A behavioural view of toxicity & moderation on MS

[Hoopla]

On the other side, there is an extremely big reason to be toxic in mafia that doesn't exist in League of Legends. Simply put, toxicity

works

.

toxicity

can

work; it may net you an extra edge in persuasion, or be useful in destroying other players credibility and/or influence. but it can just as easily backfire if townies tune you out or turn on you.

certain towns may even execute you if you suck the fun out of the game - even if it would otherwise be a -EV play.

In order to fix all three of potential mod bias, inconsistency of punishments, and time latency in moderation, I propose the following:

Vagueness is done. All rules are made very explicit. The community as a whole decides exactly where the line is (erring on the less toxic side) and every rule broken has a specific, scaling system of punishments depending on how often they've been broken. The current system of mods having to decide based on vague instructions whether an action is over the line is done; every report needs to clearly violate a rule and if a rule is clearly violated there is a single, exact punishment that is given in response. Punishments are made consistent, and with less need for mods to consider things a violated rule can be acted on much more quickly and immediately cracked down on. This should in theory dramatically increase the effectiveness of bans at deterring favor, it makes the ruleset and mod actions consistent and fair for all users, and it allows mods to step in much more quickly in instances of rulebreaking in an ongoing game. What's the disadvantage?

more specificity and/or consistency on implementing rules might be needed (who knows, i'm not super familiar with current meta), but it is naive to expect objective rules to ever encapsulate all you're trying to quell. by explicitly stating the line, you just invite players ruleslawyering who will do clearly toxic things not stated, or pseudo-toxic things just under the line.

how exactly are you going to make explicit rules about what is harassment and toxicity anyway? a post with the exact same wording submitted in a different context or said to a different player can have a completely different meaning. does tone matter? familiarity with the player you are clashing with? what about sarcasm/irony? sounds like you're going to need a lot of rules.

there is always going to be some level of subjective interpretation required - particularly if you end up with a sprawling list of rules covering all the possible edge-cases that could arise. and given games are so dense, with so many posts and interactions, it's going to require multiple different judges of what is toxic behaviour, rather than a single arbiter. inconsistencies are bound to arise. the one you shared in the OP is obviously pretty glaring, so some tightening/clarification may be necessary, but someone's subjective finger will still need to be in charge of the big red button. ensuring the best people are in charge along with not expecting perfection seems fine?

maybe i am pessimistic about what you can actually do at a moderation level to stamp out this stuff. to me, overmoderation is equally problematic, as it trains people out of solving things amongst themselves, when that is sometimes all the action that needs to be done. i don't want every post scanned and interpreted for toxicity even if by the letter of the law, a certain post could be viewed that way. some responsibility has to fall on individual users to let others know when they're crossing the line and to solicit an apology - most of the time this is all that's required. i have a thick skin and can tolerate some playful trash-talking if it's in good spirits, or if its funny. i don't want to see a blanket rule forbidding me from teasing my friends or vice-versa.

we all have different lines, though. all but one time someone has gone over the line with me, i've been able to solve it with a little breaking-the-forth-wall heart-to-heart and letting them know their behaviour is impacting my enjoyment of the game. most of the time, people are willing to tone it down.

at the end of the day, it is just a game. and while it's important to win, it isn't the only important thing. having fun and making sure others are too is equally important if you care about maintaining a flourishing community.