Let the record show that we Simulposted on this. I take back my question on Handshaking. 
Very.
A name claim is giving your name from your role PM. Everyone should have a unique name.
A handshake is an attempt to use shared information from a PM to detemine if one shares certain aspects such as alignment or role (in the case of Vanilla Town).
I see no reason to sit around. I think I’ll just open Day One at Noon Eastern today.
Don’t worry, most of the Day will be on weekdays so you can play from work.
Much of the US has a holiday on Monday
I would sya that’s clearly a response to Red Skeezix post which I quote In which he recommends getting opinions. This is an opinion I formed from his previous post #104in which he mentioned a name claim and thought it may be a good idea (though he seems failry neutral on the idea). Intially I was hesistant to post this opinion as I was unsure of it’s exact implications and just wanted to see a few other ideas first.
FTR my previous experince of this game was the last thread (international mafia) which I read pretty much from start to finish. Prior to this I had not heard of this game and have had to look up terms such as Masonand Miller on the Wikipedia article (Miller has been mentioned this game and the discovery of a mason seemed to be a very important partt of the last game). I have researched the game, but actual experince of it is limited to observing 1 previous game.
Can I ask you Meeko how a name claim could possibly benefit scum? I’ve thought of two possibilties: 1) name could be indicative of powers (unlikely) 2) name could be indicative of possible connection between town players (more likely) 3) could be a fruitless distraction (I think at this point though that just getting people to post information even is a good idea as long as it’s not going to benefit the scum).
I don’t want to turn this round on you too sharply, but accusing it does seem what you are implying is very strong (especially when my 2nd post is clearly a response to another post). How could the scum benefit from what I have said?
Meh, I still think everyone will have plenty of time to check in, discuss, and vote. Honestly, MLK day doesn’t scream “add a day to the Day” to me.
If everyone is adament, I can make Day One a bit longer, but we already have Night Zero here. Anyway, we’ll see.
I was pointing out that you are playing at two different speeds. I am against a name claim in principle. I despise solving games, I would much rather PLAY them.
I concede you have a point, that scum could care less for names. **I can’t immediately see why knowing names would benefit scum, but I wouldn’t put it past Maha, as he stated he took steps to prevent handshakes and the like. **
I took the question back from Ed, but my point remains, I consider Name Claims to be in the same ballpark as Handshaking.
It was quiet in the hotel. Too quiet.
“Cliché, cliché, cliché.” Spoke the same, bored voice through the intercom of the hotel(with another sigh).
The heroes, who were in their various rooms, chatting both about their lives and the odd situation they were in, perked up. It’d been over a day since anything had been said through the speakers. They could now hear papers being shuffled and quiet mumblings from the voice.
“Yeah……I guess….I don’t see why not……no, Meeko will behave……yes, I’m sure of it………I just am, that’s how……Peeker? You want Peeker to behave too? ……no, I can’t gurantee that………because he’s peeker!..Wait, is this thing on?”
Crackly static for a moment, then the hotel was silent again. Then a click.
“'Heroes’. Come to the lobby. Adventure awaits you,” the monotone voice said, followed by the now expected sigh. “Adventure awaits you? Another cliché….how quaint. Anyway, come to the lobby now. Breakfast *also *awaits you……as do the still present chips and dip. Oh, we even have Bacon Salt available. Very Doperish, indeed, right? Uh, forget that part. ”
The EIUGC(apparently they had fully embraced the name) exited their rooms and descended to the hotel lobby. Indeed, breakfast was served. Eggs, toast, kippers, along with bacon. The heroes ate, enjoyed the free Bacon Salt, and talked. Even the kippers were salted with Bacon Salt.
After eating, the voice spoke again from the speaker.
“You may begin your deliberations. We, I mean I, challenge you to find the evil in your group. You must identify and kill one of you by the end of the Day. Have fun and enjoy the dip.”
**It is now Day One. This Day will run until Thursday at 3:00 PM Eastern. **
The player with the most votes at that time will be lynched. Have fun!
You like me, you really like me!
I’m Joel Robinson from Mystery Science Theater 3000 and I’m vanilla Town.
What?! WHAT?! OH MY GOD!!!
Ok Meeko, you can handle this, it’s not a problem.
