, and I would recommend to Crab that he ask her to keep helping.

This is also true. Mods have a huge commitment ahead of them. It's probably best to have a mentor/co-mod for each game.

 

[Hyperactivity]

-Insanity powers are awesome. I don't care if you disagree with me about this. You'll see them again if I have anything to say about them. (Although Palmer is trying very hard to convince me otherwise.)
.

NO

Honestly, the way they worked out, it's really just annoying. It's one more action for scum to get caught by, one more action that any townie shouldn't really be using. I guess maybe neutral, but that's practically it

It's just annoying, and people would only try to circumvent it

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

I wrote this up earlier, didn't think I would be posting it this soon.

-Splitting the Dead Thread was a mistake. We had a good reason for doing so, but it was clearly not as good as the collaborative dead thread.

-Night Vale seemed balanced when it ran, but clearly wasn't balanced well enough.

-Glad we've made a definite ruling on not having people in more than one game at a time.

-Arsonist Gossip is best new role. The salt in Werewolf was beautiful. Also loved Jailor from Werewolf Game 1.

-Insanity powers are awesome. I don't care if you disagree with me about this. You'll see them again if I have anything to say about them. (Although Palmer is trying very hard to convince me otherwise.)

-Should we vote for games again in the future? I'm not sure. There were some real problems with how that worked last time.

-Next season needs more ONUW, Target game, etc. Maybe I'll take up running those again, since I'll probably be a mentor.

-From the other thread: We've talked about how playing in Gafia games is a commitment, but I want to emphasize that RUNNING a game is an even bigger commitment, especially since we have so many volunteers. Just as an example, I got pulled out of bed to resolve an issue with Night Vale more than once. I was answering questions about Sorian's Gossip role in line for Pirates of the Caribbean while I was on vacation.

-Yeeny did an amazing job as temporary Crab. She should be given much praise, and I would recommend to Crab that he ask her to keep helping.

• agree on the combined dead thread being better.
• game running needs a lot of support.
• im ready to relinquish powers to crab
• a spider plays 5th dimensional mafia.

 

[Ourobolus]

It's just annoying, and people would only try to circumvent it

This is my only problem with it. In this case, modkilling is acceptable if people don't want to follow along, Sorian.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Okay, I want to talk about a few things.

Firstly, I think that voting for the main season game was, in general, a good idea. I think it had a noticeable impact on activity rates, because almost everyone ended up in a game they consciously picked. Despite have more players than S3, S4 had noticeably less drop-outs, which I think everyone appreciated, and that's because we took a more player-first approach.

However, I do feel there needs to be greater quality control. We now have a very noticeable track record of scum wipeouts in GAFia Main Season games, with 5+ town survivors being the norm rather than a rarity. This needs to be stamped out firmly, because otherwise people will feel very demoralized being scum and not want to play.

The trouble is that quality is very hard to guarantee. Designing a balanced game is actually exceptionally difficult, and really is something that you can only get right via experience. Unfortunately, we don't have a very large pool of experienced game-runners here on GAF, being a young community. It is inevitable that we will need new people even for Main Season games.

That means that the few experienced people we do have are going to have to really step up their game. So, my first proposal is this: we create a group of trusted overseers. I'm not sure of the selection process yet, and we can talk about that, but essentially this is people I'd very strongly trust to be able to determine what is or is not a balanced game. Secondly, every season has at least one of these people sit out playing - for Season 5, I'm very happy to do that. Thirdly, before *any* game can be entered into the voting for the main season thread, it must be a) completed (it cannot be under construction by the time the Season 5 thread opens), and b) have received an *active* seal of approval from that season's overseer - and I want the overseers to be bossy about this. Non-compliance means no game.

Additionally, I am somewhat considering restricting submitting games 8 or above on the Crab scale from the main season. I am not sure they should require special compensation from me personally, and I just forego playing 8-and-aboves, whether I just ban people who are not overseers from making them, or whether we just outright restrict them from the main season altogether - I want you guys to give feedback on this because I don't want to stamp the fun out of things.

