Anonymous Mafia

[Tchill13]

Completely anonymous games:

randomly generated names for the game itself. Anonymous sign ups (obviously your namesake is attached to the sign, just in a way the general public, other players in particular, can't see it.)

After the games your name and slot is revealed.

removes Meta from the game. There is more accountability due to the fact you cant get away with certain play styles because you're "such and such" player. Dead thread isn't anonymous obviously.

[Psyche]

does it really remove meta from the game, though? people will try to match players to accounts. some will straight up claim their accounts in order to substantiate their claims - indeed, town might try to force a mass nameclaim on D1 and scum will have only weak incentives to lie. you end up with a game that's far from anonymous. you can try to ban these behaviors - identity fishing and claiming, but when it comes to softer forms of these behaviors (eg breadcrumbing your identity or voting based on secret hunches about a player's true identity), both mods and players are left in a fog when it comes to what kind of behavior is okay that leaves town playing disingenuously and the game feeling less enjoyable. meta is inescapable.

[Flavor Leaf]

I just modded a hidden alt game. Everyone was outed real fast, but to be fair, everyone knew who was playing because it was tied to a couple other games.

There was a hidden alt Game of Thrones game a couple years ago that went pretty well. The players really have to commit

[Tchill13]

Well the idea is for all slots in all games to be anonymous. Eventually you'd get players claiming to be someone else if it were advantageous. The name claim wouldn't matter.

It specifically puts more weight on the actual game play of that game in particular. I personally feel like that's how mafia is supposed to be played. A clean slate every game.

Hypothetically if name claiming wasn't even a thing it'd be very interesting to see how a handful of these games played out compared to normal games.

[Tchill13]

And each game you'd get a "new" randomly generated name.

Such as Jack, Dave, Ashley...

Just something for other to keep up with your posting.

[chennisden]

Ban nameclaiming

[Tchill13]

That'd be the idea. No discussion of who you actually are. Your namesake will be associated with your posts and game after the game is over.

Essentially I just want all foreign elements of the game of mafia to be removed. There was no intention of "meta" for a specific player when the game was created.

I don't think people realize how far meta branches in terms of what it effects game play wise.

[Tchill13]

Like essentially I'm just removing meta, but it's actually SO MUCH MORE than that when you think in terms of what meta actually effects.

[Psyche]

It's impossible to enforce usefully. People will

still

try to make and use guesses about who's in a given slot to guide their decision-making and people will

still

try to breadcrumb or otherwise make obvious their true identities.

In turn, you'll have a hell of a time reliably distinguishing these activities from permitted behaviors. Furthermore, players will be forced to hide thought processes underlying their decision-making ("I can't say that I think mastina is this person and would never do this as town!") AND alter their own play to avoid mod suspicion that they're trying to out their main accounts.

[Tchill13]

well to be fair if you're playing in this que and you intend to name guess, crumb, etc...

you're not gonna play in the que. You're gonna play in other, normal ques.

This que would be for players that want to escape meta altogether.

Outright violations would be bannable but I would assume behavoirs such as "lynch all liars" (just an example of a behavior) would form rather quickly that would apply SPECIFICALLY to the ANON que. One of these behaviors might be lynching players that try to crumb or hunt for player names.

Because if you're playing in this que you're playing specifically to avoid that. It's the only distinguishable factor of the que.

[Psyche]

These kinds of inferences and slips can happen automatically and a ruleset like that would just force town slots to behave disingenuously and pretend they aren't going on.

[Creature]

Ban nameclaiming

Just give scum special abilities to use if they can guess names.

[Creature]

though yeah, anonymity like was town's downfall in Boon's game

[Tchill13]

Ban nameclaiming

Just give scum special abilities to use if they can guess names.

your missing the point.

the goal is to remove the idea of a namesake altogether. Which in turn removes familiarity with players. Everyone is based solely on their actions in the game they are in.

[Tchill13]

though yeah, anonymity like was town's downfall in Boon's game

very very interesting you use boon as an example. Why so?

Just to be clear im a big fan of boon in general, but i'd like to hear why he sticks out.

[Creature]

I think this game could fit in a discord chat, probably not on a site players actually bother to design giant wallposts their own way

[Creature]

though yeah, anonymity like was town's downfall in Boon's game

very very interesting you use boon as an example. Why so?

Just to be clear im a big fan of boon in general, but i'd like to hear why he sticks out.

It was the most recent anon game I remember?

Also because it was pretty clear most town were focused on hiding their identities rather than sticking their neck out for scum.

[Tchill13]

These kinds of inferences and slips can happen automatically and a ruleset like that would just force town slots to behave disingenuously and pretend they aren't going on.

At first maybe but i believe a few games into the que that would wear off.

This is a great point though.

Meta is a byproduct of playing the game correct? One that in a perfect world, wouldn't be a part of the game in general. The game was never created with meta in mind.

Yet, People here can't even THINK about playing the game without meta. It's a crazy idea. Impossible, some would say.

Can you think of another mechanic that's HALF as dominant as meta but was not intended in the game's creation? That was a byproduct so to speak like meta is.

[Tchill13]

though yeah, anonymity like was town's downfall in Boon's game

very very interesting you use boon as an example. Why so?

Just to be clear im a big fan of boon in general, but i'd like to hear why he sticks out.

It was the most recent anon game I remember?

Also because it was pretty clear most town were focused on hiding their identities rather than sticking their neck out for scum.

The intent is to create a space where identity isn't even a thought. Why were ppl SO concerened with hiding it? because thats the draw of boon's game specifically correct?

Well what if you provided an are where you could play as many games like this as you like? Eventually, the games would progress to where the actual game is the most important.

You also have to consider ppl would be playing these games BECAUSE they're ANON. Once a few games go by where ppl guess other ppl incorrectly, or that obviously becomes too much of a hindrance and doesn't contribute to winning. I think ppl would drop the effort in that in particular and just play.

[Flavor Leaf]

though yeah, anonymity like was town's downfall in Boon's game

very very interesting you use boon as an example. Why so?

Just to be clear im a big fan of boon in general, but i'd like to hear why he sticks out.

The game ended pretty recently, and rewarded scum for figuring out who was who, and Almost50 did the most as scum and figured out every single slot with 0% error.

[Tchill13]

While neat in theory you emphasized namesake. Even rewarding players for figuring that, stuff out.

I want to eliminate the idea of a "name" altogether. At least for the duration of the game. Then you can go back and see my posts because you know that game I was "Ashley" or "John". That's only revealed to the entire player list after the game though.

So while yes theoretically meta is still possible. You'd have to go through hell and high water to obtain it. Then you'd also have to guess the player correctly. If we have an infinite influx of new players then the meta game becomes entirely too difficult for what it's wroth.

[Tchill13]

"meta game" is me referring to ppl trying to meta other ppl in the anon queue.

[Flavor Leaf]

I agree, yours is different.

[The Fonz]

That'd be the idea. No discussion of who you actually are. Your namesake will be associated with your posts and game after the game is over.

Essentially I just want all foreign elements of the game of mafia to be removed. There was no intention of "meta" for a specific player when the game was created.

Eh, it started in meat space and knowing how the people in your group react when nervous was most of the game.

[Psyche]

a mechanic punishing town in particular for meta slips is maybe the closest anyone can actually get to eliminating reducing the role of meta in dayplay