In post 1133, T-Bone wrote:When you declare yourself v/la to try and strategically avoid the game is different, because now you are using outside influences on the game to influence it, and that is against the spirit of the game, unsportsmanlike, and all that stuff.
I'm not talking about faking V/LAs. For example, I am not at all suggesting that Cabd is faking an illness -- I think it's extremely likely that he had an illness, that it is correlated with reduced posting patterns sitewide, etc. Hence, I have 0% interest in Cabd's stool samples; I am sure he had E. coli or whatever.
However, there's a sliding scale of V/LAs. There's V/LA where you're on vacation, but have great internet access. There's V/LA where you have the fire-poops and can't function normally, but can post on a computer. There's V/LA where you are inside a volcano doing science and you absolutely aren't going to post at all.
If you are in a high-pressure position in-game, I think you are generally more motivated to "waste" your vacation or suffer during fire-poops and check-in periodically, especially in the intermediate types of V/LAs. This doesn't mean that you're a bad person the times when you'd rather enjoy the vacation or just rest and get better -- it just means the game circumstances were not the sort that would motivate you into extraordinary action. Hence, I don't see it as a personal attack. There's nothing "moral" about playing the game while you're sick or enjoying life or whatever.
Interpreting how a player posts during a V/LA -- just like interpreting how a player posts under pressure or after pressure has dissipated -- is part of playing the game.
T-Bone wrote:Seeking Modkills is not valid either. I don't believe in 'win-at-all-costs'. Modkills are meant as a punishment to a player who breaks rules, not as an extra kill mechanic for scum (or town). That once again falls under unsportsmanlike conduct and has no place in mafia.
Modkills are part of the game whether we like it or not. Lately, they have felt more like part of the game than you or I might like, but that's neither here nor there. Given that something is part of the game, I think it's impossible to play to your wincon and be in the game while being willfully ignorant of those types of interactions. So I think being mindful of such things just marks you (or whomever) as a savvy player rather than an unethical one.
Anyway, being careful enough to notice the thing in the first place is still a towntell. And I doubt a Team Mafia partner would have noticed it on your behalf in this case, since you noticed it because it specifically related to you. This is relevant because a Team Mafia partner noticing it is what would reduce the town-relevance of conscientiousness.
I might take mafia too seriously...
