Do people take this game too seriously on MS?

[St Constantine the Hermit]

There is a lot of drama in some of these games. This mostly stems from a combination of careless silly players and intense toxic players.

People are so concerned with winning, that they fight tooth and nail to push their lynches through. You often see innocent arguing devolve into back-and-forth name calling. The amount of frustration and tension I have seen in some mafia games, outweighs the level of drama that exists on entire sites.

I have always treated mafia like a game, and I play it to have fun. It is becoming quickly apparent that other players are signing up for games and bringing down everyone else with their desire to win. In context, getting mad at each other because not everyone thinks the same way. I always had believed convincing others of your case and making compromises were skills good mafia players possessed.

Here are a couple suggestions that I believe the community should enforce on each other (not the adminstration), in order to make the environment more friendly. I am guilty of breaking some of these myself.

Spoiler:

1. Complaining to the mod about another player should only be done through private message. Even that weird WOTC thing is a distraction that should be handled by the mod via private messages.

2. When expressing annoyance at a playstyle trend in a game, you should criticize the thinking, and not the person. In general, you should not use specific names if you are not replying to a specific statement. This causes people to get defensive almost all of the time.

3. Be nice to each other, and more importantly, give people second chances. We have a tendency to create a first impression of people, and when that first impression is negative, it becomes difficult to change our outlook. This makes it incredibly difficult for players who have been perceived negatively at first to adapt, because others already have a pre-conceived notion that everything they do or say sucks.

My two cents anyways. I am very interested in knowing if others share similar sentiments, and whether or not they have realistic solutions to the problems that are becoming prevalent in forum games.

[xRECKONERx]

For me it's a matter of flipping a switch when I'm in game mode and then flipping it back when I'm not. It's very rare for me that someone in a game makes me hate them outside of the game. It's a game about arguing, it's going to get heated.

[St Constantine the Hermit]

For me it's a matter of flipping a switch when I'm in game mode and then flipping it back when I'm not. It's very rare for me that someone in a game makes me hate them outside of the game. It's a game about arguing, it's going to get heated.

It doesn't have to be about arguing. It can be about collaboration as well.

Good job if you can get heated with someone and not hold a grudge the next game. I find that is not the case most of the time.

[xRECKONERx]

Yes, and you get people to collaborate by arguing your case.

[Kagami]

As long as getting angry causes people not to lynch you, anger will be part of the game.

[Alchemist21]

Anger is one thing, but personal attacks are another, and players need to realize when they're taking it too far. I've seen examples of what I think St. Constatine is talking about both on and off-site, but I don't think it's as big a problem as he does. Usually when someone gets too uncivil the players will let them know it, and if they don't calm down the banhammer takes care if it.

As for the playstyles themselves, I agree collaboration is important, but there are certain advantages to being a lone wolf. As with most things, I think moderation is key and you should try to strike a balance between the two.

[Accountant]

To be perfectly honest, I try not to let fun get in the way of winning.

[Aj The Epic]

Yeah, I think the end goal kinda makes all else secondary. I can like you as a person but if you're scum when I'm town or vice versa, I'm aiming for you to fall one way or the other.

Doesn't mean you can't be snarky. I actually prefer people to be able to have some sort of sideways humor in a game just to remind us that it is, after all, a game.

[Ankamius]

I don't think I take this game seriously enough.

[SilverWolf]

I'm a pretty competitive Mafia player so yeah, I play to win. Personal attacks are off limits though.

[BBmolla]

I'm guilty of personal attacks

helps me invest in the game more when I call someone an idiot

[Accountant]

I find that personal attacks just people not want to work with you, which is bad if you're town.

[MarioManiac4]

Possibly.
This has no real yes/no answer. I know I probably used to take my games too seriously.

[Postie]

I find that personal attacks just make people not want to work with you, which is bad if you're town.

^^^^^

They also make people less likely to want to work with you in future, and are a sure-fire way to get people to dislike you in general.

[Accountant]

I find that personal attacks just make people not want to work with you, which is bad if you're town.

^^^^^

They also make people less likely to want to work with you in future, and are a sure-fire way to get people to dislike you in general.

Not to mention if you keep acting like a dick you're going to get WOTC or WOT1'd. And if you push it too far you may even get banned.

[Plotinus]

and even if you're not town, you need allies who are town and will lynch the people you want to lynch instead of lynching you.

so really regardless of your alignment, not pissing everyone off is a good move.

[Accountant]

Unless you're a jester, but that's a special case.

[SilverWolf]

I am much more likely to want to work with someone who tells me I'm being an idiot but then lays out reasons why I'm wrong and still tries to get me to work with them than I am with someone who tells me I suck at the game and to fuck off. There's no way I'll work with you then. Instead, I'll probably vote for you.

[catboi]

I have always treated mafia like a game, and I play it to have fun.

It's more like you play it like a jackass, and antagonize others with your posting. That might be the source of people getting mad. Just a thought?

[St Constantine the Hermit]

I have always treated mafia like a game, and I play it to have fun.

It's more like you play it like a jackass, and antagonize others with your posting. That might be the source of people getting mad. Just a thought?

I don't think that is the case.

This is a good example of what I talked about in the spoiler though. It is hard to respond to things like this without getting angry or defensive, and it relates greatly to what I see go on inside games here.

[St Constantine the Hermit]

ADGML, the trend is prevalent in every game, and has affected every player in someway or another. To put blame on one person as a source of drama is not fixing the problem.
The community as a whole is responcible for the level of drama that takes place.

In responce to the comments about how getting angry is apart of the game - it doesn't have to be, and I think you can find other mafia communites absent of much in-game drama.

[catboi]

My extremely limited experience with you is in Pula Mafia, where you replaced in, trolled, did nothing, and then openly complained in-thread when you were prodded. You pretty clearly have some issues with maturity, so I'm honestly not surprised you seem to be on the receiving end of a lot of vitriol. Yeah, people frequently go too far with personal attacks but it's hard to feel any sympathy for you whatsoever when you play in a way that emphasizes your own self-gratification over making the experience enjoyable for others in the game.

[St Constantine the Hermit]

My extremely limited experience with you is in Pula Mafia, where you replaced in, trolled, did nothing, and then openly complained in-thread when you were prodded. You pretty clearly have some issues with maturity, so I'm honestly not surprised you seem to be on the receiving end of a lot of vitriol. Yeah, people frequently go too far with personal attacks but it's hard to feel any sympathy for you whatsoever when you play in a way that emphasizes your own self-gratification over making the experience enjoyable for others in the game.

I do like having fun in games, but we can distunguish between players who are having the fun and players who are trolling in another thread.

I also did not create this thread for sympathy. I created this thread to discuss the common toxic environment that exists in nearly every game on this site, and ways the community can work together to fix it. Suggestions are appreciated, but thinly veiled personal attacks are not (even though they perfectly embody the issue I was referencing in the OP)

P.S - pls do not use this thread to complain about why you hate me

[Skybird]

Mafia tends to be an intense game and that means things will occationally get heated. I feel that the player base generally does a good job at letting other players know when they are crossing the line into personal attacks.

[Accountant]

The only person here who thinks MafiaScum is a toxic environment is you. I've had a similar experience to catboi with you as well.