Charisma and Mafia

[Cheetory6]

I have to let my scumreads know how scummy they are though.

[Firebringer]

you can do that while being nice about it though!

[gigabyteTroubadour]

uh u were kinda mean to me in spring fever









but i did get back at you

[Firebringer]

i am not perfect, god you know how many problems would be solved if i was perfect?
like 2.

[Cheetory6]

I HAVE TO LET THEM KNOW THOUGH.

[Firebringer]

You can tell them with cute gifs.

[TheRealGin-N-Tonic]

CHEET YOU LYING SCUM GET OUT OF MY SIGHT

[Cheetory6]

[Lycanfire]

To be honest I treat my scumreads as being lesser than dirt. That is something I have been trying to improve on as I noticed after the vetted playerlist thread that everyone I had flamed eventually replaced out of the game although not immediately.

I see no reason to be nice to my scumreads though. I want them dead. I want them to cry at the sight of my posts. I simply don't want to be cruel about it. I'm a heartbreaker, not a monster.

[Lycanfire]

Buddying your scumreads is an interesting idea, but you also have to fake incompetence or they will probably kill you if you seem just barely competent to shift gears. I also feel like if you don't in some way hint or crumb what you're doing, it can bite you in the ass lategame when you do make the flop, unless the town universally thinks you're made of rainbows.

[Gamma Emerald]

I tried a thing in the vein of buddying my scumread in Mini 1893
Then my buddy target was killed and I had to switch plans

[Ankamius]

One big tip I have for people:

Trying to brute force people to follow you a very easy way to create as much discord among town as possible, or if you're scum, to lose you as much influence as possible. Just don't do it.

[camn]

To be honest I treat my scumreads as being lesser than dirt.

Do you win many games this way? (no snark- I have no idea if you do or not.)
Like.. what happens when you are wrong? When your previous scumreads get proven innocent?
Are you like- "sry man fair play" right before you get mislynched in LYLO and then blame the loss on somebody else? (Again- no beef...I just imagine this is how it would go)

Also- everyone everywhere already thinks I'm made of rainbows....so that's no problem!

[RadiantCowbells]

One big tip I have for people:

Trying to brute force people to follow you a very easy way to create as much discord among town as possible, or if you're scum, to lose you as much influence as possible. Just don't do it.

This isn't necessarily true

[Ranmaru]

Camn I will be paranoid when and if you buddy me because of your love for betraying.

[camn]

If you are scum, you should be paranoid of me.

[Ankamius]

One big tip I have for people:

Trying to brute force people to follow you a very easy way to create as much discord among town as possible, or if you're scum, to lose you as much influence as possible. Just don't do it.

This isn't necessarily true

It's an extraordinarily thin line to go from using that tactic to lead people and just ruining your chances to have any influence entirely.

[Zachrulez]

When you don't have support it's important to make the scum worry about how they look in relation to your posts so they bury themselves trying to make you look bad.

Brute forcing town is generally not productive, let them get to figuring out your read is scum on their own!

[Firebringer]

I decided that the topic of this week will be how to be likeable.
Which in general helps people listen to you and makes them less likely to scumread you, and less likely to see you as a liar.

[Ranmaru]

I liked being liked. I'm more interested in the 'getting them to listen to you' part than the 'less likely to scumread you' part, mostly because it's easy to be townie, hard to be listened to. (Although lately it's easier for peeps to listen to me, but I am interested in what you guys have to say about this in general)

[Firebringer]

Likability

The keys to being likable are connected with a few things, but the core of likability has to do with one person being able to see another other as a friend, family member, someone they can relate to. The most likable people in the world are the ones that you feel a connection too and have an understanding and positive uplifting spirit that you can walk away from.

So, starting with basic idea of reliability and projecting your humanity, how do you present that in a game like mafia?

