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Sanderson Elimination: Questions & Answers and Game Meta Discussion


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Dang. Is it that time of the year already? Thinking back to the last invitation, we had players volunteer if they are available and get voted for by the rest, right? I think that system worked well enough that we should try again. It's too bad Mailliw isn't back or I'd vote for him :(

Edited by Amanuensis
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I'm of two minds about participating this year. Last year was a less-than-pleasant experience, since they didn't moderate their forum according to their etiquette policy. There was a lot of name-calling and the only reason the moderators came in and said anything about it was because Hael reported it. Even then, it didn't stop. Quite frankly, the behavior of most of the competitors would've resulted in them being banned here on the Shard after less than a week (one or two wouldn't have lasted a day).

However, if we're going to do it, I would nominate Aman. I'll be honest: last year, I wouldn't have gone for him because he was too aggressive. But while he's still aggressive now, it's not overly so, which is good. He's got thick skin, so if the same situation as last year cropped up again (likely), it wouldn't negatively affect him. And he's very active when in a game. The only question is if he has the time for it right now.

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21 minutes ago, little wilson said:
 
 
 

I'm of two minds about participating this year. Last year was a less-than-pleasant experience, since they didn't moderate their forum according to their etiquette policy. There was a lot of name-calling and the only reason the moderators came in and said anything about it was because Hael reported it. Even then, it didn't stop. Quite frankly, the behavior of most of the competitors would've resulted in them being banned here on the Shard after less than a week (one or two wouldn't have lasted a day).

However, if we're going to do it, I would nominate Aman. I'll be honest: last year, I wouldn't have gone for him because he was too aggressive. But while he's still aggressive now, it's not overly so, which is good. He's got thick skin, so if the same situation as last year cropped up again (likely), it wouldn't negatively affect him. And he's very active when in a game. The only question is if he has the time for it right now.

Hm. That is bothersome. I didn't follow last year's championship, so this is my first time hearing about the lack of etiquette and moderation. If anything, that makes me want our community to be heavily involved this year, if only to make a memorable impression on the other players and affect a change in them so when they return to their forums they can spread the peace.

As for the nomination, thank you. I am capable of doing it and would be proud to represent us. In retaliation, however, I will vote for Lopen, as he's been around longer than I have, tends to be more amiable than me, is just as good if not better at analysis and rallying villagers (from either alignment), and is consistently active enough that I have no doubts he could manage ten posts a day, as required. @TheMightyLopen, are you available to participate?

Edited by Amanuensis
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10 minutes ago, Amanuensis said:

Hm. That is bothersome. I didn't follow last year's championship, so this is my first time hearing about the lack of etiquette and moderation. If anything, that makes me want our community to be heavily involved this year, if only to make a memorable impression on the other players and affect a change in them so when they return to their forums they can spread the peace.

As for the nomination, thank you. I am capable of doing it and would be proud to represent us. In retaliation, however, I will vote for Lopen, as he's been around longer than I have, tends to be more amiable than me, is just as good if not better at analysis and rallying villagers (from either alignment), and is consistently active enough that I have no doubts he could manage ten posts a day, as required. @TheMightyLopen, are you available to participate?

I've been around for what, a week longer than you? :P Thanks for the nomination though, as well as the compliments. The timing is a little rough, since that's just about when I'll be co-GMing the rerun of LG18, and that is likely going to be a lot of work and very time consuming. I think it would be an interesting experience though, so yeah, I think I could find time to play if I got chosen.

I agree with Wilson that you'd be a great pick though, if we're joining in again.

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11 hours ago, randuir said:

This does look really cool. Whoever will participate will probably need a free week starting the 24th if I'm looking at the rules here.

No. I'm sorry about that, it does seem I always make that part unclear :P

But how it will work is: The qualifier games are played in late April, May and June. There'll be 9 of them. Your rep needs to play in just one of these. I'll slot them into the one that suits their schedule best.

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3 hours ago, little wilson said:

I'm of two minds about participating this year. Last year was a less-than-pleasant experience, since they didn't moderate their forum according to their etiquette policy. There was a lot of name-calling and the only reason the moderators came in and said anything about it was because Hael reported it. Even then, it didn't stop. Quite frankly, the behavior of most of the competitors would've resulted in them being banned here on the Shard after less than a week (one or two wouldn't have lasted a day).

However, if we're going to do it, I would nominate Aman. I'll be honest: last year, I wouldn't have gone for him because he was too aggressive. But while he's still aggressive now, it's not overly so, which is good. He's got thick skin, so if the same situation as last year cropped up again (likely), it wouldn't negatively affect him. And he's very active when in a game. The only question is if he has the time for it right now.

Let it be known that several communities have been banned from participating this year because they sent volatile players.

