Long term health of mafiascum

[Mina]

If my friends play newbies, they can only play one game at a time. The current setup, with 6 power roles to explain at once, demands players learn more than many other common setups. As executed, the Newbie section does not train new members, but weeds them out. It is a holding pen.

For the record, I agree with this. (Great post.) Ideally, I would like to start sending out zoraster-style surveys to newbies who've just completed games.

Obvious caveat: the tiny pool of newbies who 1) complete a game, and 2) are invested enough to fill out the survey would self-select to be those who can handle convoluted roles. (PMing flakers to ask what turned them away from the site would obviously get an abysmal response rate.) But it's always experienced players bickering in MD over what

we

think is best for new players.

[Mina]

More on topic, there are some checks and balances to mafiascum that I'm quite attached to. I like that we're attracting a more serious clientele, and would not want to lower our standards too much just to appeal to some nebulous idea of WEB 2.0 HIP TWEETING MILLENNIALS. But I'm an old lady who loves forums.

That said, looking at the site's structure and reevaluating things we take for granted would be a good idea.

I don't agree with chamber on abolishing queues. Right now, the playerbase isn't large enough to sate all the potential mods. So having a free-for-all either means the site will be oversaturated with games waiting to fill, making it even

harder

for first-time mods to run games, or we cap the number of games running at a time...which is basically just a more disorganized version of the queue system. I don't really see the advantage.

I hate Web 2.0 sites like twitter and tumblr, find streamed video games dull, don't like the dark skin, and use sepia religiously, so my opinion on the rest of this discussion is irrelevant. But I support making site chat/Skype Mafia/streaming a more active part of the site. What about a separate subforum or queue for non-forum Mafia games? Also, implementing this.

[Mina]

If they don't like optional surveys, all they have to do is not answer them. Who would leave the site as a protest against a PM nicely asking them if they want to share their thoughts on whether they liked the game? It's not like we're begging them for money.

(I can't start working on surveys until at least Friday, but I think newbies in fferyllt's and Micc's recently completed games can be the first guinea pigs. )