Reliability is paramount for getting someone to see through your eyes and for you to see through their eyes. The idea being that if you can relate to another’s experiences/thoughts/idea you will make it easier for yourself to both read that player and get that player to understand and listen to you. The ways to do this is to first start at what you have in common. Ask them questions first, this can be anything. My favorite questions to ask someone is things going on in real life at the time, this first creates a topic that interests me because I like getting to know people and real life is easy branching point to seeing the person behind the screen, and then relating to them with any experience they may be having and empathizing. So, for example, you may have someone who is having a really horrible day and is just taking it out in your game and you can just ask them, “hey, is everything going alright in rl?”. Maybe they don’t want to talk about it but you can shift and talk about how that you are open to talk or say something about how you feel similar with frustration in some regard, continue on that conversation if they open up to being able to understand their POV. I can’t state enough how understanding someone elses point of view is CRITICAL. Taking an interest in others and trying to really get them will go a long way when they are trying to read or understand you.

Reliability can go further than just taking an interest in a person, because sometimes as stated before, the person just doesn’t want to get personal in the game. So, to bridge that gap, you may have to talk about other topics that you can mutually talk about that is interesting to both of you. Maybe you had a past game that you could talk about, maybe you both have anime avatars and you two can talk about that, maybe they mentioned a movie and you can talk about that a lot of posts contain something where you can see a new place to take the conversation. This is great for starting and building a good rapport and maybe allowing you to engage in some banter. (both topics to be covered another time).

This can be hard for a lot of players, because they feel its offtopic and unrelated to the game, and yeah they are a bit. However, building these interactions and forming bonds with players is a key part of games. Too many players get focused in the game on just the central point of it all when that isn’t how life and people work. Games can be EXCRUCIATING. You may never want to open the thread and yet you do and you continue on, why continue playing a game that is unpleasant? Why not turn it enjoyable? Is a conversation unpleasant? Shift it. In the immortal words of Don Draper “if you don’t like what is being said, change the conversation”. A likable person doesn’t change the conversation to avoid criticism, questions, or heat. They change the conversation because the tone of the game has shifted away from being fun and playful to heavy and dreary. A lighthearted person who can play the game but not in a serious fashion can be a powerful thing that motivates others and turns a game that is annoying/depressing/frustrating into an enjoyable experience. Mafia can be a fun experience when you realize the absurdity in it, and when you embrace it but not treat it as though its life or death, when you can scumhunt without being negative, when you can enjoy the small things in the game like a particular post without making someone feel like shit for posting it, or just enjoy the enjoyable aspects of the game.

Some people to be likable will go out of their way to compliment and be cheerful, while this is generally good it can lead to problems. Some people will see you as fake if you are always positive, or they will see you as a kiss ass if you are just always complimenting. This is where you should be more genuine in what you say, don’t compliment people just to say it, say what you think. The more genuine it is, the better it will be. This is a change in mindset that might be difficult to achieve and this is why I always suggest trying to post in mafia when you are in a good state to be playing.

Don't go in the opposite way either, don't blow up and start going ballistic in a game to express how you feel. Find a different outlet then the game to get your feelings out, but don't hide it from the game either. Tell everyone you are upset, explain why you are upset, in a controlled fashion. You want to make sure people see you as human not a crazy person.

In summary of all this, you want to make sure when you are presenting yourself and trying to make yourself likable that you present yourself as a person that is real, and that you are positive in general. This can be a balancing act as sometimes you may supplant realness to be a bit more positive but still letting people know that you aren't up to par, at other times you may very negative just to show people that their is someone behind the screen. The approach and balance you might have to find on your own. Just remember to think of others and try to add to the game and make it enjoyable for others and yourself and you will win hearts and minds.

[Firebringer]

Hmmmm topic dead I guess

[Gamma Emerald]

I mean people read it they just don't post
At least I hope so

[BigYoshiFan]

I appreciate this thread and what it stands for.

[Firebringer]

i kind of want people to choose their own topic for me to discuss.
I kind of want to also go back to my previous topics and see if I can improve them a bit (I am one of those people who does posts in one try and then posts them)

Ummmmmm topic for this week is still undecided.

Maybe this coming topic will talk about comedy and its persuasion ability and how to use and when to use humor in a game?