Scumreading Someone You Adore

[Taly]

Ever had those moments in a game where you're playing with someone you really like and get along with well outside of the lynching field.

But whenever you see their posts.... you can't help but think:

"CAN THIS PERSON BE ANY SCUMMIER?"

And you know you can't avoid pushing, 1v1ing, or voting them....

lol, I don't take these things personally at all - it's just a game. But seriously.... It's kind of awkward, or at the very least - interesting. XD

What are you guys' stories and thoughts?

[Ythan]

I have no pity for my loved ones because this is a game. If anything I take greater delight in attacking them.

[Cheery Dog]

It's exactly the same when I end up attacking any of my other scumbuddies.

[Donempire]

No because i adore no1

[Ythan]

xRECKONERx is one of my favorite scummers and I dare that fucker to join a game with me.

[VysePresident]

Yeah, half the fun for me is catching friends out.

[talah]

The last time I siteflaked was because I couldn't handle playing with a couple of folks I adore and thought they were scum, and were approaching me as if I was scum.

Both were town and so was I.

I hope to have learned something from that, not only the fact that they were town, but also the fact that they (or I) could have been scum. And it shouldn't have mattered to the point of getting that frustrated, either way.

[Espeonage]

If they really loved you they'd have a town role PM.

[talah]

Well I lol'd :P

[Davsto]

I have a simple solution to this that works for me.

I just hate everyone.

[Cheetory6]

Mafia isn't about making or keeping friendships.
It's about slowly becoming a bitter and awful person that everyone resents.

[VysePresident]

Heh.

It's funny, but I've found Mafia makes it legitimately hard for me to actually hate anyone.

As sappy as it may sound when taken out of context, I think Ender's game gave a really powerful line on the subject -

"I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves."

Then I grind them & grind them until they don't exist anymore.

[Accountant]

You don't have to really understand someone. You just have to figure out if they're scum or not.

[VysePresident]

True, but how do you think I get to that point?

[BBmolla]

Ender's Game is a good book

[Accountant]

True, but how do you think I get to that point?

Look for scumtells

[ZZZX]

. If anything I take greater delight in attacking them.

[notscience]

If they really loved you they'd have a town role PM.

[BNL]

Mafia is basically Trust No One (esp Mountainous)

Oh, and friends are more likely to vote each other.

[kuribo]

DGB is probably the scummer I'm closest to on the site, and neither of us will show the other mercy if we're opposite alignment. Same with pirate mollie.

[VysePresident]

True, but how do you think I get to that point?

Look for scumtells

I'm mostly speaking in a very tongue-cheek-manner here, but in all honesty, I do not believe in what passes for typical scumtells. In fact, ironically, I tend to find scum using traditional scumtells more than anyone. (Which I guess makes that a scumtell, kind of?)

I'm at my best when I can work out how a person thinks & reacts to things, and then look for patterns from there. I'm not going to say scumtells don't ever work, but like any tool, they're very situational, and most people don't seem to get that.

Basically, understand the person, look for patterns, and the rest follows. I don't even need to talk that much to do it, which is nice, since I'm not a great conversationalist in Mafia.

[Postie]

What Vyse said.

I've found that I mainly get my reads by thinking things through something like...

What would I expect scum!Playername to do in his situation? What would I expect town!Playername to do in this situation?

And then trying to judge which set of expectations their actions fit most.

[Vampirate]

The more heated things get in game, the more you can laugh about it post game.

[Yosarian2]

I don't have a problem attacking someone I like. In a game I just finished I said thst Dramonic was a great guy, and I got to play with him at a scum meet and he was awesome, it's just a shame he's scum this game. (And he was, lol.)

[Ythan]

The more heated things get in game, the more you can laugh about it post game.

Be advised that this is true up to a point.