Like with the last Round, I feel like I have to make an ‘out of character’ post after everything has ended since I happened to be Mafia again because I fear everything I said this Round will be immediately dismissed simply because of my role.
Like I said last time, just because I randomly happened to be Mafia doesn’t mean everything I said this game was deceptive and should be thrown out. My main points were independent of side and should be kept in mind for the good of the Town in future games.
Most specifically, the two points I made
in this post and the defense of myself in
this post.
I’m sure the points about me will be scoffed at by most people because they think I was just saying that because I was Mafia and wanting to stay alive, but I honestly wasn’t. It applies regardless of what side I’m on; as I said I’m not attempting to set myself up with immunity, I’m just repeating what others have said and applying common sense to it.
I’m saying this as myself now, the game is over, I’m not Mafia or Town. I’m laying this out between Rounds so it might be legitimately considered and understood since it never seems to be when it’s said during a game, most likely because no one knows what to trust and what is rhetoric.
I have never asked for anyone to place blind trust in me. It would be pretty cool for me if that happened because I wouldn’t have to worry about trying to constantly prove my innocence, but I don’t want that. I respect the integrity of these games too much. I
do not want people to think ‘bookworm is a good player, I should never suspect him because he’s good’ that is totally wrong.
No one is above suspicion in these. What I
do want is for people to understand the difference between
suspicion and
the benefit of the doubt.
I can understand why people may be wary to accept this at first because at first look it does seem like I’m either being egotistical or trying to set myself up with a free pass, but I’m really not. In fact, let me represent the situation once more, but this time leave myself out of it and simply use general terms. Maybe that will help make it clearer. Because this applies to anyone who you think is a good player, not just me.
In this scenario, there are four people and yourself left in the game. One of these people is regarded as a very important asset if they are on your side. You don’t know at this time whether they are on your side or not. You have no outstanding indicator one way or the other. Same thing with all the other players, there is nothing to make any one person stand out as the most likely to be guilty. In this situation, because there is no reason at this time to think the valuable player is against you, it is most logical to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are with you, voting out one of the other three players and keeping the valuable one around at least one turn longer so that they may be used as the asset they are thought to be, and in the meantime waiting for more evidence to come forward. If future evidence begins pointing to that person, then you begin thinking about voting for them, but if it isn’t then you don’t.
That’s all I’ve been trying to say, and as I keep repeating I don’t understand why it’s a difficult concept to grasp. If it’s because the scenario seems suspect because I’ve been placing myself in it as the valuable player, then forget that. Insert your own valuable player and the situation holds just as true, because it’s not about who the player is, it’s about the most logical way to deal with them.
I have never wanted, nor do I want in the future, a free pass. And I don’t want people to be afraid to suspect or vote for me.
If they have an actual reason for doing so. If you have some basis for suspicion, then there is nothing to be afraid about, that’s how the game works! Where the trepidation comes in is when someone doesn’t really have a reason for their vote, they just toss it out there. In those cases the voter is seen as the suspicious one, because they are going against the above stated scenario of logical gameplay.
So that’s that. But even if you’re hesitant to accept that point, much more important is the other point, the one about random voting. That one is absolutely genuine and
needs to be understood by people, I did
not just say it because I was Mafia and trying to confuse. It was authentic Town-aiding advice.
Casting a random vote does absolutely
nothing positive for the Town. Not voting is also generally a negative move, but even that is better than voting randomly, so if you’re ever just totally clueless do that instead.
Once again, I’m just posting this to stress that the side I ended up being on by random chance in this one game has no bearing on whether these insights are trustworthy or not. If the Town is ever going to have a decent chance, people have to be able to grasp these ideas, and others like them, and use them to learn the intricacies of these games and develop and improve their gameplay. Just because I was Mafia this time does not taint my points, so please don’t just dismiss them as smoke and mirrors flimflam.