Suggestions? Ideas? Complaints? List them here!

[Guzame]

Our first game of Forum Mafia as been going on for a while now, and there's already a lot of interest in a second round.

I figured that this is a good time to ask all of you for some feedback.

Is the game balance fair with the role setup I used?
Should the time limit for the day/night phase be increased? Or decreased maybe?
Are there any rules that you feel should be added, removed or changed?

I'm hoping to get these questions and more answered so I can make the game more fun and fair for everybody involved in this and every future round of Forum Mafia

[TurdPile]

Personally: I think phases are too long, but that could also be due to being used to the quick pace of games.
I think it should be 2:1, even with timezones and whatnot, it will still work.

[Ayanhart]

I really like it!
The way you describe things as well is really nice - you should write something.
Maybe the days are a bit too long, but it's better to have too much time than not enough, in my opinion.

[Guzame]

I really like it!
The way you describe things as well is really nice - you should write something.
Maybe the days are a bit too long, but it's better to have too much time than not enough, in my opinion.

Personally: I think phases are too long, but that could also be due to being used to the quick pace of games.
I think it should be 2:1, even with timezones and whatnot, it will still work.

Well, I may play around with the day length a bit.
I believe that the day can better be too long than too short though.
if you feel that the day is too long, you can always vote to end the day. if the other players feel the same way, there will be a majority vote for NoLynch and the day will end.

However, if I make the days too short, you'll end up with the day ending while discussion is still going on, which is a big mafia advantage.
And of course, with some people's activity, they wouldn't get more than 1-2 posts in before the day ends.

Maybe I'll make it 4 days for the next game? If that doesn't lead to problems, I may make the days even shorter for future games.

[Ayanhart]

You can only experiment until you find what works best.
You probably won't get it perfect the first few times, but take what you learn from each game. Since you'll have different people playing each time too, it's finding what works for most players.
We're only on the second day, but we may find we need all five days later on when more people reveal their roles and there's more to discuss. Just have to see how it goes!

[ObiWan]

From the other Mafia based games I've read, they had a Dead Chat Thread for people who had been lynched/Killed. It makes it so it's not so boring being dead! The dead can chat...and still post their suspicions/conclusions to each other. But it would have to be closed off to the players that are alive. I'm unsure if you're able to do that here.

[Guzame]

From the other Mafia based games I've read, they had a Dead Chat Thread for people who had been lynched/Killed. It makes it so it's not so boring being dead! The dead can chat...and still post their suspicions/conclusions to each other. But it would have to be closed off to the players that are alive. I'm unsure if you're able to do that here.

Yes, I have been looking into the option of extra chat rooms or something like that for player groups to talk to each other. One would be used for the mafia chat of.course. And maybe I'll add a Dead Chat as well.

[Eevee]

I'm suggesting wills and deathnotes as previously mentioned in the game! Don't wanna start a new thread just for it though so here

[LordofFail]

I'm suggesting wills and deathnotes as previously mentioned in the game! Don't wanna start a new thread just for it though so here

I second the notion - wills and deathnotes are one of the best ways of finding mafia in ToS games, if used correctly

[LordofFail]

I think there should be deathnotes.

Whoever is killing should be able to PM the game moderator with his deathnote, and it would be displayed in the morning.

Granted, deathnotes are not a huge part of the game, but just as in ToS, they can be used to have a better game experience.

(I usually fill my deathnotes with bad puns relating to the names of my victims, or just put random stuff in there )

[Ayanhart]

If something like a Graveyard thread is created, it my just come down to trusting the players to follow the rules and not read it, less they be kicked from the game or something.
But, yes, a thread for people not or no longer in the game would keep it interesting and would make the profile of it high (or higher), as the games will probably drag on for a while (especially at the rate the current one is going at).

AEven if there aren't LWs, DNs could be easily implemented by them sending you what they want to have written along with who they want to kill. It could be like 'a note was found alongside the body and written on it was blah blah blah.
While yes we don't want it to be exactly like ToS we can take some tips and some good parts from it and implement them into the FM.

[TurdPile]

I will just post this so time isn't wasted: Chances are we won't create forums for these suggestions because it will take way too much to maintain.

[Guzame]

I will just post this so time isn't wasted: Chances are we won't create forums for these suggestions because it will take way too much to maintain.

Yes, my current idea was to use the site quicktopic for this.
It's a free service that allows anybody who receives the link to post on a temporary forum.

It's not as secure as using pms since anybody can read the forum if you send them the url, but I think it's secure enough for this purpose.
Currently, I'm considering using it for the mafia, and maybe I'll use it for a graveyard chat as well.

However, a "spectator forum" doesn't currently seem feasible. How would we make a forum which everybody EXCEPT for the 15 players currently playing can see and post on??

[Ayanhart]

However, a "spectator forum" doesn't currently seem feasible. How would we make a forum which everybody EXCEPT for the 15 players currently playing can see and post on??

If, and it's a big if, you did do it, unless there was a way to lock them out or you use that Quicktopic thing, you may just need to trust them not to look. We're all old enough to take responsibility for our own actions and if we break the rules and get kicked from the game then it's our own fault.
It's like a lot of things, you're trusting them not to PM, not to edit and not talk about the game outside of the actual game. These are all easily breakable, but they should all be decent enough people to realise that this would spoil the game if they did so. It would probably be the same if you created a spectator thing.

They know not to click the button to go there, so they don't. Simple.

[Guzame]

Taking some of the suggestions I've received so far, I've got some plans for the second round of FM, especially some things that i want to change.

