Why do you play mafia?

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Post Post #25 (ISO) » Sat Jun 16, 2018 11:33 am

Post by BlackStar »

It's fun and I have a lot of free time
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Post Post #26 (ISO) » Sat Jun 16, 2018 6:59 pm

Post by hitogoroshi »

In post 22, callforjudgement wrote:I play Mafia for practice at interacting with people some of who are trying to deceive me, and some of who think I'm trying to deceive them.

It's much better to get that practice in a controlled environment than learning via being defrauded in real life.
Yup, it's this for me too. Also, it's very useful to understand how to
prove
you're telling the truth. Being able to operate on that level of thinking - where you can understand the mental states of people who think you're lying, and think of how to convince THEM, instead of only people who are inclined to believe you already - is something that doesn't really come naturally, so I'm glad to have a place to practice it.
"Don’t buy a dozen eggs if you just want a hardboiled egg. Don’t buy a head of lettuce if you just want a salad. Don’t buy eggs and lettuce if you want egg salad because those are not the right ingredients." -Julius Bloop
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Post Post #27 (ISO) » Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:59 am

Post by mastina »

In post 8, mastina wrote:I have a bomb attached to my heart.

If I quit mafia altogether, it will explode.

So long as I am either playing or modding or reviewing or otherwise involved in a game though, it won't go off.

Meaning my life literally depends on me not stopping.
So last time I answered, it was with a joke, but. The joke did have one element of truth to it.

I could give any number of excuse answers, e.g. "because of socializing and psychology practice", but those are exactly that, excuses.
I have previously thought it was an addiction, but the truth is much worse.

For some background:
The artist within me is trapped, locked inside. She still paints vivid canvasses, with beautiful imagery, but I never let her MAKE anything. So art is dead.

The writer within me still creates stories, but my drive to write them is dead.

I check kongregate games daily for the badge of the day, and play steam games on request, but otherwise the gamer within me is dead

I stopped caring about Tae kwon do and dancing long ago, even though I still do both out of obligation.

I stopped caring about work similarly, and intentionally avoid job searching.

What does that leave me with?

Only my girlfriend and mafiascum.
…And while my girlfriend is not a current player, they are a scummer who I met through playing on here.

So it is no exaggeration to say my entire life revolves quite literally around mafiascum.

I said that my life depends on me playing as a joke, but that was serious. Someone recently told me my entire self-worth revolves around here.
They're not wrong.
If anything, that's an understatement.

I have nothing without mafiascum.
I play mafia because it is the main thing to do on mafiascum. Without it, I literally have no life.

And yes.
That is exactly as sad and pathetic as it sounds.
There's a good reason I see myself as the dictionary definition of a real life scumbag. A worthless lowlife, the dregs of human society.

I can think of no worse reason to keep playing, and yet, it is the truth for why I do.
Beyond sad, right?
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Post Post #28 (ISO) » Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:01 am

Post by Raskolnikov »

Don't let anyone take away from what you find value in. There is no real reason enjoying dedicating yourself to say mafia is worse than anything else if you get a lot out of it, sure "society" may arbitrarily judge certain hobbies or passions over others but you shouldn't let that keep you down! It is just that, arbitrary, and look historically at how fickle these judgments tend to be anyways. At the end of the day you give something value; if you say something matters to you and in this case enjoy it then no one can take that away from you or say it shouldn't "ought"(???) to be :)

Alternatively I guess the counterpoint to that would be to not to let yourself be restrained either and try stepping out of your comfort zone/expanding your horizons too if you aren't satisfied with this state of affairs, you have to make that assessment yourself; if disregarding any outside judgment for doing what you do, are your needs satisfied (side note I'm unfamiliar; have you looked into therapy to try to address any of what you've mentioned; e.g why you stopped caring wrt things you previously did or on addressing your self-worth).
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Post Post #29 (ISO) » Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:07 am

Post by Kmd4390 »

In post 27, mastina wrote:
In post 8, mastina wrote:I have a bomb attached to my heart.

