Spoiler: Case on me
Boiled down, people find me suspicious for:
-Meta. When I've come back from a three-month vacation, has specified I'm turning a new leaf, have an eternal newbie philosophy of always reinventing myself, incorporating successful elements of town/scum play into scum/town play, and have been in so many games that someone can make any accusation on me and back it up with a game, and/or make an accusation about me
So, bluntly...
If people really want to use meta against me, I know my own meta better than anyone else, and can point to any game of any alignment and show any tell to be false. The whole exercise of meta on me is pointless, specifically because using any single game won't work. If you can give the picture saying I'm scum and support it with multiple scum games of mine, then THAT would be worth countering, but you can't, because I'm town.
On the other hand, I'm perfectly capable of linking to my doctor games in the past and showing how this is
-"Mastin Championed the FP Lynch!"
Yes. Yes, I did. I was wrong about FP and FP happened to flip town, but nobody's explained how my strong push to lynch FP is scummy, other than...
-"Mastin showed no remorse for the FP lynch!"
Except, I did. It's just that it was subtle. My emotions almost always are. I was surprised at FP flipping town, my confidence was wrecked, and I entirely lacked direction, hence the spam-posting during the beginning of the day, to FIND direction.
If I had deliberately played up my emotions, if I exaggerated my feelings, then THAT would have been a scumtell. But since I'm town, I didn't do that.
-"Mastin backed out of the RM lynch for fear of the consequences!"
This and me championing the FP lynch are pretty much mutually exclusive. If I were scum, I'd have no fear of mislynching RM, and in fact would have pushed it through.
Among other reasons, it'd be consistent with my stance on FP, and far more pragmatically, I could get away with it easily, because of how the RM wagon was flowing.
However, because I'm town, the reason I did a 180 on RM is because--as a good town player does when presented with new evidence--
-"Mastin knew RM would flip town, and wanted towncred for being off the lynch wagon!"
Again, the FP wagon shows why I wouldn't do this as scum. And again, which explanation is simpler?
I'm scum, who was pushing hard to get a mislynch that I knew was likely going to happen without my help, only to back out at the last minute hoping to get towncred...
...Or that I'm town, who pushed my read until I realized it was wrong?
Yeah.
-"Mastin's reads have been all over the place; he's been throwing stuff at the wall, just to see what will stick."
This is actually a pretty strong towntell when it comes to my play. As scum, I NEVER lack direction. I ALWAYS know where I'm heading with regards to my reads. I have conviction from the moment I enter the game, every day. Consistently, across all of my scum games, you'll not see me show doubt. (With the possible exception of multiscum, where the doubt isn't faked.)
As town, however, it's there. The uncertainty of the game means that I'm always second-guessing myself. Especially after night. This uncertainty is something I lack the ability to express as scum, since as scum, I already know the setup. (With the exception of multiscum, in which I don't.) Every time I've tried, the results felt extremely exaggerated, because they were. It's not something I can fake.
But beyond this meta defense, think about how my reads have changed. Yes, they've been all over the place, but so were other players', such as AP's. The reason being, much as in the above (only without meta), that a town player in this game is always looking for the truth, reviewing the evidence and making reads based off of it, rather than making evidence based off of reads. My reads were all over the place, because when I came in, I lacked direction. AP's reads were all over the place, because when he came in, he lacked direction. Ultimately, as the course of the day unfolded, our reads began to solidify, as we got a better hold of the game.
-"Mastin nightkilled two players supporting him to frame people!"
Yeahno. This is pretty much the final nail in the coffin for why I'm not scum, because I know not to do this.
The last time I-as-scum nightkilled two players supporting me in a game was also the first time I was scum. Yes, THAT long ago. (Either OhGodMyHamlet or OhGodMyVillage. Both are in the Newbie 700s, so check out whichever one of those I'm not the doctor-who-died-n1 in.)
It didn't work out so well for me.
Because, guess what? By killing the players who had supported me, come mylo, I had no allies left. Imagine that! The WIFOM I had hoped to generate was not strong enough to carry my game through, and I lost the game.
That's exactly what two nightkills on Slandaar/Trollie would be: killing players who are supporting of me, leaving my only ally as the WIFOM generated from their deaths. That didn't go so well for me three years ago; nothing in the site meta has changed to make it go so well for me now.
