Thoughts on inactive Mafia Mods

I think we, as a community, should come up with some rough guidelines about how to handle inactive Mods. I won't play coy here and admit this is brought about by Mharman's game. He was skipped over in starting it due to lack of activity and it has almost been 2 days since the official closing of DP1.

Having your turn skipped can be frustrating and having people abandon your game for a new one moreso, so I don't propose that we do anything lightly.

However, I think we should have a contingency plan in place that allows Mafia games to continue in the even a mod becomes MIA.

I think a week is a bit too long to ask people to wait, but 2 days seems to be about the minimum we should expect.

I suggest that if 3 days goes by without an update to a game, that game is voided and the next game in the list is permitted to proceed. That mod is then placed On Hold. If they return and want to be put back on the list, they go to the end of the list.

Thoughts?

Clearly we can't leave a mafia game open indefinitely without proceeding. So a line must be drawn somewhere.

Maybe back-up mafia mods on hold? Like people who wanted to join a mafia game but realized that there wasn't enough space and become a back up.

I'm not sure I understand, could you provide an example?

I don't know, just maybe find a replacement for the mafia mod

They'd had to have set up a back up from the beginning where they shared the game details with someone else not in the game.

Yah, so there could be a replacement mod for each mafia game maybe.

It's been done before, it's certainly an option.

yeah

I think they should be penalized for wasting our time by putting a ban for a certain time period from modding. Likely mod again after 10 players or so mod their games.

I think mafia is very useful to this site- it gives users a different social context than debate or forum.  We use debate skills but other skills as well.  Libtards and nazis suddenly find themselves on the same team with goals in common.  Mafia improves the activity level and demeanor of this site generally.

For every user who joins a mafia game, there are probably two who have considered the game but aren't certain it is worth the investment of time and attention.  

Right now, we are on the cusp of maintaining one reasonably large and active game.  This has only been true for a couple of months and could easily fade to inactive with a few blown up games.  We should be shooting for two or three active games with revolving cast of regular players.  To maintain active interest and satisfying game play I think a two or three day calloff is reasonable, I would even advocate for shorter DPs & NPs for more games quicker but that is a different question.

Penance should be paid by joining other peoples mafia games- say, you have to actively participate as player in 10 or 15 games before being eligible to mod again.  Maybe even add a voting requirement.

I agree

Not sure what you mean here. Mafia players voting for whether a person should be allowed to mod? Please clarify.

Regardless I do agree that some sort of requirement to be a mod might help improve game quality. What that might consist of is something this thread might be able to answer. In the short term though I will proceed with my game as soon as I have the minimum number of players (nine) and I will take some of the suggestions in the OP of this thread such as DP/NP length under advisement, though I have always advocated that NPs should be as short as possible.

Make them vote on some debates as penance- another thankless task.  I'm not sure I think that's such a hot idea just throwing out kinds of penance.

Lol it is official then, Mharman shall be sentenced to community service as soon as he returns.

Punishment and penance are all good, but there is still the open question of what is an appropriate time to wait before moving on.

I think two days is reasonable but my guess is that the group dynamic will settle on three =

I like 3 days. And then like a 10-15 game ban on modding