The Thing Mafia [Concluded]

[Reenk Roink]

2) Had I picked Lecavalier over Stamkos and you had let me live, I had a plan to figure out if you were either Nick/Monty or Sonny/DiY. I know DiY well enough to ask him a question only he could answer, and with Nick/Monty, as I mentioned in the QT, I would have been able to get you from the image hosting thing. If you had taken over either Frank or Luciano, I would have had a tougher time but in the end those odds are 50-50, which aren't bad.

I would have to stick with Sonny though, because I cant kill Monty but replace another guy. I didn't know about the thing you knew about DiY, so yeah, I'd be doomed there most likely. Nice planning though, I was getting the impression that you weren't to concerned about DiY.

The image hosting thing is another thing altogether. I doubt I'd respond to that. Then again, I never planned on replacing Monty. I know you and I know Atpg fairly well to try and skim on impressions even if it isn't perfect. I'd probably botch a Monty impersonation badly. Plus the guy kept changing his style. Monty seemed to think he got me to chat with you as Sonny on the last day because of the "I like your writeups comment" but that wasn't it. The first thing I did was send in the order to replace Vito. Despite quoting Journey, I did know where I would have been tomorrow.

3) That last round... heh. I think there was a point in time where Reenk and I were just staring at each other's profiles for about ten minutes, constantly refreshing. Probably the closest thing you'll ever get to an internet staredown.

I was wondering about the "Viewing User Profile" thing of yours. I had guessed it was me.

I found out that the profile watching thing CAN be beat if you are able and willing to put the time and effort, but it gets very boring. For the first 4 hours of the game I was refreshing every 15 minutes. Then it slowed down as activity did. I wanted to give up by late afternoon (I asked TinCow if I could request you use invisible mode for the rest of the round but he couldn't say yes cause of the rules), and by evening I did. And you know what, if Monty is going to refresh for 11 hours, he deserves to win.

[GeneralHankerchief]

I was wondering about the "Viewing User Profile" thing of yours. I had guessed it was me.

I found out that the profile watching thing CAN be beat if you are able and willing to put the time and effort, but it gets very boring. For the first 4 hours of the game I was refreshing every 15 minutes. Then it slowed down as activity did. I wanted to give up by late afternoon (I asked TinCow if I could request you use invisible mode for the rest of the round but he couldn't say yes cause of the rules), and by evening I did. And you know what, if Monty is going to refresh for 11 hours, he deserves to win.

Yeah, I guess mods can see exactly which user profile anyone's viewing. That was pretty funny.

As soon as I noticed you were corresponding your responses as Vito with my online times, I actually took the step of logging off the .Org and keeping track of things as a guest, which I never do. So you got me to do that at least. And btw, I made a promise to myself and a few other people to never go into invisible mode, even if the host recommends it. So basically unless the host explicity demands such a thing or else I'm not allowed to play, I'm staying visible so you can always track my activity that way.

[TinCow]

And btw, I made a promise to myself and a few other people to never go into invisible mode, even if the host recommends it.

Out of curiosity, why? I always prefer to be invisible for mafia games, though I do return to normal when I'm not involved in a game for Org-staff-approachability reasons.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Approachability as you mentioned, mainly. If I'm online and someone needs to ask me something important, they know I'm there. I figure I can get by without it on in games.

[Ishmael]

I think everything has been pretty much said here, so I'd just like to thank TinCow for a fabulous and entertaining game

[Reenk Roink]

I turned it off after Lestarde in Mafia IV. Of course, it hardly makes a difference nowadays in many games, especially the more complicated ones. But it seems to have popped up for the anonymous accounts again.

So who else wanted to be The Thing? I almost didn't get to be it, until TinCow PM'd me making sure.

[Montmorency]

In fact, had GH selected otherwise, I most likely would have killed Monty, because activity watching is kinda cheap just like the number/language thing. It's just more effective than those.

I kept Lucanio alive because I really didn't know who he was at the time. Granted after that, I went back and thought he was classical, but before I never expended the effort to figure him out. Most others I was able to get just by my regular reading of the thread. So I figured, hey this guy is pretty sneaky.
Also, I'm sorry to hear about your illness c_h, and hope all the best for you. Monty, it's OK to not buy the RL excuses (Sigurd has used them a lot), but I thought the way you confronted c_h about it was really mean.

Yes, it just seemed so convenient (just out of the blue) that my ScumAlarm went wild. It was an overreaction, but it was your doing, really. That Rocco misdirection really had me -uh, weird. I do apologize if you were offended, classical.

That first quote up there - well, I'll just summarize it.

My strategy for the day was to loosely imitate Reenk based on his earlier behavior. The idea was that Reenk would see me as an esy scapegoat and immediately make a case against me. But then Frank and Vito began a showdown, and though I kept up the charade I knew my plan had failed. Then Vito said:

The problem with that is that Reenk has left me alive the entire game.

Your Reenk-impersonating-Nick-impersonating-Reenk needs work, Nick.

The reason I don't think it's Nick is because he has been acting a lot like Pizza early on. Trite, jokey one-liners aimed at impersonating Reenk. I don't think Reenk would do that.