It’s Just a Show, It’s Just a Show, It’s Just a Show, I should really just relax.
I’m not Meeko, but I have a comment.
If you feel that it is unlikely that names have any connection to power, why do you feel it likely that names have a connection to alignment?
This is a good question, I think that it would be unlikely in the context of the game that Mahaloth would choose unheroic characters for the town side and heroic characters for the scum side. I am town (no that that proves anything) and my character is a sutiably heroic fictional character. It’d be less likely that he would choose names associated with the characters power.
However that said I’m actually more inclined to back pedal a little, it may well be that Mahaloth has also choosen names that reflects a power. In which case naming could be a riskier a move for town than I first considered. I think the naming issue is still worth discussing for the reason I stated in the previous paragraph, but perhaps should be approached with a little caution.
You didn’t actually answer the question. You just restated what you think is likely and unlikely.
So, if I may assume, you are just describing how you would set it up if you were moderator?
Would it help to know that Mahaloth has designed games where powers were, in fact, aligned with the players character? He’s also designed games where they aren’t.
But, without some data, I’d be unwilling to assume anything.
And, from experience, I’d say it quite likely that Mahaloth has dealt with the issue of a name claim being beneficial to Town.
Even if names do reflect powers, the connection probably isn’t as obvious as alignment. For instance, in the LotR game, we had (among others) Legolas, Sam, and Saruman. It was no surprise that Legolas and Sam were good and Saruman evil, but it wouldn’t have been obvious just from those names that Legolas was the “doctor” (same mechanics, but different flavor), Sam would have gotten a bonus kill under some conditions, and Saruman was the Scum’s investigator. Now, in that game, one could still have mostly figured out who the power roles were (even if not necessarily which was which), based on how important the character was, but I gather that in this game, we have characters from different canons (at least, Idle’s claim is from a different canon than the sample role PM), so it won’t necessarily even be clear who the more “major” characters are.
Now, as for mass claims in general: I think it’s pretty firmly established that an early full mass-claim is a bad idea, but I don’t know that we’ve ever really resolved the question of whether partial claims help or hurt. In this case, we might do a name claim or a canon claim (i.e., what source our characters are from). As I see it, the main advantage of a partial claim like this is that it forces the Scum to pick their lies now, possibly before they’ve had a chance to give them much thought, and the main disadvantage is that it distracts from other topics of discussion. But of course, we don’t really have all that much else to discuss as yet, so I don’t see the drawback as particularly significant, and think that it would be a net benefit (albeit a small one) to make a limited mass-claim.
NETA:
Just because something’s beneficial to Town doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be dealt with. I mean, we have to do some things beneficial to Town to have any chance at all.
This is how I would assume it is being set up with characters named for known heroes/villians. It would seem jarring to have a known hero character as scum, in which case why bother to name them after known fictional characters at all?
Of course on the other hand Mahaloth, has talked about his game being unsolveable.
I still think a name claim is worth considering, but as I said I think I’d approach it with much more caution than I intially did.
In Lord of the Rings, it may have been more difficult to algin characters with standard powers. Though, of course, Aragorn would have made a better doctor than Legolas to anyone who read the books. And Galadriel would have made a better investigator, perhaps.
Without a strict canon, it seems quite easy to align characters with roles, and we should remember that Mahaloth did do this with Lost Mafia.
The basic question we need to ask is:
Does the potential benefits to Town in having a name claim outweigh the risks?
Potential Benefit:
- Scum may be forced to lie and we may have a name investigator. (We don’t know for sure if name gives away alignment until at least few people are dead)
Risks: - We may give away power role information. (We won’t know for sure until a few power roles are dead.)
Often good characters are given bad names. Sometimes, this is done to prevent a name claim from breaking the game. Sometimes it’s done just for fun. I’ve heard of Batman being non-Town in a Batman game. I made Mickey Mouse a Godfather in a Mickey Mouse Mafia game, and I had Wall-e as Scum also just because I hated that movie.
I’ve got an idea, though I think mass claiming of actual names right now is not a good idea.
How about if everyone claims whether they are town or scum (naturally everyon will claim they’re town), but also if they’re character is named for a fictional hero or villian? This should mean that the Town will now be aware of the values of names, something that the scum should already be as I assume they know each other’s characters names.