First, let me say that I do indeed do just the basics in the VC. However, I nonetheless want to argue against this point.In post 78, Nexus wrote:I'm being serious here: I think that if you are providing more than just the basics in the votecount, you are influencing the game as a moderator than you should be.
If players want to know vote history, wagon history etc., then it is their responsibility to do that themselves.
Please can someone who disagree justify why you aren't influencing the game, more than just "it's information available to players anyway."
I don't even like the vote movement thing that I saw Vi use - greying out previous votes etc.
I'd say that the way a mod does votecounts will influence the game. I'd also say, though, that it's part of the job of a moderators to influence the game, but in a fair and non-alignment-specific way.
Anything a mod does will influence the game. Posting vote counts with a specific frequency, prodding players, setting deadlines, allowing/disallowing V/LAs, vetting the playerlist and/or replacements, it all has an effect. Generally speaking, the players look to the moderator to ensure that the game is well-run and active, and thus moderator decisions are explicitly designed to have an effect on that. (As an extreme example: if you have a game with no prods and no votecounts except after a lynch, I'd consider that to give a significant advantage to scum. A moderator who moderated like that here on Mafiascum probably wouldn't be moderating much longer.)
What we're asking from a mod, therefore, is not to be un
So if you're adding extra information in a votecount, or you
So, you're influencing the game, but the claim in the post I quoted is that you're influencing the game "more than you should be". I don't agree with that. This sort of symmetric, fair influence on a game is exactly the sort of thing that's a moderator's job to do. Different moderators can reasonably have different opinions about how much votecount information is appropriate, but in any case it's fair and the rules for it will quickly be obvious to everyone, so it's within the realm of influences that can reasonably be considered part of moderator discretion.