Those posts were scummy as all get-out (is this actually an expression?). And besides, that was my Pizza-impersonating-Nick-impersonating-Reenk.

Once you confronted me about the vote-change onto Vito, I backed down because I'm non-confrontational by nature. Then I remembered your earlier lurkishness and the conspicuous absence of Luciano, so I voted him to pressure him into posting. Immediately I realized that I'd let the same thing as with Rocco happen, and I took out my indignation on Luciano later on.

Recalling classical's similar behavior in the Vespasian game a few weeks ago, I realized that this was par for the course. Unfortunately, Luciano began to suspect Frank. Frank did not help the situation by acting increasingly scummy. And so by this point I had almost forgotten about you. Luciano made a long post full of old quotes just 3 minutes after Reenk had posted elsewhere. This definitively cleared him in my mind.

The whole phase, I had been collating evidence. And you did really well here. The posting activity and profile activity records indicated that Vito was legitimate. Finally, you posted again:

It may just be me, but I'm reading this exchange between Frank and Luciano as Reenk trying to cover both bases.

This post made no sense to me, but I let it slide. I posted my big ol' glob of data and waited for the analysis to roll in. Now, at the end of the post, I wrote, "Cheap? Perhaps."

So when Frank replied with, "Cheap indeed..." I nearly lost it. NO. WAY. IN. HELL. Would I allow a repeat of Rocco, is what I thought. Why would a townie ignore evidence that could only help him? Clearly Reenk was trying to discredit information that he felt might sink him, right? But I didn't revote just yet. I wanted to wait for you. You then did the worst possible thing: you ignored me. You just replied to Frank's question about Reenk's place of residence. I despaired. I really didn't like Frank's "cheap" post, but couldn't reconcile your behavior with what I knew of GH. I figured you thought "Oh, I don't need Nick. I have 2 votes already." I recognized your complacency. And townies can never afford to be complacent. Tension, dissension, apprehension had begun.

After a few hours, I'd had enough of tension, enough of inactivity. I voted Vito to force a response. "And if Vito really is town", I thought, "he deserves to lose in the tiebreaker for this arrogance." This was your last chance. Some patronizing reassurance here would have saved you, I think.

To pass the time, I reexamined my data. It struck me that you are smart. You would cover your tracks. I shouldn't look for sloppiness (as with the timing of Arjos and Franks' posts with yours).
So I noticed something about Vito's posts and GH's activity. Twice, there was a gap between GH's activity and Vito's posts of 5-15 minutes. I refused to believe that GH had been sitting in Vito planning out those 3-line posts for such a long time. But fine, I thought. This is still inconclusive.

So I continued my vigil. And at 9, it hpappened. GH posted in the Gameroom, but did not respond to my vote. I realized the truth of it immediately. Certainty flowed through me.

The second phase began. I waited for Luciano. I needed to make him vote Vito. I couldn't risk a failed tiebreaker. But the hours slid by, and there was no sign of him. Finally, at 2:20 AM, I had given up. I was about to hit the hay, but decided to check the Org once more. And Luciano had posted. I knew then that we had won.

Yep, so, you should have courted me, Reenk. I'm sure I'd have been easily convinced. I'm a sucker for authority figures. But it sure was exciting.

And you know what, if Monty is going to refresh for 11 hours, he deserves to win.

I was reading a book to pass the time, and I'd just refresh the Org every 10-15 minutes. Sometime around midnight, I realized that, "I've only read 50 pages, OH NOOOOOO!"
This Mafia stuff is as bad as any MMO. :P

2) Had I picked Lecavalier over Stamkos and you had let me live, I had a plan to figure out if you were either Nick/Monty or Sonny/DiY. I know DiY well enough to ask him a question only he could answer, and with Nick/Monty, as I mentioned in the QT, I would have been able to get you from the image hosting thing. If you had taken over either Frank or Luciano, I would have had a tougher time but in the end those odds are 50-50, which aren't bad.

Indeed a good plan. In fact, I'd secretly hoped that Reenk would take me. I figured he - you -

I'd probably botch a Monty impersonation badly. Plus the guy kept changing his style.

wouldn't be able to convincingly imitate my manic and hyperbolic style. Even when it was no longer structured by formal meter. I doubt many could successfully trifle with this gaping maw of raving lunacy. Of course, I also hoped you wouldn't kill me, in which case I would get to taste sweet glory.

So yeah, good game. I look forward to singlehandedly defeating the Things in the large game!

[Arjos]

So when Frank replied with, "Cheap indeed..." I nearly lost it. NO. WAY. IN. HELL.

Ahahahahahahah, my upright nature doesn't like that :D
I had great fun in that final round ^^
All that increasingly scummy, I'll never get it...

[GeneralHankerchief]

I wanted to be The Thing, oh yeah. Don't think I would have done it in such style, but it would definitely have been fun.

[TinCow]

Oh, that reminds me. Here is the list of people who volunteered for The Thing, after random.org reordering:

1. Reenk
2. ATPG
3. classical_hero
4. Major Robert Dump
5. Tratorix
6. GH
7. johnhughthom