"Fun"

[Alchemator]

Believe it or not, mafia was once a game designed to be fun! Actually we can just leave it at "mafia was once a game" for the purposes of this discussion.

Though I haven't played many mafias, it strikes me as odd that many people take mafia games very, very, very seriously. This led me to think - has the fun been drained out of mafia for these people.

Which ultimately led to the question: What makes mafia fun?

Of the mafias I've played in, some have been very fun whereas others have simply not caught my interest.

Fun

SWM2 - Mafia in my first proper game, as a mole. I felt I had power.
MGS - Interesting concept, cool faction to play as [despite it failing]

Not Fun

DotA - Terrible role, suspected even though I was innocent, keeping me away from any and all info
Absolution - Other than being a complete idiot in that game, I felt like a pawn with no power whatsoever [announcer]

So, what makes mafia fun?

 

[billymills]

Mafias get fun when you get competent at them. I didn't have fun in any of the games I screwed up royally in. It's pretty obvious even from your comments that games you did well in are fun, and games you didn't do so well in aren't.

 

[Spiffy]

The fun part of Mafia is when people get super serious. How would you like a game if everyone fooled around and just didn't care if they gave away their team members, or specifically targeted their team members with their abilities? The suspense, drama, and tension is what makes this game so well liked and enjoyable. (Replace "show" with "game" in that last sentence, and it sounded like I was describing a Soap Opera. O.o)

 

[UncleSam]

I think everyone finds different aspects of mafia fun, just like any intricate game. For me, the fun is in winning through intelligence. Of course, I haven't won yet, so I guess that reveals something of my intelligence -_-

 

[blue_light]

Don't hate the game, hate the player.

 

[THE_IRON_...KENYAN?]

A combination between an intellectual-skill threshold and a well thought out, average to above average game with an excellent host.


Its really not that hard to be an excellent host; all you have to do is explain things clearly and pay very very close attention to what you are doing.

 

[FinnRagetti]

Its really not that hard to be an excellent host; all you have to do is explain things clearly and pay very very close attention to what you are doing.

Ditto that. And also with players as well. It hurts when power roles are idle players.

 

[Outlaw]

Fun is having neutrals. Fun is having major blunders occur and reacting accordingly. Fun is not turning this game into a pokemon-esque metagame without "hax."

 

[Destiny Warrior]

Mafia is fun when you at least have some information, when you aren't a pawn. Half the time, after there is a village leader, nearly everybody become pawns, andstarts to get a bit boring.

Which was why I tried to lead in the current standard mafia Ender's Second game.

 

[FinnRagetti]

Leading is fun (as long as you are not in a game with molEO!!!!) :P
Screwing up and winning in the end is fun (Superstars).
Godkilling 2 players without the help of silence is epic fun.

 

[Staraptor Call]

What makes a mafia game fun is when it requires a lot of strategizing. Consider MGS Tacticial Game, which was one of the best and most fun mafia games on Smogon ever. What made that game so fun is that it had rules that required more strategic thinking than usual, and had multiple teams so that there wouldn't just be a few people calling the shots. The fun in strategizing is also what makes unusual roles and neutral roles more fun than regular roles. Also, getting to lead a team is very fun since you get to do almost all the strategizing.

 

[RODAN]

For the most part I like fucking things up, I can also play seriously pretty well, but it doesn't have the same ammount of fun imo!!!

 

[Jackal]

the only way for it to be fun is if people take it seriously... that way when you win, you feel accomplished.

its the same as any competitive activity, the fun is outplaying other people.

 

[Mekkah]

Fun is having neutrals. Fun is having major blunders occur and reacting accordingly. Fun is not turning this game into a pokemon-esque metagame without "hax."

Sheesh, someone went #Az here?

Mafia is fun in a competitive way if everyone takes it seriously, and if one person doesn't and then takes an action that goes against all that is competitive (I won't name anyone but you know who you are*) then that kind of spoils the fun for others.

The older mafia games were fun because oftentimes no one knew what they were doing. Especially with the lack of the whole village leader thing, there was actual public discussion. Nowadays, every faction only needs 2 guys at most controlling everything. It's not the same. But, you can't unknow what you know, and we know this system gets you more wins.

* actually, i think some of the people i'm referring too are too dense to realize this :(

 

[jumpluff]

Don't hate the game, hate the player.

A combination between an intellectual-skill threshold and a well thought out, average to above average game with an excellent host.

