Crazy irrational theory on scum hunting that might backfire.

[LicketyQuickety]

Lets say you are a player who has a very established meta on this site. Lets say you are playing with more than a few people who know your meta very well in that game.

What if as Town, you start to do things that are Scummy (for you) or just start doing things a wee bit out of character for you. Is this a viable way to Scum hunt?

My thought process behind this is that another Town member is going to be more likely to bring it up as a point than a Scum player. The reason for this lies in the psychological component that everyone has at least a little from being Scum. I believe that Scum inherently chase after things that are not as Scummy as what a Townie would see considering that a Townie is uninhibited from their guilt as a player in the game. Further still, what if you have established yourself as Town in that game? I believe this would have the opposite effect. I believe the change in meta at that point is going to allow the Scum player to see the difference more clearly because of the stark contrast that the rest of Town see in that player.

Thoughts?

[LicketyQuickety]

My thought process behind this is that another Town member is going to be more likely to bring it up as a point than a Scum player.

well, other than all the other reasons it's not a good idea to do something like this, i think your theory is wrong - it's probably more dependent on a player's playstyle than a player's alignment

How do you catch Scum?

[LicketyQuickety]

mostly by looking at things that are probably more dependent on a player's alignment than a player's playstyle

I need a further explanation because you just got done saying that how people react to things has more to do with playstyle than alignment. You are now saying you base your scumhunting not on playstyle, but on alignment. So I think you might be able to see how I could view that as a contradiction.

[LicketyQuickety]

no, i said that whether or not someone brings up what is essentially meta is more to do with playstyle than alignment

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am just assuming that you don't read people based on different playstyles and you simply read people based off if they are Scummy or Townie in general. Is this a correct statement?

[LicketyQuickety]

What if as Town, you start to do things that are Scummy (for you) or just start doing things a wee bit out of character for you. Is this a viable way to Scum hunt?

Yes. I did it all the time. The thing is, though, it only works if you're given select circumstances and mindsets.

1. You must be trying to use your scum meta to improve your town game, not degrade your townplay into your scumgame. If you're intentionally playing worse than normal, you're gonna eat a mislynch and could potentially even face a ban. (Unlikely, but possible.) The difference is important!
   
2. You must have enough players in the game that are
   intimately
   familiar with you. Not just "generally", or "vaguely". Intimate knowledge is a must.
   
3. You must be actively prodding the players you are scumhunting using this method: are they giving you a pass when they shouldn't be? Are they jumping onto you for reasons that are entirely unrelated? Does it look like they are waiting to jump on you until later? If so, why? Do they hold suspicion of you?
   
4. You must not be too blatant about this. If you broadcast your intentions too openly, the whole effectiveness of the gambit is lost.
   
5. You must have a select end point, where you proceed to explain your thought process, step-by-step, and your findings.

Even then, expect to find some heavy retaliation: some town players won't believe you, thinking you're scum covering up your mistakes. Some town players will recognize that you're town, but will doubt the legitimacy of your findings, thinking, "Okay, so what stops scum from doing *this action you attribute to town*, or town from doing *this action you attribute to scum*?"
And, of course! Scum players will fall into one of the two above camps, whichever is more convenient to them.

So, you'll need to be prepared to reply to all of that and scumhunt there, too.

Even after all of this, you'll still be placing yourself at considerable risk, so it always helps to have a backup plan in place. I never did this without some idea of what could go wrong, and a countermeasure to that. It's also something that can't be done consistently. Once in a blue moon, sure, but if it becomes the new norm for you...then it loses its potency, as scum are quick to adjust.

So, is it a possible, even viable, scumhunting tactic?

Yes.

But ONLY under specific conditions, and even if those conditions are met, it is something that has a fair failure rate, and reasonably low success rate. Meaning, I would not recommend heavy reliance on this. It'd be a tool, and nothing more.

Thank you for explaining that is such detail, mastina. Needless to say, I will have to establish myself much more as a player before I even think about using this maneuver. But is nice to know that even this zany theory that I had does in fact hold a place in the world of Mafia. I am relieved that it does because it allows me to see that playing somewhat creatively (or just with a gob ton of experience) that more pathways to different kinds of plays are available at more advanced levels.

[LicketyQuickety]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am just assuming that you don't read people based on different playstyles and you simply read people based off if they are Scummy or Townie in general. Is this a correct statement?

no, not really

i look at a lot of different things when i think about whether a person might be scum or town, but what you're asking here only serves to prove the point; whether or not someone brings up meta is entirely based on how they play (unless they're such bad scum players that they don't do what they'd normally do as town)

mastin has answered my question, but thank you for giving your perspective.

[LicketyQuickety]

But what if your town meta is that you always look scummy and your scum meta is that you always look townie?

Lynch him when I townread him.
That's how I read nacho for a while.

Even Nacho?? Damn, I had no idea.

[LicketyQuickety]

But what if your town meta is that you always look scummy and your scum meta is that you always look townie?

Your meta is going to change by the time you get to the level that you can pull this off. Just through experience you Town meta is going to get more Townie and then it is your job to make your Scum meta look as Townie as your Townie meta. I had a horrible record of getting lynched Day 1 for a long time (or what seemed like a long time) and now I am able to play in a way where I live a lot longer, sometimes even getting killed N1. Its still somewhat of a problem for me, I still haven't got all the kinks out, but I am improving and that is what it is about.