# Mafia: Goontown \[Game Over\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [September 22, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754 "2018-09-22T22:54:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/161 "2018-10-02T02:09:54Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Scum are highly moviated to agitate other people and set them against one another. Have you never seen a Coen brothers movie? > > Stranger Oh, many a Coen film I ha’e seen. But that’s not the point. snf and Biotop both post a lot whether they are Town or Scum. It’s not a telling point. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/162 "2018-10-02T02:36:59Z")
Are those the post counts with the pre-D1 posts subtracted out? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/163 "2018-10-02T12:24:08Z")
Since I have nothing better to do: snoe: 1 (snfaulkner) Prof. Pepperwinkle: 2 (Knowed Out, Johnny Bravo) snfaulkner: 1 (Stranger on a Train) Biotop: 1 (snoe) Knowed Out: 1 (Sunny Daze) Stranger on a Train: 1 (Mahaloth) Mahaloth: 1 (Prof. Pepperwinkle) ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/164 "2018-10-02T13:38:33Z")
Good day, everyone! How much weight does post count really have, would you say? Wouldn’t quality over quantity be the most important thing? Sadly I’m lacking a bit in both areas thus far. At this point I’m really just trying to shaking off the rust and checking out the Mafia Wiki for any type of insight. Is Day 1 generally just a crapshoot? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/165 "2018-10-02T16:37:48Z")
Did **Pleonast** did an IRL reason for low vote count? **Prof P** I wondered when we’d see some numbers. 😃 **Hi,Neighbor** generally, yes, crapshoot, unless something unusual happens. Unless we hear from **Pleonast** , I will change my vote to him. Lynch the lurker is as good as reason as any at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/166 "2018-10-02T16:38:49Z")
NETA: That should be “low post count” on the first line, not “low vote count”. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/167 "2018-10-02T17:35:37Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Unless we hear from **Pleonast** , I will change my vote to him. Lynch the lurker is as good as reason as any at the moment. **Pleonast** isn’t in the game. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/168 "2018-10-02T21:01:09Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Is Day 1 generally just a crapshoot? I don’t think it’s controversial to say that decisions early on Day 1 tend towards crapshootery. (Right?) The more information that’s out there — discussion, but also voting activity — the better we’ll do at making decisions. I got some pushback for bringing up chance, but I’m just being Bayesian as I understand it — beginning with prior assumptions, then adjusting. We have some absolutely firm priors: 2 Mafia, 8 town, 10 players. We might get the right person more or less than 1/5 of the time, depending on how people play, but I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe that it’ll be more than a little bit less. We still have a ways to go on day 1, though. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/169 "2018-10-02T21:04:23Z")
Players (correct me if I’m wrong) > [@Chronos](#): > > 1. **snfaulkner** > 2. **Mahaloth** > 3. **Biotop** > 4. **Prof. Pepperwinkle** > 5. **Sunny Daze** > 6. **Snoe** > 7. **Hi, Neighbor!** > 8. **Knowed Out** > 9. **Johnny Bravo** > 10. **Stranger on a Train**. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/170 "2018-10-02T21:09:52Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Good day, everyone! How much weight does post count really have, would you say? It matters in case of a tie vote, so people were joking about bumping up their post counts at the beginning. More imprtantly for us as players, staying low and quiet could be a good scum tactic. If no one remembers you, they won’t vote for you. Except that there’s also a “Lynch the lurker” norm, and of course it’s pretty easy to counteract this rule if you are scum, and also some people may stay quiet for good reasons. Yeah, it could matter, in other words. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/171 "2018-10-02T21:13:05Z")
I stayed home sick today. But when I feel a bit better I’ll talk about my butter/beer zone theory on post counts. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/172 "2018-10-02T21:20:52Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > No, Shit-Sherlock ;). But with so little to go on, good show nonetheless. Can I sidebar and say: The real-world me feels really bad about cracking this joke, Bravo. I know it’s a game, yadda yadda, but it was unkind, especially since it was one of the first attempts I’ve seen at analyzing more than one player’s actions at once. Man, I’d forgotten how messed up this game can be. You can’t make a sincere apology and know it’ll be taken as sincere, not performative That is part of its design and appeal, of course. But however you take it, Bravo — sorry for calling your detective work shitty. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/173 "2018-10-02T21:24:29Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > **vote Mahaloth** > for being even quieter than usual. Has Mahaloth played a lot of games here? Is the silence atypical? EDIT: I’ll take a “trust but verify” approach to any answers I get. Just don’t have time to do a lot of searching right now. But I think Mahaloth is being too quiet for their own good. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/174 "2018-10-02T21:45:14Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Has Mahaloth played a lot of games here? Is the silence atypical? > > EDIT: I’ll take a “trust but verify” approach to any answers I get. Just don’t have time to do a lot of searching right now. But I think Mahaloth is being too quiet for their own good. Mahaloth and I have played a lot of games together over on Giraffe. He’s typically quiet, but not this quiet. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/175 "2018-10-02T21:46:47Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Are those the post counts with the pre-D1 posts subtracted out? Nope. I posted them as they showed up in the Who’s Posted column. I figured that’s what the Mod is using to keep track of posts for the day, but I can see where having the early posts removed would be helpful. Maybe I’ll be able to get to that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/176 "2018-10-02T22:10:07Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Can I sidebar and say: The real-world me feels really bad about cracking this joke, Bravo. I know it’s a game, yadda yadda, but it was unkind, especially since it was one of the first attempts I’ve seen at analyzing more than one player’s actions at once. > > Man, I’d forgotten how messed up this game can be. You can’t make a sincere apology and know it’ll be taken as sincere, not performative That is part of its design and appeal, of course. But however you take it, Bravo — sorry for calling your detective work shitty. ☹ Heh, no worries whatsoever. I thought it was clever, but I accept your apology in the spirit it was given. As scum desperately trying to cover his tracks, having realized how badly he’s flailing. \<3 ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/177 "2018-10-02T22:32:08Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Can I sidebar and say: The real-world me feels really bad about cracking this joke, Bravo. I know it’s a game, yadda yadda, but it was unkind, especially since it was one of the first attempts I’ve seen at analyzing more than one player’s actions at once. > > Man, I’d forgotten how messed up this game can be. You can’t make a sincere apology and know it’ll be taken as sincere, not performative That is part of its design and appeal, of course. But however you take it, Bravo — sorry for calling your detective work shitty. ☹ what? and I"M a goody-goody? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/178 "2018-10-02T22:48:25Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > I never have understood why post editing is a big deal in a mafia game. I’d rather be able to clean up my typo. > [@snoe](#): > > I don’t think it’s controversial to say that decisions early on Day 1 tend towards crapshootery. (Right?) The more information that’s out there — discussion, but also voting activity — the better we’ll do at making decisions. > > I got some pushback for bringing up chance, but I’m just being Bayesian as I understand it — beginning with prior assumptions, then adjusting. We have some absolutely firm priors: 2 Mafia, 8 town, 10 players. We might get the right person more or less than 1/5 of the time, depending on how people play, but I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe that it’ll be more than a little bit less. > > We still have a ways to go on day 1, though. Oh, it’s controversial to say it’s a crapshoot. I think it got me lynched over on giraffe one time. I am a firm believer that Day 1 is almost always no better than chance. We celebrate when we catch scum, but it’s mainly just luck. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/179 "2018-10-02T22:49:37Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > **vote Mahaloth** > for being even quieter than usual. Yeah, I guess. Honestly, I’m just really busy. I don’t’ have any big response, though. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754/180 "2018-10-03T02:37:05Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Oh, it’s controversial to say it’s a crapshoot. I think it got me lynched over on giraffe one time. I am a firm believer that Day 1 is almost always no better than chance. We celebrate when we catch scum, but it’s mainly just luck. My experience with **Mahaloth** is the more I hear him say that the game cannot be figured out, the more likely it is that he is Scum. **Vote Mahaloth** for meta reasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mafia-goontown-game-over/821754.md?page=10)