An Argument for Casual Playing

[TierShift]

Lynching active players in a game with lots of lurkers is toxic as fuck tho

Are you advocating don't lynch lurkers because if you are fuck you

[Psyche]

let's lynch scummy people, whether they're lurking or not

of course,
it's important to punish lurkers for lurking so that people will not lurk,
but don't pretend that it's not a policy lynch

[TierShift]

You need to pretend that though otherwise no one will listen

[mastin2]

Maybe you've been seeing more post-game hate than I have?

Unless you're an alt, yes. Six years extra worth. (Although the hate seems to have only gotten stronger in the last couple of years or so. Raging was done years prior, but it was all in good fun back then.) Especially in larges, and especially in themes. The vitriol in games is almost tangible. And I have seen resentment leak into games after that, beyond just the RVS. (Not intentionally, of course; that'd be rulebreaking. But hostilities in future games can often be seen to be visible fallout from a previous sour encounter.)

Basically, my argument for playing casually is so that it's easier TO blow off steam. Because trust me. Let the game become an obsession, and any negative feelings you have in real life will end up not being released, but merely amplified, by the game; it has actually caused rather a large number of people to quit. Let the game be a hobby, and any negative feelings you have in real life can be released in a more healthy manner. (Plus, keep in mind, there's someone on the other side of the keyboard. If your feelings are released seriously, and they have their own negative feelings, they may react violently to them.)

casual (adj.): relaxed or unconcerned

Relaxed,

yes

. Mafia shouldn't be stressful. Or if stress exists, it should be the positive kind, not the negative, destroys-people kind.

Unconcerned, not

exactly

. Yeah, you shouldn't take it too personally if you lose a game; that part of unconcerned I DEFINITELY am advocating as part of casual playing. (It's a game, so if you lose, oh well.) Not caring about winning at ALL, though, I am most explicitly

not

. It's a game; you play games trying to win. So in short, try to win, but don't obsess over attempting to win and don't get upset if you lose. Everyone, yourself included, will be MUCH happier as a result.

[reinoe]

My try hard Town game is no more or less accurate than my lulz Slacker town game.

[Shadowmod]

Unconcerned, not

exactly

. Yeah, you shouldn't take it too personally if you lose a game; that part of unconcerned I DEFINITELY am advocating as part of casual playing. (It's a game, so if you lose, oh well.) Not caring about winning at ALL, though, I am most explicitly

not

. It's a game; you play games trying to win. So in short, try to win, but don't obsess over attempting to win and don't get upset if you lose. Everyone, yourself included, will be MUCH happier as a result.

Arguably, being less concerned (emotionally), i.e. staying "over it all" and keeping a cool head will improve one's performance in games, as well.

[mastin2]

My try hard Town game is no more or less accurate than my lulz Slacker town game.

That's because neither is fulfilling my argument for playing casually; you should be IN-BETWEEN the two: invested enough to actually be doing stuff and not slacking off, but not so much as to be obsessive over it.

Arguably, being less concerned (emotionally), i.e. staying "over it all" and keeping a cool head will improve one's performance in games, as well.

I know! That's what I'm trying to say!

[Shadowmod]

I know ;D

[TierShift]

You're advertising casual as coming on less often and being a tad less invested. You should advertise it as being less emotionally attached. You can be super active, be devoted and scumhunt the shit out of everyone all the time yet not be overly attached to a game. I have no idea how you can get people less emotionally attached, though. Coming on less often probably isn't the solution.

[mastin2]

You're advertising casual as coming on less often and being a tad less invested.

Not exactly for the "coming on less often". What that basically means is to not smother the game with hundreds upon hundreds of posts that are mostly of great length. As you said, you

can

be super-active, devoted, and "scumhunt the shit out of everyone all the time", but you probably

shouldn't

, because too much of a good thing can be bad, as much as people argue to the contrary. ("How can more content for the game ever be bad?" Well, just because

you

can handle it doesn't mean all the other players can. And far more often than not, the players who can handle it are in the vast minority compared to those who, quite frankly, can't. So if you can handle it, good for you, all the more power to you. Just recognize most can't, and thus, by filling the game with it, you're dragging all of them down. Also, often, while you THINK you can handle it all, you overestimate your own capabilities and realize in-game you have been a bit overwhelmed by all the info. If not at the time, then in hindsight.)

But as for being "tad bit less invested", you're right; a better term would be, being less emotionally attached.

[T S O]

go hard or go home

[Flubbernugget]

If TSO started "playing casual" I would be really sad.

[T S O]

Damn fucking straight, Flubber. #keepitreal

[Wisdom]

Agreed with everything Tier has said. High activity is absolutely fine and people should be encouraging it, not trying to limit it.

[Shadowmod]

The problem is, as not only this thread is currenty making a fuss about, that high activity per se more often than not does not mean meaningfulness.

Besides, this thread is actually about attitude, effects on actvity levels are only a possible secondary consequence.

[F-16_Fighting_Falcon]

The most enjoyable games for me as town have always been games that have low activity for the first few days and an increase in activity as the information and flips are out there and people start analyzing the game. I've seen perfect town wins in newbies that have less than fifteen pages and I've had a perfect win in an open with less than forty pages. Compare this to 100+ page games and the analysis just becomes harder and harder late game because there is so much mist and circular back and forths that lead nowhere in the first few days. I really, really hate 100 page D1s.

A second problem with high early activity is that people get tired and burnout later on and have way too much content to look back at. On the other hand, if the first 3-4 days were only 30-40 pages, the last few days with the fewest players and the most critical time is spent re-reading and re-analyzing the game. I've played a game which was twelve pages (No town lynched Micro setup), where at 3P LYLO, the deciding player re-read the game three times, figured out I was town and hammered the scum. I doubt that would have happened if the game was longer.

With that said, I still tend to be among the top most active players in the game. It is nothing less than a necessity. Games are often decided by the active players and unless someone who is active is very, very scummy, as deadline approaches, the active players then choose which lurker to lynch as they complain about the lack of content from them. I typically solve it by giving it my best shot at reading the lurkers beyond complaining that they are lurking but to have any influence in the game, being active is a must.

[syndromeofatown]

I agree. Taking this game seriously does more harm than good, which is why I don't even try anymore. It's more fun that way. I realized that I don't even care for "scumhunting" or reading and rereading the same posts over and over looking for possible interactions someone might have had or for some imaginary "scumslip". I don't care about trying to figure out the setup, nor do I ever try to outguess the mod. And most of all I really, really don't want to argue with everyone or get in a debate trying to convince other people why they're wrong -- actually that is the opposite of fun.

To me this game is more about just about giving me something to do and people to talk to outside of my normal life. I'd rather just read along and post whatever I feel like at the time without thinking too much about it, and if people don't like that then to hell with them lol.