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@Danielle
I 1,000% disagree with this. The next time I'm scum without a fake claim I probably won't even bother trying to look for one and che sera sera. It is so annoying that most games are primarily broken by theme analysis and character claims. Take last game for example. I don't know dick about anime so right off the bat I'm at a disadvantage. But suppose one of us scum was pressured to claim early on DP1.
I disagree that it's as broken as much as you think it is. More to my point is, why do we push for claims at all, then? Why do we treat later claims as more suspicious than earlier claims? Why do we put value in counter-claims?
If mafia is given fake claims as a matter of course then claims mean nothing. It makes pushing for claims a waste of time, it makes popcorn claiming completely pointless, and it eliminates the possibility of counter claims which are quite a big part of mafia.
I could have claimed a TV anime character only for people to realize on DP2 the town is all movie characters. Therefore I could have been found scum for no other reason than I picked a wrong character right off the bat. That's not scum hunting. That was town getting lucky.
I think that's part of the challenge of being mafia is that you have to figure out what the theme break is and find a claim. I think the game should be designed so that there are viable and believable fake claims for mafia, but I think they have to work to figure out what they are.
There should be a balance between claiming early and risking being counter claimed or making a bad thematic claim, but being town read if you claim successfully, versus waiting and seeing how the theme plays out to make a safer claim but having it not as strongly accepted by town. It is a trade off that players get to choose and adds a level of strategy.
You eliminate that entire decision making process by giving Mafia fake claims. It's helping them blend in with town in a game where their primary challenge is how well they can blend in with town.
It's stupid and barely even qualifies as the game of Mafia IMO,
Totally wrong. Mafia started out as only vanillas. There weren't things such as roles or characters and it was entirely a behavioral game. There was nothing to claim let alone fake-claim.
The Cop and Doctor roles came in to add some variation, but then games were all completely Open. There was nothing for Mafia to fake claim except Vanilla unless they wanted to out the Cop and/or Doctor and be counter claim. And indeed that was a big strategy. If doctor was dead, it would be fairly common for a Maf to claim cop to out the real cop and town has to decide which is which. In either event, the cop dies (either they mislynch them or mafia Nks them). Point is: no fake claims for mafia.
And while open setups are not unheard of in the role madness we have today, they exist and are not too uncommon and Open Setups, by design, prevent any fake claiming since all the roles are known in advance. Maf has to claim among them and risk being counter claimed. Usually the setup is designed so this isn't disastrous (either by having sufficient vanillas, or roles that inhibit the ability to test CCs, or make it unwise to mass claim).
The issue we have here are characters, justification, and fluff. Town gets so hyper about specific wording and justifications and such. I agree that the game should not turn on these but the solution is for mods to stop turning player PMs into snippets from their latest fan fiction and just make it simple.
Your character is CHARACTER.
Your role is ROLE. This is what it does.
Period.
That's why I have an entire spreadsheet with role PMs so it is impossible for my games to turn on specific wording and I have stopped providing justifications at all.
but that's how the majority of (especially early) lynches are decided. I think with a wide theme like Christmas scum probs shouldn't have been given fake claims, but really including a Hated was my big mistake. I honestly don't think you guys would have won if she wasn't Hated :P
I'd say it was the vote thief rather than the hated.