No, as scum, I'd kill a mixture of the people in the middle of the game (redtail, Cooldog, and BBMolla would all be viable nightkills), who're unlikely to be doc'd and doubtful to be lynched. Maybe, if I were feeling bold enough, I'd kill people who had thrown suspicion my way, if I thought I could get away with it and people would write it off as NK WIFOM.
This defense does go into meta, though, so let me give you an argument which doesn't rely on it: occam's razor. Which is simpler?
That I'm scum, who killed two players that would have helped me mislynch UberNinja, in order to help hopefully frame him off of NK WIFOM...
...Or that I'm town, and they were killed for their reads?
-Mod WIFOM. "No way in hell did he include a phrase about only protecting against one kill". Only, he did, and the speculation about him not doing so is stupid. See here for this in slightly more detail. But to give most of the points:
I can't really counter the the "point", because as I just said, it's not really a point at all. However, if we wanna play games with setup spec, feel free to tell me:
-Where's the town power? We've got four claimed one-shot roles. No counterclaims. If my claim were false, that'd be down to
-Why did I claim something easily countered? With the setup as it is, it'd be pretty much GUARANTEED that there's a protective role, and yet, none other than my own has been claimed.
-If I'm scum, where is the protective role? My role is the only one which gives the town any protection from the scum at all.
-How did I manage to predict that there was a killing role in the game other than the scum? I pretty much flat-out stated I knew there was one thanks to 1027.
-Why do my posts over the days not come across as having a doctor mindset? Can you give an answer?
-If I were scum planning on claiming one-shot doctor who got roleblocked on Trollie, why did I back out and instead of saying it was a roleblock, that Cooldog's kill was responsible?
*For that matter, if I were scum, why the heck would I claim one-shot doctor? It's not a claim which would save me, unless I sacrificed my nightkill to "prove" my claim.
-Meta. When I've come back from a three-month vacation, has specified I'm turning a new leaf, have an eternal newbie philosophy of always reinventing myself, incorporating successful elements of town/scum play into scum/town play, and have been in so many games that someone can make any accusation on me and back it up with a game, and/or make an accusation about me
not
doing something and come up with a game. (By now, it has to be 90+ games on mafiascum in my career, not including marathons.)So, bluntly...
fuck. meta.
If people really want to use meta against me, I know my own meta better than anyone else, and can point to any game of any alignment and show any tell to be false. The whole exercise of meta on me is pointless, specifically because using any single game won't work. If you can give the
general
On the other hand, I'm perfectly capable of linking to my doctor games in the past and showing how this is
exactly
how I've always
played doctor: aggressively, along with an obsession with the nightkill. I won't, 'cause I dislike the prospect of defending myself with meta, but if someone wants me to, I can.-"Mastin Championed the FP Lynch!"
Yes. Yes, I did. I was wrong about FP and FP happened to flip town, but nobody's explained how my strong push to lynch FP is scummy, other than...
-"Mastin showed no remorse for the FP lynch!"
Except, I did. It's just that it was subtle. My emotions almost always are. I was surprised at FP flipping town, my confidence was wrecked, and I entirely lacked direction, hence the spam-posting during the beginning of the day, to FIND direction.
If I had deliberately played up my emotions, if I exaggerated my feelings, then THAT would have been a scumtell. But since I'm town, I didn't do that.
-"Mastin backed out of the RM lynch for fear of the consequences!"
This and me championing the FP lynch are pretty much mutually exclusive. If I were scum, I'd have no fear of mislynching RM, and in fact would have pushed it through.
Among other reasons, it'd be consistent with my stance on FP, and far more pragmatically, I could get away with it easily, because of how the RM wagon was flowing.
However, because I'm town, the reason I did a 180 on RM is because--as a good town player does when presented with new evidence--
my read changed to match the facts
, rather than (as with confirmation bias) the facts warping to match my read.-"Mastin knew RM would flip town, and wanted towncred for being off the lynch wagon!"
Again, the FP wagon shows why I wouldn't do this as scum. And again, which explanation is simpler?
I'm scum, who was pushing hard to get a mislynch that I knew was likely going to happen without my help, only to back out at the last minute hoping to get towncred...
...Or that I'm town, who pushed my read until I realized it was wrong?
Yeah.