Re: our moderation policy, we do often need people to make reports, since it can be hard catching everything as it happens. Being able to do that requires the same amount of time it requires to play a game, almost, and there are always multiple games running on the site. I'll make it VERY clear though to our moderators that they need to be extra vigilant with these Championship games, and I'll try to also personally follow along despite my busy schedule :).

This being said, I am not aware of the details last year surrounding Haelbarde. There are differences from community to community about what is considered inappropriate. It's a competitive game, admittedly. Our line is drawn at: "Go after the ball, not the player". You can say that someone's case is stupid and full of holes, but don't call the player stupid.

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Thanks for investigating that. Prime Intellect was the major issue in that game, but there were other players that kind of fed off of his negative energy, and even after he was called out on it by a moderator, he never stopped and no one mentioned it again (not just moderators. Players too, since players can also be like "hey, maybe you should be a little nicer?"). For people coming from a forum that is generally nice (we've at times dubbed our players "Gentleman Killers"), being dropped into an atmosphere like isn't just a shock. It can be a turn-off since it can kill the desire to continue playing that game. I know that was an issue with Hael towards the end of his short time alive: he could barely even motivate himself to post because he knew it would result in him being called an idiot and that his his ideas were stupid. While the latter could be taken as going after the ball and not the player, it's a pretty thin line.

But it wasn't just Prime that got me. It was kind of the atmosphere as a whole, I guess. I feel like last year, the Championship was pitched as a way to bring all of these communities together to see how we all play and find these new communities that are like us. A sort of camaraderie among all of us internet folk who like to kill each other for fun. But that's not what it ended up like. It felt more like a a vast majority of the players saying "This is the right way to play, and if you don't play this way, you're wrong and stupid." If you don't conform, you'll die. But if you conform, then you're not really representing your forum, and that was kind of the whole point. To show people how different forums play. And obviously when you bring that many people from different forums together, there are going to be differences between not only playstyle but also culture. Yet there was very little tolerance or consideration for those differences. I'm pretty sure only one person in that entire first game actually defended another person by saying that she was pretty sure the issues were due to cultural differences. She was one of the mafia, but I can't remember if the person she was defending was mafia or not. 

Anyway. Yeah. I feel like there was a disconnect between how it was pitched and what it ended up being like. It was very different from the pitch.

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Hi little wilson

Trust me, I'm taking everything you're saying very seriously. This event is my baby and I find ways every year to improve it. It will never be perfect. There are always a few people each year that unfortunately do end up not having a great experience, but fortunately most people do. As an example, 16 of the 17 players that played in the wildcard game last year all were so excited to play with each other again that in just a bit over a day without any warning and out of the blue all confirmed their participation in a rerun of that game: http://www.mafiauniverse.com/forums/threads/7732

There are communities where mafia was close to dying out, but because of the series, they sprung to life again.

Many sites have done cross-community games with each other. Dozens of them. I.e. after the season, a community went "hey, that other community seems cool, let's do a game with them".

Several romantic relationships happened. A dude moved to Norway and married the girl.

Sites share ressources with each other. We will soon be publishing a Database where I will also invite you guys to have a page on it (if you'd like, ofc); I.e. a tool you can use to enter games and then you can see advanced statistics for the games you've run here.

There are many great stories of how true bonds were created. But it's not gonna happen for every person and not every person wants that either, which is fine - some just want to play a game, test their abilities, and then move on. That's completely fine :)

Regarding what you're saying, I will personally do my best to make it very clear before each game that this is mostly about forming bonds and getting a chance to play with people with different play styles. It'll be even more relevant this season, as it's a pure game with no special roles, so a lot of people will be out of their depth, and everyone needs to respect and understand that.

And yeah, like I said before, I've banned several communities from participating again. PI's community isn't participating this year.

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6 hours ago, little wilson said:

It's sounds like it was probably just PI in that game giving it an all-around negative feel then. Knowing that, I'd be far more willing to give it another shot, because I do really like the idea of it.

Does that mean you're saying that you're available to participate in it? Because if so you have my nomination and vote, @little wilson. I think you'd make an excellent representative of our community, and knowing you I imagine you might enjoy a chance to play without your rep hanging over your head. ;)

If not, I think that @Amanuensis would also make an excellent representative of our community. 

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We have little time left to decide.  Are we going to enter the Championship games or not?  This is the question we need an answer to first.  Nominations for who we send can come after.  So what say you SE?  Yay or Nay?

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I think it's a great opportunity that we shouldn't hesitate to take. It may even help our community grow a little, if the representative shows off our methods, love for RP, and traditions. Plus, like with Hael last time, it may allow the representative to learn something that they can bring back with them.

Edited by Amanuensis
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I think that we should enter this competition for several reasons:

-Spreading our way of playing Mafia.

-Forming connections with other communities.

-Getting new ideas for games from other communities.

-Assurances that the negativity that occurred last year will not be repeated.

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