Why do YOU hate hydras, as either a player or a mod?

[Randomnamechange]

on the one hand, RR in Bloodborne and Space Dandy
on the other, RR is SU2

[Cerberus v666]

on the one hand, RR in Bloodborne and Space Dandy
on the other, RR is SU2

You should note that my faction lost all of those games.

[callforjudgement]

Many hydras I have played with have only hydra'd because neither player has time to commit fully to the game. A hydra does not remedy this. If you don't have time to play, don't play.

I think that this at least can be fixed by game moderators. In all my games that allow hydras, I have special activity rules for hydras that make them more prone to prodding/replacing than single-player slots. I'm still trying to figure out the details of those, but the idea is that if you don't have the time to play as one, you won't have the time to play as two.

Bruh you're not keeping track of yourself?
WTF MAN!

I have a strong townread on that player and I assume that they're on my side.

I love the way that this statement doesn't contradict the possibility that you're scum.

[Accountant]

Well, technically it does. If I'm scum, I wouldn't be townreading myself, I'd be scumreading myself and telling everyone I townread myself.

...well, unless a read refers to the conclusion arrived after thoroughly reviewing the posts of a player. Since I make posts I think look town as scum, I would be townreading myself as scum under that definition.

[mastina]

I've lost my energy to talk about the subject, but I've made it rather clear my stance on matters is that I am anti-anti-hydra.

[Davsto]

I think they're sorta null in how I feel about them but I sympathise with those who have issues with them more than those who support them

Wouldn't support an outright ban and believe it should but up to individual moderators, but I do like the steps that the queues made towards no-hydras being the default and allowing hydras being an opt-in sorta thing

[Kmd4390]

Hydras are fine but I have yet to be in one where things went well. I'd be interested in trying it again especially in a game where every slot in the game is a hydra.

I've been in two and both were with people I really liked and got along with. The problem was in one I did all of the work so it wasn't a true hydra experience. And the other we could not at all agree with each other on anything to save our lives and that was as scum. I can't imagine being town in that game. And it was so bad that we got lynched and sank our entire scum team in the process.

It has been about 5 or 6 years since I tried it though. Maybe it would be better now.

[Psyche]

hydras make games complicated and unwieldy to read

[Untrod Tripod]

Hydra dissonance is fucking obnoxious and exhausting to deal with.

[Untrod Tripod]

hydras, like meta, are trash

[Vaxkiller]

I don't mind playing with them when the 2 heads are on the same page/wavelength/whatever, but when they disagree openly in the game it makes it a pain in the patoot. It's hard to read someone who has two completely separate lists of reads depending on the situation!

[Ranmaru]

I don't, I love them.

[Katsuki]

hydras make games complicated and unwieldy to read

Only if the individuals consisting of the hydra don't know what they're doing.

As UT says, hydras are God's gift to us all.

[Cerberus v666]

Yeah, it seems like other than ABR and Kublai Khan, the majority of the problems people have with hydras stem from bad behaviors on the part of the members, that is, largely dissonance and individual inactivity.

[RadiantCowbells]

Meta plays a large part in every game whether you want it to or not.

[mykonian]

To me a mafia game is where you look how someone comes to a decision. You throw them a problem, you force them to adapt to new situations, and you look how they cope, figuring out their motivations from there. Call it meta, call it reading a person, but individuals respond in certain ways if they are faced with something they are forced to deal with. How they go about it from time to time allows you to read a person.

It doesn't work for hydrae. They look at the situation, then converse with their partner, or even leave it entirely up to their partner to deal with. The moment the going gets tough, there's always a shell to fall back to, a conversation the thread doesn't see. You could happily make that an argument about how there's talk about an ongoing game outside the thread, but it's legalised, so w/e. The issue stands, that if you are trying to read a hydra like a normal person, you are missing key information in how they actually deal with what's happening in the thread.

And I think that's amiss. I'm supposed to develop hydra only tells just so you can have fun in your partnership. The cost is mine, the benefit is yours.

[Cerberus v666]

I believe that comes back to the fundamental issue of people not playing hydras properly.

All hydras should be played as a united front. Yes, you're two people talking, but everything you bring to the thread should be something both heads agree on, some point they have talked about. Dissonance shouldn't exist.

[mykonian]

No, it's still two people. You aren't going to make it one, ever. The problem is fundamental.

[Nahdia]

I've seen & played in hydras without dissonance. Just talk to your partner frequently and come to an agreement about whatever you post.

[Cerberus v666]

What Nahdia said. My partners and I nearly never express dissonance, and if we do it's couched in terms of "this is something we're currently working through snd haven't made up our mind on."

[Kublai Khan]

myko is 100% right and neither of you are refuting his concerns.

[wgeurts]

myko is 100% right and neither of you are refuting his concerns.

It also doesn't solve the issue that you are still facing more opponents than you normally would, I am willing to wager that play quality increases when you have the ability to discuss things with someone you know for certain is on your side.

[wgeurts]

Quote not meant to be there

[Andrius]

I'm supposed to develop hydra only tells just so you can have fun in your partnership. The cost is mine, the benefit is yours.

Pretty much.

As always, Khan is on point.

[Socrates]

Curious if a Hydrae being able to consistently present a unified front on opinions is actually a scum tell.

The fact that I have this thought, even if it turns out to be false, proves Mykonian's point.