Is it Ethical to Replace into Your Alt?

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Is it Ethical to Replace into Your Alt?

Post Post #0 (isolation #0) » Sat Nov 27, 2021 7:15 am

Post by Taly »

I want the MS community to give their opinions on this. I've seen in games where players will replace into their alt not because of an outing, but because that alt served a purpose in the game whether it benefitted the player or the game itself in some arguably subjective manner.

My current stance? I find it difficult to justify this not compromising the slot.

As someone with
multiple
alts at varying degrees of public knowledge, my playstyle, syntax, and even motive between my alts are different regardless of their alignment. For me to replace into an alt mid-game is to convey an agenda that can't ever be verifiable even if it were pure and the game knew my identity. Because why would I augment my playstyle and thus void or call into question my impact in the game so far?

To provide an example, I'll completely out one alt:
Cupcake Butterfly
. Even though the user of these accounts is the same person, these accounts are two separate entities in a game.

Cupcake Butterfly
is how I play mafia with as muted a personality as possible. The tone, emotions and spirit that define
Taly
in the game will be void under the alias of
Cupcake Butterfly
.

Cupcake Butterfly
is meant to be a concrete protection of my mind where
Taly
is who I am with all the nuances, irrationalites, and abstractions. A robotic, blank plate of metal VS a canvas caked with acrylic pour.

How can people read me in good faith if I deleted the continuity of my imprint in a game because I thought it would be to my benefit?

I feel that that can't be answered without WIFOM that diminishes the slot's integrity.

What do you think?
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #7 (isolation #1) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 1:19 am

Post by Taly »

In post 1, fferyllt wrote:I think it depends on a lot of things, and not just the purpose of the alt.

And the same potential issues arise when someone playing on an alt accidentally posts with their main, too.
But the intention is different I would say? Someone is playing on a certain alt for a specific reason, if it's just an outing in a game, then yeah, they can be held to a different criteria of play, but that wasn't an intentional change in how they interacted with the game.
In post 2, Morning Tweet wrote:How is replacing into your alt different from reverting to playing as you would on your main, or just claiming your main while on the alt?
Because some people intentionally play differently on other alts from how they even form reads, to behavior, and even meta.
In post 3, Alyssa The Lamb wrote:I've replaced myself in games on separate accounts plenty of times. Other than accounts being outed as me, the only real reason I replace the slot with another of my acocunts is because each of my playstyles requires a different headspace to function and there are times where I can't get myself into that headspace, so I will just switch accounts so I can actually play the game and not just be a useless lurksack all game.

There's probably plenty more reasons that are reasonable, but if it's specifically to gain an advantage, then that is bringing outside influences into the game imo
I'm guessing, how do you define what a specific advantage is and how is it mutually exclusive from replacing into an alt?

Because my thinking, couldn't it be argued that to
"not just be a useless lurksack all game"
is an advantage regardless of alignment?

But this makes me think of another aspect of this issue: would gatekeeping how people use alts be a detriment to fun in a mafia game, and does that weigh against integrity?
In post 4, Gamma Emerald wrote:
In post 0, Taly wrote:I want the MS community to give their opinions on this. I've seen in games where players will replace into their alt not because of an outing, but because that alt served a purpose in the game whether it benefitted the player or the game itself in some arguably subjective manner.
I think I need this better defined before I can make a call on this, but I've seen Flavor Leaf switch accounts multiple times per game because the vibe changed for him, so there is potential for tangible reason to switch alts that isn't being outed that isn't essentially abusing the system
Say I'm on
Taly
and I get heavily suspected or BoP'd in a game based off my tone. I move onto another alt to better remove what was likely the reason I was suspected as
Taly
. What if
Cupcake Butterfly
felt too hidden in the game and
Taly
would be better at grabbing the thread?

Say I play
Cupcake Butterfly
and felt the game would be more fun if I reverted to
Taly
, or felt that playing on
Taly
was too taxing for me emotionally and wanted to jump on
Cupcake Butterfly
for an easier play.

Are these not situations that compromise integrity?

Could these scenarios be different - one being a more allowable shift than the other - but how do we determine that is what the motive is of the person changing into an alt?
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #11 (isolation #2) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:17 am

Post by Taly »

Hmmm. I guess it could also be said that changing mindsets in a game still doesn't redact what could be AI from another mindset.

Perhaps switching alts can bring insight more so than deception?