Beyond that, I'm going to go back and work more on a guide to running games. I did write one, but in retrospect there's an awful lot that can be added. I think the first thing I want to stress is how much of a commitment running a game is, and the second thing I want to stress is that more complexity is not always good, and makes balancing much harder to boot.

The second thing I want to talk about is mid-season games. We still don't have a clear structure for these, but I have yet to participate in one to so I don't want to dictate a schedule to you guys. However, I do feel we need a better way of deciding which games get run in the mid-season than just "first come, first serve", particularly as I think this season has underlined the importance of game-runners getting experience.

 

[Ourobolus]

Okay, I want to talk about a few things.

Firstly, I think that voting for the main season game was, in general, a good idea. I think it had a noticeable impact on activity rates, because almost everyone ended up in a game they consciously picked. Despite have more players than S3, S4 had noticeably less drop-outs, which I think everyone appreciated, and that's because we took a more player-first approach.

However, I do feel there needs to be greater quality control. We now have a very noticeable track record of scum wipeouts in GAFia Main Season games, with 5+ town survivors being the norm rather than a rarity. This needs to be stamped out firmly, because otherwise people will feel very demoralized being scum and not want to play.

The trouble is that quality is very hard to guarantee. Designing a balanced game is actually exceptionally difficult, and really is something that you can only get right via experience. Unfortunately, we don't have a very large pool of experienced game-runners here on GAF, being a young community. It is inevitable that we will need new people even for Main Season games.

That means that the few experienced people we do have are going to have to really step up their game. So, my first proposal is this: we create a group of trusted overseers. I'm not sure of the selection process yet, and we can talk about that, but essentially this is people I'd very strongly trust to be able to determine what is or is not a balanced game. Secondly, every season has at least one of these people sit out playing - for Season 5, I'm very happy to do that. Thirdly, before *any* game can be entered into the voting for the main season thread, it must be a) completed (it cannot be under construction by the time the Season 5 thread opens), and b) have received an *active* seal of approval from that season's overseer - and I want the overseers to be bossy about this. Non-compliance means no game.

Additionally, I am somewhat considering restricting submitting games 8 or above on the Crab scale from the main season. I am not sure they should require special compensation from me personally, and I just forego playing 8-and-aboves, whether I just ban people who are not overseers from making them, or whether we just outright restrict them from the main season altogether - I want you guys to give feedback on this because I don't want to stamp the fun out of things.

Beyond that, I'm going to go back and work more on a guide to running games. I did write one, but in retrospect there's an awful lot that can be added. I think the first thing I want to stress is how much of a commitment running a game is, and the second thing I want to stress is that more complexity is not always good, and makes balancing much harder to boot.

The second thing I want to talk about is mid-season games. We still don't have a clear structure for these, but I have yet to participate in one to so I don't want to dictate a schedule to you guys. However, I do feel we need a better way of deciding which games get run in the mid-season than just "first come, first serve", particularly as I think this season has underlined the importance of game-runners getting experience.

I'M SORRY

DAMN YOU PALMER

 

[Ourobolus]

Anyway, I'm not going to stroke my own ego and say that I totally know what I'm doing, but if people need someone to look at their games, I'm up for mentoring.

 

[Hyperactivity]

This is my only problem with it. In this case, modkilling is acceptable if people don't want to follow along, Sorian.

No, I just flat out find the mechanic annoying. I would almost never use it as scum, would certainly not use it would town, and would personally be disappointed with getting a neutral role tied to it

It takes out the key point of this game, that is, communication, imo.

In Election the only difference were the image macros.

In Harry Potter the only difference was that people had to constantly translate, inflating how many times anything was posted

Cthulhu was sort of decent, but some of the ideas, like MS Paint, would've gotten on my nerves had I received them

Didn't follow Night Vale, but I would have particularly found the song lyrics annoying

 

[CzarTim]

Considering main season games are the entry point for new players, making them 7 or below makes sense.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Some other things:

I wasn't in the Dead Thread so I can't say for sure, but on principle I oppose to split Dead Thread unless strictly needed by game mechanics. It's always more fun being able to chat with everyone else.

Encrypted messages are banned unless they are explicitly included in your role PM.

Win conditions *must* be clear, including Loss conditions.