If I quit mafia altogether, it will explode.

So long as I am either playing or modding or reviewing or otherwise involved in a game though, it won't go off.

Meaning my life literally depends on me not stopping.
So last time I answered, it was with a joke, but. The joke did have one element of truth to it.

I could give any number of excuse answers, e.g. "because of socializing and psychology practice", but those are exactly that, excuses.
I have previously thought it was an addiction, but the truth is much worse.

For some background:
The artist within me is trapped, locked inside. She still paints vivid canvasses, with beautiful imagery, but I never let her MAKE anything. So art is dead.

The writer within me still creates stories, but my drive to write them is dead.

I check kongregate games daily for the badge of the day, and play steam games on request, but otherwise the gamer within me is dead

I stopped caring about Tae kwon do and dancing long ago, even though I still do both out of obligation.

I stopped caring about work similarly, and intentionally avoid job searching.

What does that leave me with?

Only my girlfriend and mafiascum.
…And while my girlfriend is not a current player, they are a scummer who I met through playing on here.

So it is no exaggeration to say my entire life revolves quite literally around mafiascum.

I said that my life depends on me playing as a joke, but that was serious. Someone recently told me my entire self-worth revolves around here.
They're not wrong.
If anything, that's an understatement.

I have nothing without mafiascum.
I play mafia because it is the main thing to do on mafiascum. Without it, I literally have no life.

And yes.
That is exactly as sad and pathetic as it sounds.
There's a good reason I see myself as the dictionary definition of a real life scumbag. A worthless lowlife, the dregs of human society.

I can think of no worse reason to keep playing, and yet, it is the truth for why I do.
Beyond sad, right?
The most important thing in life is to find happiness. If mafiascum is where you find that, there's nothing sad about it. People find pleasure in things that are meaningless to others. My life revolves around sports in pretty much the same way you describe here. It's the main topic of conversation with my wife. I care more about whether the Yankees won last night than if I remembered to pay the mortgage (crap, I forgot the mortgage. Meh I'll pay it today). From someone else's point of view, sure why should I care if a bunch of people I don't know did a better job hitting a ball around or throwing and catching it than a bunch of other people I don't know? But you know what? I'm generally pretty happy when I'm watching a game. Maybe it's a form of an escape from real life to some extent. I don't know. But if things that seem minor or pointless are what you find joy in, then there's nothing wrong with focusing on that. Just my opinion.

Preview edit: Guess I could just QFT but I already typed mine out. Lol
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Post Post #30 (ISO) » Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:15 am

Post by Raskolnikov »

Hey I think you responding in full is great and I'm glad you didn't just +1 so we have the chance to read it!
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Post Post #31 (ISO) » Thu Jun 21, 2018 8:02 am

Post by wavemode »

1. mafia is a social game - a game that actually requires real human interaction and connection. it's hard to find that elsewhere

2. mafia is a puzzle that constantly challenges your assumptions and forces you to think in new ways. when you solve it you feel good about yourself

3. mafia is a competitive game and winning at competitive games causes a release of dopamine and a feeling of superiority

4. mafia can also become a status symbol - everyone would love to become known as a good scum hunter or epic mafioso. becoming widely known and well-respected in a social environment is its own source of dopamine

i think #3 applies the most to me since all the other games i play regularly are also competitive, like dota 2
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Post Post #32 (ISO) » Thu Jun 28, 2018 4:08 pm

Post by Rei »

It lets me unleash my inner detective for a while (even if I suck at it)
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Post Post #33 (ISO) » Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:15 am

Post by Umlaut »

It's a game where I can in good conscience unleash my full rhetorical ability, up to and including outright ridicule and deliberate manipulation, in a setting with limited stakes and where no one will hold it against me, at least once the game is over.

It also helps me remember the difference between "making a solid argument" and "actually being right," but that's not why I play, just a happy side effect.
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and the other kind,
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Post Post #34 (ISO) » Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:19 am

Post by Invisibility »

its fun
Invisibility is actually AWESOME!
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