I wonder if anyone agrees with my original stance haha.
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #12 (isolation #3) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:23 am

Post by Taly »

In post 10, Morning Tweet wrote:
In post 7, Taly wrote:
In post 2, Morning Tweet wrote:How is replacing into your alt different from reverting to playing as you would on your main, or just claiming your main while on the alt?
Because some people intentionally play differently on other alts from how they even form reads, to behavior, and even meta.
Could you not accomplish the same effect by just reverting to the way you play on your main while still on the alt though?

Since claiming your main is always allowed I'm unsure how replacing into it can really be considered unethical. If you play differently while on an alt (as a lot of people do), but drop that alternate playstyle part of the way through the game and revert to how you usually play, that's just something that happens. It happens to me pretty much every time I try to do anything different on an alt ever. It's like taking off the restraints in some cases.

As a player looking at that from the outside, I assume that the alt's mindset was no longer helpful enough to the player and they wanted to go back to playing as they normally would.
I'm not sure I see the connection where that is compromising to the game. They could have just revealed their main account rather than replace-switch and had the same effect.
I can see the question you posed. And I believe you could, theoretically.

To the bolded, but couldn't the mindset to change into another alt be AI?
Gamma Emerald wrote:If the alt is public I see no foul play involved. Switching accounts to change mindsets for the game seems fair, if a bit weird in that idk how that’d translate to f2f mafia ever
So switching alts that are publicly known is the most honest way to do this? Or at least being open to outing the alt?
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #15 (isolation #4) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:44 am

Post by Taly »

In post 13, Ydrasse wrote:inherently people will still read your slot’s behavior on that alt (and will probably scumread the rep out, let’s be real here scum reps out way more) but i think in that situation you can give yourself an advantage that people not replacing into a slot wouldn’t receive, as they would have to prove/fake/etc read changes and behavior changes.
I actually only have town rep out examples comes to mind with this kind of thing LOL but I see what you mean.

:eye: Aly


I think I'm sliding to the idea of it being allowable if the alt is outed. But then I wonder if this should be a mafia site rule to be enforceable.
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #18 (isolation #5) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 4:52 am

Post by Taly »

I want to piggybac
Tweetie
here and say that changing accounts would personally help someone like me orient into a game differently because I feel more coherent at the idea of declaring when I have a mindset shift in a game. In a way, it could be a more transparent way to play but I was wondering how that can be abused and to avoid it.

I just didn't know if the MS community had anything against this and wanted to play devil's advocate here. :3
Alyssa The Lamb wrote:
In post 15, Taly wrote:
In post 13, Ydrasse wrote:inherently people will still read your slot’s behavior on that alt (and will probably scumread the rep out, let’s be real here scum reps out way more) but i think in that situation you can give yourself an advantage that people not replacing into a slot wouldn’t receive, as they would have to prove/fake/etc read changes and behavior changes.
I actually only have town rep out examples comes to mind with this kind of thing LOL but I see what you mean.

:eye: Aly


I think I'm sliding to the idea of it being allowable if the alt is outed. But then I wonder if this should be a mafia site rule to be enforceable.
What?
Haha I just referring to a game where I think you rep'd into an alt :)
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #20 (isolation #6) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:05 am

Post by Taly »

In post 18, Taly wrote:
In a way, it could be a more transparent way to play
but I was wondering how that can be abused and to avoid it.
I suggest this because there is a physical marker that symbolizes a mental shift.

Well, devil's advocate to defender in 2 posts, my brand. :D
Alyssa The Lamb wrote:Which one? I've done it several times at least. I even have a game where I did it twice.
I am unsure it is buried on my games somewhere. You replaced into your respective RWBY character if I remember correctly.
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #23 (isolation #7) » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:37 am

Post by Taly »

So perhaps the best way is, one maximum replace-to-alt in-game, must be publicly outed, and of course don't outright trust tell or attempt to?
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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Post Post #28 (isolation #8) » Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:10 am

Post by Taly »

I don't think slips are very avoidable at points.

Is it unethical to play an alt but then not want it outed? Even if you don't use any meta to your advantage?
"Taly is going to be a hot mess all game and I am entertained" ~ Gammagooey
"The human race is bad at reading Taly." ~the worst
"Taly I knew your slot was scum and I still struggled to find arguments to SR your play lol" ~Infinity 324
"Taly wins for the most fence-sitty reads in a game ever" ~Battle Mage
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