Mafia X: Should we drop the anonymous accounts?

[GeneralHankerchief]

(Please vote if you're playing in Mafia X only.)

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit disappointed by the rampant amount of inactivity in Mafia X, with the number of people not voting in the double digits for every single round. I've been trying to figure out why this is the case, especially since activity elsewhere in the Gameroom is high, and really the only variable in play here is the anonymous accounts.

Originally I was just going to reveal who was who for the people that didn't vote in this most recent round, but then decided that it wasn't quite fair. Plus, I still feel as if the anonymous accounts have a chance of working - it's just that people need to remember to use them. So I've decided to take the question to you guys. Do you think there will be any difference in your own personal activity levels if you don't have to keep logging into a new account?

The poll has been made private in case you don't want anybody knowing how you voted, but you're free to elaborate on your answer here if you so choose.

[Renata]

No -- I would like to play out the game with them; and some level of inactivity is to be expected with any vanilla game (though I wish it wasn't this high).

[Populus Romanus]

Gah -- They are an inconvenience, but they make the game interesting, so I cannot decide. Perhaps adding an element where information is given about what X user member was doing during the night (their real account), and then making the critical element piecing together which anonymous account belonged to whom, would make anonymous accounts more fun?

[Diamondeye]

I don't think the anonymous accounts have made me less active in the game, so strictly speaking, I'd be answering No.

However, I think I'm not the only one who's used to playing in a certain way which is at least somewhat tied to my name. Not only might this "personal style" not be viable with an anonymous account, for some people it might even prove a too direct hint to their *real* identity and that is why they are avoiding it (and as such being less active). Lots of people also seem to be bothered by the constant log-on, log-off shtick.

I prefer playing with our "known" usernames to playing anonymously, from what I've tried so far, but I think it would be chaotic to change everything in the middle of a game. Inactivity is always sad, but I think we would be better off letting this game run its course with the [MAFIA] accounts, and then possibly refrain from using them for the rest of the "Gameroom Anniversary" events. It would be sad if the whole thing was plagued by this kind of inactivity (and brevity of posts).

So I vote GAH!

DE Out.

[TheLastDays]

I think it should be finished the way it began... anything else would be breaking the game a bit I think... Still, I do agree that some of the inactivity could be tied to the anonymous accounts... Maybe they should really be left out of the rest of the anniversary

[autolycus]

I'd say definitely play out this game with anonymous accounts. However, I think anonymous accounts plus complete vanilla with no reveals on death make for a really tough combination for most people. I for one have no clue where to start. The same behavior by Mafia Chickenman might be strange and therefore suspicious by Fluffy and normal by Winston. If I have abilities, past behavior, or knowing that if/when a scum dies, I'll be able to look for suspicious patterns in other's dealings with them, then I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't feel like the log-out/log-in for two accounts is a major burden, especially since I don't have to worry about PMs for this game, so I just log-in with the anonymous one when I want to say something.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I like to play under me own name :D.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Play out the game with anonymous accounts.

No matter what the game, people don't necessarily adjust well to new game concepts. Some folks will enjoy it, others will not. But we started this game with anonymous accounts, let's finish it that way.

Next game, and from now on, maybe we can make [mafia] accounts optional. But let's give these things the chance they deserve. WOG players who don't participate.

[Diamondeye]

It's like ATPG and I said the same, only I was the most verbose about it. That feels weird.

[johnhughthom]

Play out the game with anonymous accounts.

No matter what the game, people don't necessarily adjust well to new game concepts. Some folks will enjoy it, others will not. But we started this game with anonymous accounts, let's finish it that way.

Next game, and from now on, maybe we can make [mafia] accounts optional. But let's give these things the chance they deserve. WOG players who don't participate.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Chaotix]

Definitely finish up this game with them in place, GH.

But for the future, I guess it's pretty much proven that they have downsides as well as the obvious upsides. I personally find it a pain to switch back and forth between accounts, especially because it resets he preferences on my main account as well. I say keep them around for the occasional game but by no means make them mandatory. They are an interesting dynamic that give games a different flavor

[Earthling]

I am happy with the anonymous accounts here and in favor of them for future games. As far as I can tell the anonymous accounts have nothing at all to do with inactivity, it's entirely due to the fact that it's a vanilla game where nobody except those couple scum have any abilities or anything to do or talk about. I've never seen any other similar vanilla game have more activity either, even games that are less vanilla with clues or other roles have been more "inactive," so I don't think it's the anonymous accounts at all.

If you just need people to vote a consistent policy on WoGs would be the answer though, townies won't want to just be WoG'd away and it would hurt the town so that could get people active in that sense. If not it's allowing a legitimate strategy by the scum to lurk and not vote on purpose too.

I think it's really important that people are informed in advance of the consequences of not voting if there are to be any, otherwise is just madness that will wipe out a bunch of inactive townies for little good reason.

[Romanic]

Voted No, because I think the game should be completed as it started, but I feel that anonymous accounts will make game less active because the players have/want to "hide" who they really are, thus they post less, don't make cases, don't discuss as much.


Definitely finish up this game with them in place, GH.

But for the future, I guess it's pretty much proven that they have downsides as well as the obvious upsides. I personally find it a pain to switch back and forth between accounts, especially because it resets he preferences on my main account as well. I say keep them around for the occasional game but by no means make them mandatory. They are an interesting dynamic that give games a different flavor
I'm using two different browsers for this. My usual Chrome for the Romanic account, and Firefox for the anonymous account. If you use the Remember Username/Password option on the board, it makes it easy to handle the two accounts (though I did post under my real account when the game started, forgot to use the other browser :embarassed:). Should help you keep your preferences.

[B-Wing]

I really like the anonymous accounts. Haven't played much Mafia, but in the current game, my main "problem" is that there's too many players to bother analyzing all their actions. And it's still early in the game.

[Askthepizzaguy]

That will change as I kill most of you off. Then there will be fewer players to analyze.

You're welcome.

[White_eyes:D]

WOG's are going to lower that too....which sucks.:brood:

[GeneralHankerchief]

Okay, evidently I forgot to post here when I did my most recent set of kills.

As you can tell by the poll results, there's a clear majority in favor of keeping the anonymous accounts, therefore, that's going to be my ruling. I guess we'll consider this entire dilemma a sort of knee-jerk reaction on my part combined with me seeking in-game feedback in addition to postgame feedback. Hopefully, as people have mentioned, activity will pick up once more people are allowed to post with their actual accounts (i.e. they're dead) and the endgame draws near.

The one thing that had me worried was that, despite what a few people said and the following quote sums up:


As far as I can tell the anonymous accounts have nothing at all to do with inactivity, it's entirely due to the fact that it's a vanilla game where nobody except those couple scum have any abilities or anything to do or talk about. I've never seen any other similar vanilla game have more activity either, even games that are less vanilla with clues or other roles have been more "inactive," so I don't think it's the anonymous accounts at all.

...activity seemed way down. Even in my previous Mafia (capital M) games, which were just as vanilla as this, we were usually hundreds of posts past this point. But yeah, as of right now I'm just concluding that more people are just practicing brevity in order to better hide themselves.

In addition, people will start becoming WoG-eligible come Day 5. I'll send a PM to the main account if you're in trouble. Thanks for your responses, everyone. :bow:

[Sigurd]

I am actually enjoying this game. I am not mafia btw.

[Diamondeye]

I am actually enjoying this game. I am not mafia btw.

Okay but who are you then - just so we avoid lynching an innocent.