How do you effectively analyze games?

[Skrub]

Hi, I'm new here. I want to look at past games that people have played and see what I can learn from them. But I'm not really sure what exactly I should be looking for and how to apply what I see to my own games. Any advice?

[Kublai Khan]

Read a game without knowing who is scum and try to see if you can guess who is scum.
Then read the same game knowing exactly who is scum and see what they do to avoid detection.

[Skrub]

Read a game without knowing who is scum and try to see if you can guess who is scum.
Then read the same game knowing exactly who is scum and see what they do to avoid detection.

Thanks

[Psyche]

no one knows dude

[Raskolnikov]

Research is good but I think you'll learn fastest if you dive in after you get the basics down. I hesitated for a few weeks and studied but even so a playing perspective felt so different.
I think if you go into a newbie or mini normal (pray you don't roll scum for the latter) and afterwards ask everyone for a critique you'll find most people very helpful.

As for analysing, one doesn't know if they're doing it effectively until they're getting good results, so I'd leave it up to someone with a high winrate over a large amount of games to help you here. The only thing I recommend is that you don't get too hung up on specific tells and posts and rather look at people and their actions holistically, and also stick to analysing the simpler games like newbies and mini normals unless you want to worry about the setup spec stuff as well.

[Kublai Khan]

Research is good but I think you'll learn fastest if you dive in after you get the basics down. I hesitated for a few weeks and studied but even so a playing perspective felt so different.
I think if you go into a newbie or mini normal (pray you don't roll scum for the latter) and afterwards ask everyone for a critique you'll find most people very helpful.

Oh, yea. This too, absolutely.

Also, don't forget to read back your own games a month and then a year afterwards. Your new experience will illuminate your past mistakes.

[RadiantCowbells]

Learn from every single game you've ever played and you'll be unstoppable.

[Majiffy]

VCA is my go-to

Meta expires quickly with experienced players and imo is largely useless.

There are a few reasonably accurate objective scum tells but nothing is 100% and these vary from playstyle to playstyle.

[kuribo]

Kill everyone and let Mod sort them out

[Skrub]

VCA is my go-to

Meta expires quickly with experienced players and imo is largely useless.

There are a few reasonably accurate objective scum tells but nothing is 100% and these vary from playstyle to playstyle.

What do you mean by VCA and meta?

[Axxle]

VCA: vote count analysis. Basically looking at patterns of voting while considering the fact Mafia know who each other are.

Meta: behavior of individual players from game to game. Some players may behave noticeably differently in games depending on the alignment they draw.

[Raskolnikov]

His first game hasn't started and we have VCA and meta in his head.
We're corrupting the youth...

[Axxle]

He was lost as soon as he joined the site.

[Majiffy]

Kill everyone and let Mod sort them out

Fucking lol

[Majiffy]

His first game hasn't started and we have VCA and meta in his head.
We're corrupting the youth...

It's for the best.

I don't believe in coddling the young, I am going to start my nephew on advanced physics and philosophy as soon as he is able to read.

[Untrod Tripod]

First you must accept that even the good players suck

[Accountant]

1) Sign up as an SE in the newbie queue and let the IC do the dirty work postgame
2) Create an icon called "learning games".txt in your computer. Every time you finish a game, write down what you learnt from the game in the .txt file. Delete the file once you're good.
3) Read scumchat. I swear to god it's the most underappreciated tool on this site and I die a little inside every time mod doesn't release.
4) Play a lot of games
5) Read the posts of good players or players you admire and slavishly copy their style and mindset until you're good enough to develop your own
6) ISO the mod and read all the votecounts keeping who is mafia in mind. Watch the patterns of voting that mafia have.
7) Sheep accountant

[Accountant]

Disclaimer: I don't do half the shit on this list.

[Skrub]

Thanks for all the advice haha

[Caira]

Mafia can be hard from what I remember. The trick is to stick to your guns and ensure that you don't let people sway you one way or the other.

[Accountant]

Mafia can be hard from what I remember. The trick is to stick to your guns and ensure that you don't let people sway you one way or the other.

That leads to tunnel vision.

You must be like a leaf, letting the winds of evidence sway you. If a scummy person does townie things, you have to adjust your read of them. If a townie person does scummy things, you have to adjust your read on them. You must not be locked into one view, but neither must you slavishly copy others.

[Caira]

Mafia can trick you though nothing worse than being manipulated by the mafia and being wrong . My freinds do that to me all the time. I have never played this kind of mafia so maybe im wrong LOL

[Accountant]

Mafia can trick you though nothing worse than being manipulated by the mafia and being wrong . My freinds do that to me all the time. I have never played this kind of mafia so maybe im wrong LOL

Hence, "neither must you slavishly copy others". The mafia cannot trick you - they can only manipulate you into tricking yourself. The mafia do not have the power to edit posts or change the evidence of scumminess or towniness that is there, they can only attempt to alter your perception of the evidence.

[Caira]

Thanks

[Untrod Tripod]

with ur butt