Its really not that hard to be an excellent host; all you have to do is explain things clearly and pay very very close attention to what you are doing.

Agree. Nothing ruins a good game like bad, inattentive, idle, or obnoxious players. I like when players are serious, because I don't appreciate people fucking over a competitive game. This is why I don't like collabs and so forth. If you can't take the game seriously, then don't play. Mafia isn't life or death, but it takes a lot of effort to prepare and execute a mafia, and when all the other players are doing their best, it's really just a crapshoot when you have one player who doesn't give a fuck and is collabbing and so on.

What spoils games for me is what Mekkah said: the strategy of extreme information concentration. It's the most efficient way, but I still prefer being mafia, simply because I've always had good teams (coming back to the player thing as well!) and we work together.

 

[Mekkah]

Note that for people who do not like the leader system, a way out of that is NOC mafia. However, this also takes away pretty much all of the politics, and has proven to be an easy mafia win most of the time. I'm of the opinion NOC mafia is glorified guesswork for the most part, and I'll take our kingmaker-ridden system over it.

 

[Amelia]

Hint: My mafia so far doesn't really have a leader at all. Everyone plans from what i've seen.

Anyway, my concept of fun means thinking what other players are doing and trying to outsmart them. That's what mafia is all about, and it suits me.

 

[Agape]

For me the fun is contributing to the tactical discussion within team and collaborating with different people. I agree that playing village under a leader is boring and makes people inactive. Solution to this might be multiple faction games like mgs or Amelia's game as the smaller teams almost force people to collaborate within a small circle of themselves and maybe other teams that they are allied to.

Big games are difficult to analyze as in them one mafia team can be as big as a village in small games making even some mafia members inactive and bored. I'm looking forward to see a multiple faction big game. (Shame I missed viva...)

Trolling Exa in mgs was fun too.

 

[blue_light]

Well Amelia's game is an expert game, which means it has a high concentration of proven players, whereas the typical games that go on are full of morons or assumed morons which forces the experienced players to withhold information from their lackeys lest they reveal that information to others unwittingly (e.g. Sikh Assassin revealing to Stoo his entire mafia faction in Elements).

 

[Alan]

Rey v. <player> is pretty fun to watch.

I'm in my first mafia game and its pretty fun. Idk whats fun about it, but its just fun. .-.

 

[Slim Guldo]

I pretty much agree with what billy said. I know I had a lot more fun in Nintendo and Enders Second Game, where I played decently, than in Superstars, where I was awful.

I don't entirely agree with the thing that being the villager with a leader is boring, as I think that you can still be active in planning and stuff with the village leaders, which is fun, however this doesn't happen so much unless you are inspected or have a really open leader, the latter of which isn't the best strategy and as such doesn't happen much.

 

[Gmax]

I don't think I enjoy anything in mafia as the rush of pulling off a con job. There's also something really thrilling about watching a plan you make unfold exactly as you wanted it to.

Also to everyone who thinks it's cool to fuck around in mafia, come on, there's so much you can do besides fucking around o_O. Winning because you did something right is a million times more rewarding than just fucking around. Plus hosts work really hard on their games. So do quite a few of your teammates. Mafia's a team game. You owe it to the hosts and your teammates to take their game seriously. It makes for a better game for everyone!

 

[Outlaw]

Sheesh, someone went #Az here?

Mafia is fun in a competitive way if everyone takes it seriously, and if one person doesn't and then takes an action that goes against all that is competitive (I won't name anyone but you know who you are*) then that kind of spoils the fun for others.

The older mafia games were fun because oftentimes no one knew what they were doing. Especially with the lack of the whole village leader thing, there was actual public discussion. Nowadays, every faction only needs 2 guys at most controlling everything. It's not the same. But, you can't unknow what you know, and we know this system gets you more wins.

* actually, i think some of the people i'm referring too are too dense to realize this :(

Ouch Mekkah.

But that is exactly what I mean. When mafia becomes standardized, it loses it's inherent fun.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Mafia is too mechanical at this point. Furthermore, people have become too reliant on this "follow the leader" attitude, which makes it impossible to fix it the traditional way. When Mafia became too mechanical on the Bemanistyle forums, you know how we fixed it? 100% of mafia games hosted were NOC for a good couple months, until all the "good players" adjusted to not having the safety net of "a smarter person leading them", then it was the host's decision afterwards. I'm not sure if it would be feasible, but it would at least be interesting...

 

[Jackal]

what is NOC