A massive, massive thank you to Yeeny and Retro for doing my job and setting up Outer Gafia, you both did great!

(this one is from a purely personal perspective and isn't a rule/balance critique, by no means pay attention to this as it is Crab without his dictator hat on): I don't find post restrictions very fun. They're tedious and put me off playing. Maybe there's a way to do them well, but I'm not sure anyone has hit upon it yet. Ty?ng l?k? th?s didn't really add anything to the game aside from frustration, IMO.

 

[Ourobolus]

Considering main season games are the entry point for new players, making them 7 or below makes sense.

I don't have a problem with at least one season game being like an 8-11, but it should be reserved for vets.

 

[RetroMG]

No, I just flat out find the mechanic annoying. I would almost never use it as scum, would certainly not use it would town, and would personally be disappointed with getting a neutral role tied to it

It takes out the key point of this game, that is, communication, imo.

That's... kind of the point. It wasn't super effective in NV, but the point was for scum to hinder communication. That anyone thought it could be a town role blew my mind.

But don't worry, Palmer and I are going to be working together, and he'll probably reign me in from using it too often.

Anyway, I'm not going to stroke my own ego and say that I totally know what I'm doing, but if people need someone to look at their games, I'm up for mentoring.

I'm not much use at balancing, but I like to think I'm good for actually RUNNING games. If someone needs help once their game starts, I'll be happy to advise.

 

[roytheone]

I don't have a problem with at least one season game being like an 8-11, but it should be reserved for vets.

I agree with this, but I would say make it so that only one game of the three is allowed to be an 8 or higher.

 

[Ourobolus]

Some other things:

I wasn't in the Dead Thread so I can't say for sure, but on principle I oppose to split Dead Thread unless strictly needed by game mechanics. It's always more fun being able to chat with everyone else.

Encrypted messages are banned unless they are explicitly included in your role PM.

Win conditions *must* be clear, including Loss conditions.

A massive, massive thank you to Yeeny and Retro for doing my job and setting up Outer Gafia, you both did great!

(this one is from a purely personal perspective and isn't a rule/balance critique, by no means pay attention to this as it is Crab without his dictator hat on): I don't find post restrictions very fun. They're tedious and put me off playing. Maybe there's a way to do them well, but I'm not sure anyone has hit upon it yet. Ty?ng l?k? th?s didn't really add anything to the game aside from frustration, IMO.

Find->A/E/I/O/U->Replace->?

 

[squidyj]

I don't have a problem with at least one season game being like an 8-11, but it should be reserved for vets.

That sort of thing needs to be opt-in regardless.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

Okay, I want to talk about a few things.

Firstly, I think that voting for the main season game was, in general, a good idea. I think it had a noticeable impact on activity rates, because almost everyone ended up in a game they consciously picked. Despite have more players than S3, S4 had noticeably less drop-outs, which I think everyone appreciated, and that's because we took a more player-first approach.

However, I do feel there needs to be greater quality control. We now have a very noticeable track record of scum wipeouts in GAFia Main Season games, with 5+ town survivors being the norm rather than a rarity. This needs to be stamped out firmly, because otherwise people will feel very demoralized being scum and not want to play.

The trouble is that quality is very hard to guarantee. Designing a balanced game is actually exceptionally difficult, and really is something that you can only get right via experience. Unfortunately, we don't have a very large pool of experienced game-runners here on GAF, being a young community. It is inevitable that we will need new people even for Main Season games.

That means that the few experienced people we do have are going to have to really step up their game. So, my first proposal is this: we create a group of trusted overseers. I'm not sure of the selection process yet, and we can talk about that, but essentially this is people I'd very strongly trust to be able to determine what is or is not a balanced game. Secondly, every season has at least one of these people sit out playing - for Season 5, I'm very happy to do that. Thirdly, before *any* game can be entered into the voting for the main season thread, it must be a) completed (it cannot be under construction by the time the Season 5 thread opens), and b) have received an *active* seal of approval from that season's overseer - and I want the overseers to be bossy about this. Non-compliance means no game.

