[H]Using PMs

Depending on the type of PM game, instant communication such as irc may be allowed. In these games, you can set up traps where the other player doesn't have time to get their story straight. For example, suppose I'm mafia with player B. A town player could message me in irc asking if I've spoken with player B yet. Now suppose he has already asked player B the same question, but player B isn't around for me to confirm what was said. I'm forced to essentially guess what was said and hope I'm not caught in a lie.

On November 03 2010 07:09 Qatol wrote:

That depends on your style. I used to use PMs a lot to get my message across. I would have an idea come from several people at once in the thread. That makes it far more likely that it will get talked about.

Another thing you can do is just talk about suspects with people. Try to figure out if they're prodding with an agenda. Think of PMs as just another way to get a feel for people, another piece of evidence.

Finally, you can make circles and share knowledge. If done properly, this can be very powerful. If done improperly, Ace will rage at you.

On November 04 2010 16:49 Incognito wrote:
Ah finally. Thread revived. Its been a while since this was written. And at the time, Ver told me he was going to write a more comprehensive guide later. *cough* If any one point was the most crucial at this point, I think it would be day 1. We need a day 1 guide. A guide on how to start the game, how to create content, and how to lead town on the right track. What to look for in post analysis, how to analyze the game's atmosphere. I would attempt my hand at writing such a guide, but I think I'm not qualified. Ver!!!



People like to use PMs for coordinating blue roles. While this is not inherently incorrect, it can be a serious error if you're not careful. Many blues screw town over this way its not funny. Claiming is ok if you know what you're doing, but most players don't have the ability to make proper judgments and claim to the right people (always think mafia are "most likely innocent" etc.). The most useful use for PMs that I can see is controlling the game atmosphere, circumventing a trashy thread, or simply circulating ideas.

Like I said in the other thread, PMs are insanely powerful if you want to control the game as town. Like Qatol said, a nice way to bring the town under your control is by getting other people to say your ideas for you. All you have to do is PM them, discuss a bit, and have them post your ideas. Building a coalition of people who support your ideas is critical to influencing the rest of the town. Nobody wins the game alone. Even the best analysts need people to support their agenda. Recent games progress rapidly, and have a lot of posts, most of which are spam. One voice in a crowd is easily drowned out in the presence of mass spam, even if you are a big name like Ver/Qatol. You can use PMs to assert your influence by having your point of view expressed by multiple people. Its harder to ignore a group of people saying the same thing than if you have one person talking. People tend to also be less suspicious of your ideas if multiple people share them. In this way, you can bully people to your point of view, which is always good even if you're town. More control for you means less control for the mafia. And the better you are at analyzing, the more you can be suspicious of people following others' ideas since mafia will be afraid to associate with and be forced to vote for your candidate.

Idea circles are powerful. Discussing suspects is one thing, discussing strategy is another. Generally in the early game talking casually about these types of subjects are a good way to get a feel for other people's position. Are they open? How active are they compared to their normal game? How much do they seem willing to contribute? Do they have some other hidden agenda as far as you can tell?

Spam. Inactivity. Both of these atmospheres make mafia not inclined to talk. Mafia have no incentive to respond to pressure in thread if there is either spam or inactivity in the thread. And it is difficult to tell whether or not they are truly inactive, not caring, or mafia lurking. Here is another place where PMs come in handy. It is much more difficult to avoid a PM than pressure in thread. If nobody else is responding, why should scum respond when they would just stick out? If everyone is covering up the pressuring post, why go back and address it? In PMs its much different. In a PM, the pressured player does not have other information to tell them whether they should post or not post. When pressured in PM, you cannot know whether other people are responding or not. You do not have enough information to give you feedback as to whether or not responding would make you stick out. So its safer to respond than not, as a non-response is certainly going to lead to suspicion while (hopefully) responding to it may relieve the pressure.

Gambits~ I'm not sure if I should share because it would likely lead to widespread abuse.
Blue fishing as town~ Not sure if I should talk about that either.

On December 18 2013 02:09 ahswtini wrote:
Thanks, great replies so far.

Regarding a specific question PMs like ""What do you think about player X and Y and why?", "Do you agree with case Z", or "Who do you plan to vote for today", if you don't get a reply from them, or a very weak reply that doesn't answer anything, what are the most likely reasons? They're Mafia? They don't trust you and so don't want to talk to you? I suppose you have to match what they say with how they're appearing in the thread as well.