In post 727, Mathdino wrote:While I think that's fair, I don't think Mafia is dying by any means.
And I don't think it's dieing, not even on mafiascum. Its growth rate might not be as high...but I'd argue that's because mafiascum has a very specific format. In THEORY, we emphasize quality > quantity more than other sites. (Theory!)
Specifically, we are meant to emphasize both dayplay (what I understand is considered the "boring" part of the game in, say, Town of Salem), and taking time to create informed opinions. The length of a single day phase on mafiascum is the length of an entire game on any site using what we'd consider Blitz deadlines.
This is our thing, and it is to my knowledge fairly unique on mafia sites. (Yes I know, there are sites which have those longer games, but they are few and far between.) It caters to a specific crowd. If you are outside that crowd, you're not likely to want to come inside of it. And when you do, you often shit upon it at every turn because it's not the crowd you tend to enjoy.
mafiascum's style has always been one which is different from that of most other places. That different style is one which, because it is so different, only allows for a specific type of players to feel more welcomed. I think that, honestly, what mafiascum shouldn't focus on is trying to grow by bringing so and such amount of new users in per year.
While I think we do need better newbie retention...what I think mafiascum most needs to focus on is long-term retention of
already existing users
. By which, I mean...mafiascum's a site which caters to the crowd of people who, so to speak, quite literally "play the long game". That are around for a while.
In other words--we can't keep everyone because some people just aren't cut out for the type of game mafiascum is made for, that being, longer games which (in theory) focus on dayplay. What we CAN do is keep those that
are
cut out for that type of game longer than we do, not driving them away.
So I have to disagree--I don't think it's that this site specifically has a problem, per se, so much as it is, that this site needs to be measured by a different metric, one emphasizing longevity of users.
How many people who join town of salem and play actively enough for a while still play five years later? (I'm pretty sure the site's that old at least?) I'd wager not many.
How many people who join mafiascum and play actively enough for a while still play five years later? Well, depends on where you put the "five years later" exactly, but I'd be willing to wager...quite a higher percentage.
That's not to say mafiascum is without issues; it has a bundleload of those. But I think that those issues are best measured from a different standpoint.
Another way of thinking about it--basically, most mafia/werewolf players have the average age of being in their teens. Some below the teens (because let's face it, players play the game when under the age of 13 especially on other sites regardless of whether that's legal or not), some above the teens in lower 20s, but that's what most of the userbase for any mafia site will be, players in their teen years.
When those players grow up, how many of them are still playing mafia where they played? THAT is what I'm more or less getting at. When suddenly those teenagers are now adults with the responsibilities of adulting, often having matured...how many of them still are capable of playing in the environment that they were playing before?
I'd be willing to wager that on a metric along those lines, mafiascum kicks other sites to the curb.