Additionally, I am somewhat considering restricting submitting games 8 or above on the Crab scale from the main season. I am not sure they should require special compensation from me personally, and I just forego playing 8-and-aboves, whether I just ban people who are not overseers from making them, or whether we just outright restrict them from the main season altogether - I want you guys to give feedback on this because I don't want to stamp the fun out of things.

Beyond that, I'm going to go back and work more on a guide to running games. I did write one, but in retrospect there's an awful lot that can be added. I think the first thing I want to stress is how much of a commitment running a game is, and the second thing I want to stress is that more complexity is not always good, and makes balancing much harder to boot.

The second thing I want to talk about is mid-season games. We still don't have a clear structure for these, but I have yet to participate in one to so I don't want to dictate a schedule to you guys. However, I do feel we need a better way of deciding which games get run in the mid-season than just "first come, first serve", particularly as I think this season has underlined the importance of game-runners getting experience.

• agree on voting for game preferences. seems to reduce drop outs.
• quality needs to be tighter. puts players' enjoyment over game designers' whims.
• some players really like crazy games though. loads applications come in with style preference of: crazy. more than normals, actually, i think.
• team of overseers seems like a good idea.
• maybe mid-season games are also subject to overseers' decisions?

 

[Hyperactivity]

That's... kind of the point. It wasn't super effective in NV, but the point was for scum to hinder communication. That anyone thought it could be a town role blew my mind.

But don't worry, Palmer and I are going to be working together, and he'll probably reign me in from using it too often.



I'm not much use at balancing, but I like to think I'm good for actually RUNNING games. If someone needs help once their game starts, I'll be happy to advise.

Even then, it doesn't really hinder communication as much as make it tedious, give trackers and watchers another way to find scum/neutrals, and just be annoying/frustrating

Some other things:

I wasn't in the Dead Thread so I can't say for sure, but on principle I oppose to split Dead Thread unless strictly needed by game mechanics. It's always more fun being able to chat with everyone else.

Encrypted messages are banned unless they are explicitly included in your role PM.

Win conditions *must* be clear, including Loss conditions.

A massive, massive thank you to Yeeny and Retro for doing my job and setting up Outer Gafia, you both did great!

(this one is from a purely personal perspective and isn't a rule/balance critique, by no means pay attention to this as it is Crab without his dictator hat on): I don't find post restrictions very fun. They're tedious and put me off playing. Maybe there's a way to do them well, but I'm not sure anyone has hit upon it yet. Ty?ng l?k? th?s didn't really add anything to the game aside from frustration, IMO.

I think ones like Scraftydevil in cthulhu having the have the word chicken in each of her posts are decent, and not too annoying

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Find->A/E/I/O/U->Replace->?

Not easy from mobile. Even then I don't think it's particularly interesting as a mechanic, it just wastes the time of others slightly as they have to translate. Doesn't affect reads or provide information or change anything, it's just a time-waster for everyone involved.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

• 
  some players really like crazy games though. loads applications come in with style preference of: crazy. more than normals, actually, i think.

• 
  
  Thing is, a lot of players think "crazy" means "way more fun" just because they haven't actually tried crazy. I think retrospectively a lot of players who try crazy games wish they'd had slightly quieter ones - not to pick anyone out particularly but there were a few posts in the Harry Potter thread intimating that they might have preferred a quieter game. I'm inclined not to trust the preferences of anyone who says they definitely want to play a crazy game, which is one of the reasons I'm overall unsure about having 8+ games - my worry is people see high numbers on the Crab scale as the mark of a quality game because they don't know better.
  
  

  maybe mid-season games are also subject to overseers' decisions?

  
  Unsure about this. Mid-season games are usually smaller, quicker, and everyone knows what they're in for. If one goes tits-up, it's less of an issue. I don't want to stifle creativity. Really I just want a mechanism a bit better than first come, first serve, but I don't know what it would be.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

Some other things:

I wasn't in the Dead Thread so I can't say for sure, but on principle I oppose to split Dead Thread unless strictly needed by game mechanics. It's always more fun being able to chat with everyone else.

Encrypted messages are banned unless they are explicitly included in your role PM.

Win conditions *must* be clear, including Loss conditions.

