Ethics: Type-2 Metagaming

[MrBuddyLee]

I think Lynch all Liars is horsepuckey. The game's about adjusting to new challenges. When a fellow townie lies, it's their right, and you should give their reasoning fair consideration before lynching. I do think these forums should have a mechanism for dealing people who ruin games repeatedly with flagrantly poor behavior, but that's a different story.

Other "metagame" things to concider are "lynching BAD players" for the sake of education and things like Pooky's promise (and a strategy that i've started lately of claiming Day 1 when i'm a vanilla townie).

If you guys want to do this kind of thing in private games, go for it. I think it's lame to do in games open to anyone. This game's like Christmas in that half the fun's in the unwrapping, and opening stuff early taints the fun for everyone. Worse, new people are at a disadvantage when you carry promises from game to game, and they shouldn't have to read other threads or trust people they don't know to find out why your claim is truthful. Finally, if the mod wanted the guaranteed townie in there, she'd have put it there. Why mess with a creation she's probably very proud of?

Running newbies out of games when you suspect they're just newbish townies often hurts town. "Teaching lessons" shouldn't be a factor in the decision if the lesson is at the expense of the town's success.

Is using outside info legit?

Let's say I run a spider on these forums and figure out what words people use when they're scum and not when they're town. If I then out mafia in all of my games and tell everyone how I nailed them, people will find me incredibly lame. If I do it, use the info, and don't tell anyone how I figured everything out, I'm still lame. I see mining forums for people's behaviors as the same concept to a lesser extent, and I plan to avoid it. The info in our heads should be what we bring to a game. It's not so much an issue of ethics as it is of the beauty of the game and a desire not to sully it.

Assume you're an innocent townie, and for whatever reason, you think the liar was probably also an innocent townie.

Win the game.

[MrBuddyLee]

Baby Jesus tries to lynch all claimed doctors D1.

If I'm ever the doc D1 and asked to claim in a game he's in, you can be pretty sure I'll say something besides doc. Maybe even the cop if that's a reasonable possibility and I can fake good enough claims for investigations without misleading town. Maybe when BJ's dead I'll come clean, and people can judge my lie on the reasoning behind it.

Lying in that case quite possibly benefits town and is not only the likely right move, but a completely ethical move.

Therefore, it's not LAL but rather LML. But LAL is so much catchier...

[MrBuddyLee]

Why should scum have a monopoly on artful skullduggery?

If you can fool scum and maintain the trust of your fellow townies, I'd say you deserve praise for your deceptions.