First of all, I need to be more strict on game activity. I'm planning to reduce the time before a prod to 36 hours of not posting without an advance warning, and I'll reduce the amount of prods before being removed from the game from 3 to 2. I feel like the inactive players are really holding this game down and it's taking me too long to remove them without breaking my own rules.

Second of all, I'll allow the mafia chat to talk in a quicktopic instead of through pms from now on. I don't like being out of the loop on what my players are discussing.

Third, I'll be making the role list more flexible.
While most roles will still be known, I'll be adding a few semi-random roles. Some of my ideas are:
jester OR Executioner
Doctor OR Bodyguard
Consort OR Framer
etc etc


I'm also considering adding last Wills and death notes. They're a HUGE boost to the town though, so I'd have to scale the town's power roles accordingly.
The same goes for whispers, allowing the town to talk without mafia seeing it would be a huge boon.

If I add whispers, you still wouldn't be allowed to pm another play directly. I'll use Turdpile's suggestion of letting you pm the game moderator with your message and the intended recipient.
I will then send your pm to the other player, and I'll make a forum post saying that you whispered to that other player.

What do you guys think?

[Eevee]

If I add whispers, you still wouldn't be allowed to pm another play directly. I'll use Turdpile's suggestion of letting you pm the game moderator with your message and the intended recipient.
I will then send your pm to the other player, and I'll make a forum post saying that you whispered to that other player.

What do you guys think?

would it be too tiring for you if there were many whispers, man.

but i think it's a good idea

[xXxAQUAxXx]

It sounds great! And you should do another nuetral klling randmization by doing Serial Killer or Arsonist. THat would add some diveristy to different episodes of forum mafia.


And for the whispering.... maybe get someone else to help you do it? Someone who you can trust and isn't playing the game.

[Guzame]

If I add whispers, you still wouldn't be allowed to pm another play directly. I'll use Turdpile's suggestion of letting you pm the game moderator with your message and the intended recipient.
I will then send your pm to the other player, and I'll make a forum post saying that you whispered to that other player.

What do you guys think?

would it be too tiring for you if there were many whispers, man.

but i think it's a good idea

Eh, I log in at least a dozen times per day, and i don't expect too many whispers.
Maybe I'll limit it to 5 whispers/person/day if it's abused too much.

The biggest problem I'm facing is my limited inbox and sent messages space.
i've already had to clear my inbox and sent messages 3 times during this game, making it really hard for me to look back to old messages.

[iggyvolz]

In the rules, you said you couldn't see what people are PM'ing... You can access all PM's if you have access to the database (see the *_privmsgs table), and I could easily make a mod so that forum moderators can see them.

[Guzame]

In the rules, you said you couldn't see what people are PM'ing... You can access all PM's if you have access to the database (see the *_privmsgs table), and I could easily make a mod so that forum moderators can see them.

Well, I'm only a game moderator, not a forum admin. They wouldn't (and shouldn't) give any game moderator acces to that.
Even if I could, that's a ridiculously big invasion of privacy for the sake of paying a forum game. I'll trust my players not to cheat like that. They'd just ruin their and everybody else's fun.

[Guzame]

I guess my only complaint is how to moderate the amount of postings. The first game looked like something I could handle but this second game has had 51 PAGES on the second day of the game.. I mean I want to join but I was not prepared for this @.@
Is there a chance we could maybe limit people? If not maybe create games for people who want limits on posts per day?

Yes, I do agree that this game thread is a bit more active than I anticipiated.
I'm not sure how to fix this though, except for by only hosting smaller games.

I'm not keen on making a limit on the amount of posts somebody can make per day though. Nor do I like the idea of forcing posts to have a minimum length. I don't want to control the gameflow too much by adding too many rules.

[ObiWan]

I guess my only complaint is how to moderate the amount of postings. The first game looked like something I could handle but this second game has had 51 PAGES on the second day of the game.. I mean I want to join but I was not prepared for this @.@
Is there a chance we could maybe limit people? If not maybe create games for people who want limits on posts per day?

Yes, I do agree that this game thread is a bit more active than I anticipiated.
I'm not sure how to fix this though, except for by only hosting smaller games.

I'm not keen on making a limit on the amount of posts somebody can make per day though. Nor do I like the idea of forcing posts to have a minimum length. I don't want to control the gameflow too much by adding too many rules.

There are 5 more people from last game as well. Which can make a difference depending how loud their personalities are. I actually like the amount of posting that is going on, but then again I can keep up with it. I do like having 20 people as well. Last game wasn't as exciting because people weren't posting much (Mostly the Citizens). I don't think you should limit our posting...that'll just make it even more complicated. Maybe you need to cut some of the Days (Currently it's 5 in our day I believe). Or at least one. Just a thought you could try out. There's many possibilities as to why this game is way more active. Also I would put a disclaimer on the next game DON'T SIGN UP IF YOU CANNOT COMMIT (There may be a lot of posting).

[LordofFail]

Like I said limiting would be hard and not the best to do.. I like the amount of people, but shorter 'days' might help.

I think 120 hours is a good amount of time - its just that there were more people this time, and a bunch or posts were spam posts...

[Zero]

I have 3 personalities i like to use in ToS. The one i am currently using is a very load one. The one i used in the first game was Shy and timid just wanting to LIVE!!!! But my 3rd one just wants to see the world Burn. that's the one you need to watch out for.

[TheThief]

I have 3 personalities i like to use in ToS. The one i am currently using is a very load one. The one i used in the first game was Shy and timid just wanting to LIVE!!!! But my 3rd one just wants to see the world Burn. that's the one you need to watch out for.

I have one personality when I am playing this game. I am the devil's advocate. I check everyone stance to make sure that they are not lynching a townie/(only if mafia) mafia. I usually vote innocent unless I have the evidence to back myself up!