A massive, massive thank you to Yeeny and Retro for doing my job and setting up Outer Gafia, you both did great!

(this one is from a purely personal perspective and isn't a rule/balance critique, by no means pay attention to this as it is Crab without his dictator hat on): I don't find post restrictions very fun. They're tedious and put me off playing. Maybe there's a way to do them well, but I'm not sure anyone has hit upon it yet. Ty?ng l?k? th?s didn't really add anything to the game aside from frustration, IMO.

• win and loss conditions should be clear, yes.
• i think people both love and hate post restrictions. haiku was BRILLIANT. the vowelless thing was more annoying than i thought it'd be, though. so. i'm torn on this one.
• decryption thing was interesting but it isn't too much in the spirit of the game. having said that, the way C_M's role was designed sort of lend a path towards this kind of play, imo.

 

[Ty4on]

This is my only problem with it. In this case, modkilling is acceptable if people don't want to follow along, Sorian.

Communicating in song lyrics? Even if you have some knowledge in pop music you can't even name anyone let alone use common words like scum and town.

 

[Hyperactivity]

I also think fake claims should ALWAYS be a thing, and even if a mod really wants to put in their favorite character, they have to reserve a decent number of the main characters for any themed games for later.

I also think a set of fake claims should be given to any neutrals as well.

I even think fake claims should possibly go in non-themed/Dangaropa style games too. It's easy to screw up a fake claim if you don't have knowledge of the series. Or if you don't know what sort of names are and are not present in the game.

 

[Enker]

I agree with this, but I would say make it so that only one game of the three is allowed to be an 8 or higher.

I agree with only letting vets in 8+. My lack of knowledge of all potential Mafia roles limited my thought process as to how HP worked as the game was going on. ESPECIALLY the day of the switchers. I nearly fried my brain and it made the subsequent days a bit less enjoyable.

 

[Haly]

Happy Feast of Winterveil!

 

[CzarTim]

I also think fake claims should ALWAYS be a thing, and even if a mod really wants to put in their favorite character, they have to reserve a decent number of the main characters for any themed games for later.

I also think a set of fake claims should be given to any neutrals as well.

I even think fake claims should possibly go in non-themed/Dangaropa style games too. It's easy to screw up a fake claim if you don't have knowledge of the series. Or if you don't know what sort of names are and are not present in the game.

I agree with this.

 

[RetroMG]

I'm putting this into a separate post because I don't want it to get lost in all of my other thoughts.

This season, we received numerous complaints about player behavior, particularly aggressive play. A complaint like that is always difficult for us to address, because opinions vary so wildly. In some instances I felt that players were being too aggressive, and in others, I felt the complainer needed to toughen up. The other game runners sometimes disagreed with me, so who am I to say one way or the other? We, as game runners, addressed what we felt we could without breaking the games for everyone.

This is kind of a blanket statement, and it's probably not the most effective way to deal with this issue, but I think it needs to be said.

People, this is a GAME.

You are not actually hunting down a pack of hardened killers. You are playing a game with other people who are likely not that different from you. I'm not going to tell you not to be aggressive, but be mindful as you post that a real person is on the other side of the conversation, and think about how that person is going to feel. There is no need for name calling, or for rude remarks. The only thing any of us are guilty of is playing a game.

Now, to the other side.

You are not actually being attacked. If you are lynched, night killed, removed from the game, etc, the only thing that will happen is that you will receive a link to the dead thread, and you'll spend the rest of the game pointing and laughing at those who are still playing. (This is actually my favorite part of the whole experience.) Having someone come gunning hard after you is frustrating, I know, but just keep breathing, and look for alternatives. Can you turn it around? Can you appeal to the rest of the players? If you ARE going to die, can you make your death mean something?

What I want every player to remember is this: The games we play here, the winners, the losers, the lynches and the power roles will NEVER be as important as the friendships we form here in this community. I've made real friends from this game. Scrafty, Palmer, Yeeny, Ouro, Nin, and yes, even Sorian among countless others. (I'm sorry if I didn't name you. You're a beautiful, wonderful person.) I'm also aware that people have left games during sign ups because they said, "Oh, I don't want to play with xxxxxx." That's not right, people. We don't want that.