-"Mastin's reads have been all over the place; he's been throwing stuff at the wall, just to see what will stick."
This is actually a pretty strong towntell when it comes to my play. As scum, I NEVER lack direction. I ALWAYS know where I'm heading with regards to my reads. I have conviction from the moment I enter the game, every day. Consistently, across all of my scum games, you'll not see me show doubt. (With the possible exception of multiscum, where the doubt isn't faked.)
As town, however, it's there. The uncertainty of the game means that I'm always second-guessing myself. Especially after night. This uncertainty is something I lack the ability to express as scum, since as scum, I already know the setup. (With the exception of multiscum, in which I don't.) Every time I've tried, the results felt extremely exaggerated, because they were. It's not something I can fake.
But beyond this meta defense, think about how my reads have changed. Yes, they've been all over the place, but so were other players', such as AP's. The reason being, much as in the above (only without meta), that a town player in this game is always looking for the truth, reviewing the evidence and making reads based off of it, rather than making evidence based off of reads. My reads were all over the place, because when I came in, I lacked direction. AP's reads were all over the place, because when he came in, he lacked direction. Ultimately, as the course of the day unfolded, our reads began to solidify, as we got a better hold of the game.
-"Mastin nightkilled two players supporting him to frame people!"
Yeahno. This is pretty much the final nail in the coffin for why I'm not scum, because I know not to do this.
The last time I-as-scum nightkilled two players supporting me in a game was also the first time I was scum. Yes, THAT long ago. (Either OhGodMyHamlet or OhGodMyVillage. Both are in the Newbie 700s, so check out whichever one of those I'm not the doctor-who-died-n1 in.)
It didn't work out so well for me.
Because, guess what? By killing the players who had supported me, come mylo, I had no allies left. Imagine that! The WIFOM I had hoped to generate was not strong enough to carry my game through, and I lost the game.That's exactly what two nightkills on Slandaar/Trollie would be: killing players who are supporting of me, leaving my only ally as the WIFOM generated from their deaths. That didn't go so well for me three years ago; nothing in the site meta has changed to make it go so well for me now.
No, as scum, I'd kill a mixture of the people in the middle of the game (redtail, Cooldog, and BBMolla would all be viable nightkills), who're unlikely to be doc'd and doubtful to be lynched. Maybe, if I were feeling bold enough, I'd kill people who had thrown suspicion my way, if I thought I could get away with it and people would write it off as NK WIFOM.
This defense does go into meta, though, so let me give you an argument which doesn't rely on it: occam's razor. Which is simpler?
That I'm scum, who killed two players that would have helped me mislynch UberNinja, in order to help hopefully frame him off of NK WIFOM...
...Or that I'm town, and they were killed for their reads?
-Mod WIFOM. "No way in hell did he include a phrase about only protecting against one kill". Only, he did, and the speculation about him not doing so is stupid. See here for this in slightly more detail. But to give most of the points:
I can't really counter the the "point", because as I just said, it's not really a point at all. However, if we wanna play games with setup spec, feel free to tell me:
-Where's the town power? We've got four claimed one-shot roles. No counterclaims. If my claim were false, that'd be down to
three
PRs, all of which are incredibly weak.-Why did I claim something easily countered? With the setup as it is, it'd be pretty much GUARANTEED that there's a protective role, and yet, none other than my own has been claimed.
-If I'm scum, where is the protective role? My role is the only one which gives the town any protection from the scum at all.
-How did I manage to predict that there was a killing role in the game other than the scum? I pretty much flat-out stated I knew there was one thanks to 1027.
-Why do my posts over the days not come across as having a doctor mindset? Can you give an answer?
-If I were scum planning on claiming one-shot doctor who got roleblocked on Trollie, why did I back out and instead of saying it was a roleblock, that Cooldog's kill was responsible?
*For that matter, if I were scum, why the heck would I claim one-shot doctor? It's not a claim which would save me, unless I sacrificed my nightkill to "prove" my claim.
SO LET'S GIVE THE TL;DR:
-Where's the town power if I'm fakeclaiming? Where's the protective roles if I'm fakeclaiming? Why'd I fakeclaim something easily counter-claimed? Where's the scum motive in my actions? How's my claim at all consistent with my scumplay? How's my play at all consistent with my scumplay? All of these have been asked. None of them answered.