So please. If you tend to be an aggressive player, (and I think you know who you are,) please try to pull it back a little. If you feel attacked, please try to take a deep breath and remember that it isn't really personal.

After all, just because we're all trying to kill one another doesn't mean we can't be friends.

 

[Hyperactivity]

Also yeah, 1 switcher at most.

2 switchers was ridiculous, and I was on the scum team and had an idea as to what was going on

 

[Ourobolus]

Communicating in song lyrics? Even if you have some knowledge in pop music you can't even name anyone let alone use common words like scum and town.

Ok, there are some version that shouldn't be used. Just sayin'.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

Thing is, a lot of players think "crazy" means "way more fun" just because they haven't actually tried crazy. I think retrospectively a lot of players who try crazy games wish they'd had slightly quieter ones - not to pick anyone out particularly but there were a few posts in the Harry Potter thread intimating that they might have preferred a quieter game. I'm inclined not to trust the preferences of anyone who says they definitely want to play a crazy game, which is one of the reasons I'm overall unsure about having 8+ games - my worry is people see high numbers on the Crab scale as the mark of a quality game because they don't know better.

part of the reasons why im running heist is because i thought the community needed some reprieve from all of the zanyness that has been going on in season 4.

i try to lend credence to what people are saying though but i think you are right, loads of players think 'crazy' = 'fun' ....... which can be true, if the 'crazy'ness IS BALANCED WELL.

Unsure about this. Mid-season games are usually smaller, quicker, and everyone knows what they're in for. If one goes tits-up, it's less of an issue. I don't want to stifle creativity. Really I just want a mechanism a bit better than first come, first serve, but I don't know what it would be.

ya. im all ears on this one. mid-seasons are smaller games, so it's not too much of a mess if they go tits up

 

[Terrabyte20xx]

I'll give my thoughts in a minute, but first:


Number of player slots for the game: 20+
People who have been told about, consulted, or hinted information about your set-up: MagnumBoy20xx, SalvaPot, Palmer
Theme: Danny Phantom
Game Category:6-7, still unsure which.

If any of the other mods want to take a look and give me their opinions, PM me and I'll send a link to the Google doc, all thoughts are appreciated.

 

[CzarTim]

• decryption thing was interesting but it isn't too much in the spirit of the game. having said that, the way C_M's role was designed sort of lend a path towards this kind of play, imo.

Same thing with the Lucky Buddies. Players confirming each other based on their role PM should be avoided at all cost.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

Happy Feast of Winterveil!

HALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^_____________^

corgilord of cute <3 you were missed!!!

 

[Deleted member 231381]

I also think fake claims should ALWAYS be a thing, and even if a mod really wants to put in their favorite character, they have to reserve a decent number of the main characters for any themed games for later.

I absolutely agree for games which are explicitly using named characters, rather than "redshirts" like e.g. S2 Star Wars. This was actually already in my game-design guide, so I guess I need to advertise that more heavily.

(As a side note, I'm actually tempted to make all game-runners read S2 Star Wars before they're allowed to mod, it's my pick for overall best main season game in terms of running, balance, town play, scum play, everything.)

I also think a set of fake claims should be given to any neutrals as well.

This one I agree less with. It depends on how the neutral works.

I even think fake claims should possibly go in non-themed/Dangaropa style games too. It's easy to screw up a fake claim if you don't have knowledge of the series. Or if you don't know what sort of names are and are not present in the game.

I think this one is more or less resolved by people choosing what games they sign up to. It never seemed to me like fake claims were needed in S3 Danganronpa - unless any scum from that game want to correct me?

 

[Haly]

HALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU ARE BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^_____________^

corgilord of cute <3 you were missed!!!

Hallo Yeeny!

 

[Palmer_v1]

Ill come back to everything else but post restrictions like we've been using are terrible. It is a 100% negative role for a townie, and simply annoying for scum or neutral. All it will ever do is either slow a thread down translating crap, or cause someone to just stop participating for a day. It is only fun for observers. Please stop doing it!

That, and appropriate sample role pms are my two crusades.