# Random Mafia **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 18, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942 "2010-03-18T21:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![special\_ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@special\_ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/special_ed)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/101 "2010-03-19T20:13:06Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > You are Thomas Keller (Chef). You win with the Town. > [Thomas Keller - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Keller) a random wikipedia game? This makes me rejoice! ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/102 "2010-03-19T20:15:21Z")
I doubt it’d help–the revealed name in the sample PM isn’t from anything close to the same universe as mine, AND ShadowFact’s “death” included a role but not a name so we have to believe we might not even get names upon death reveal. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/103 "2010-03-19T20:17:46Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Well, we might as well get this discussion started: should we consider a name claim? Is there any point to it? I don’t think it will get us anywhere one way or the other, so I am in favor. More information is always good. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/104 "2010-03-19T20:21:12Z")
Confirming receipt of role PM. Probably won’t be on much until tomorrow morning. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/105 "2010-03-19T20:22:13Z")
I think a name claim will at least lock in the potential roles a player could have. I’d be surprised if John Wayne was our doctor but not surprised if he was our vig. Of course the danger in this is that we’ll give the scum places to start shooting. I’m not against it but I enjoy trying to game the game almost as much as trying to play it. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/106 "2010-03-19T20:25:48Z")
By the way, in case you hadn’t pieced it together yourself, the roles were assigned randomly. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/107 "2010-03-19T20:27:43Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > \*\* > Should I take this as worded, or is their a group of people you didn’t mention here? \*\* I’m not understanding the question. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/108 "2010-03-19T20:29:57Z")
Should we also look closely at people who are cagey about claiming? Scum haven’t had a chance to contact each other about deciding if they should make something up (a la the rotifier claim from last game). ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/109 "2010-03-19T20:32:16Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > I’m not understanding the question. **You’ve basically confirmed that if there are any masons, they can’t communicate off-board.** ---
**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:** [March 19, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/110 "2010-03-19T20:41:07Z")
Wow, that was quicker than I’d expected. Confirming receipt of role. On to game business, I feel comfortable in saying that my role is that of a real (non-fictional) person, and that my PM included a link to that person’s Wikipedia page. I do not yet have a firm opinion on the subject of a mass name-claim: I’d like to hear proponents and opponents give arguments on that subject first. If we do decide to do a mass name-claim, though, it should probably be toDay, before the Scum have a chance to coordinate, to increase the chance of catching someone in an inconsistency. Meanwhile on the roles, I think that we can safely assume that we have a Doctor and a Detective, or close approximations thereof, given that **sachertorte** expressed the opinion in the just-finished Pond game that a lack of those roles in a closed setup is a huge bias against Town (since it means Scum faking those claims will never be counterclaimed). ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/111 "2010-03-19T20:41:11Z")
Not sure what to think about name-claiming. For one thing, if the names were picked out at random from wikipedia, how do we even know if the names correspond to alignments? My name is kind of vaguely Town, but that’s only one datapoint, and one that is only available to me. On the other hand, I remember LOST mafia, where if Town had jumped straight to a name-claim we probably would have broken the game wide open. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/112 "2010-03-19T20:41:46Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > **You’ve basically confirmed that if there are any masons, they can’t communicate off-board.** Well, since I never have masons communicate privately, it’s probably a good bet that I’ll continue the practice. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/113 "2010-03-19T20:45:49Z")
Also, my name came with a parenthetical Capitalized Profession (like the sample PM); it seems like a reasonable guess that everyone else’s did as well. Still, if we do a name claim we should probably leave those out as they’d make what was already a scum fisherman’s paradise even more favorable. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/114 "2010-03-19T20:46:27Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Advice you don’t want while we’re still in the pregame stage, because I’m not going to talk about this kind of stuff once we start: _it’s a game_. Every post that you read is going to be an attempt to play the game. To the extent that you take it personally or read it as an obvious criticism of you as anything other than a gamepiece, you’re doing it wrong and/or getting played by somebody who knows he or she can play you. > > I say that for a few reasons. One, you got really upset at me last time we played because we disagreed about a couple things, and I’m going to need you _on my side_ if you’re on my side again this time. Two, I watched the last game pretty well start-to-finish and it was very frustrating to watch you get angry and start taking the game personally, because it ruined the experience of reading the game. And three, most importantly to me, I don’t want to play a game where every third post is a really frustrating diversion from actual gameplay, so I want to get all of this out there so I don’t have to make frustratingly out-of-game posts once we start. Fourth, probably most importantly to everyone else, since I don’t want to have this conversation anymore, my only real way to deal with it during the game if I think somebody is making it difficult to play the game is to vote for them. > > How’s that sound? Everybody agrees up front we don’t care how anybody approaches the game philosophically or how “good” they are, that voting isn’t a popularity contest and disagreements and contradictions are going to happen, and we just play the game? how’s life hoosier? ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/115 "2010-03-19T20:47:44Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Not sure what to think about name-claiming. For one thing, if the names were picked out at random from wikipedia, how do we even know if the names correspond to alignments? My name is kind of vaguely Town, but that’s only one datapoint, and one that is only available to me. > > On the other hand, I remember LOST mafia, where if Town had jumped straight to a name-claim we probably would have broken the game wide open. Well, we don’t. In fact a name claim is probably meaningless, but that’s all the more reason to do it I think. I can’t see any real downside, and the upside is probably non existent, but when in doubt I say you should always opt for more information rather than less. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/116 "2010-03-19T20:49:59Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > PM received. **vote story** i’ve just got to vote a strong player on the chance that they are scum or not. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/117 "2010-03-19T20:52:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If we do decide to do a mass name-claim, though, it should probably be toDay, before the Scum have a chance to coordinate, to increase the chance of catching someone in an inconsistency. I agree we need to do it toDay if we’re going to and preferably early in the Day so we can work with the data a bit but I don’t think we’re going to catch any scum with it toDay. Since it appears that the roles are based on random wiki entries it won’t take much to create a fake PM if the scum are obvious names. What I think the benefit would be is that once we claim names it will hurt the scum later in that, like I said earlier, John Wayne won’t be able to claim to be the Doc. By limiting what powers the scum can claim before they claim them we’ve put ourselves a step ahead. Just to be balance by telling the scum the towns potential powers we’ve made their job of hunting power roles easier as well ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/118 "2010-03-19T21:01:39Z")
On the plus side, the random element could also mess with the scum’s role fishing - it’s not like LOST where everyone knew that Jack would be the doctor et cetera. On balance, I’d be in favor of a name claim. ---
**Author:** ![peekercpa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@peekercpa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peekercpa)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/119 "2010-03-19T21:03:27Z")
well i can tell you that my name has nothing to do with game capabilities. name claims just muddy the waters and give scum a nice little hand hold on which to attack. or misguided players in the case of **ed**. plus if i stay in this sucka long enough you will get some cool video links. bwth, either way i can be cool with it. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942/120 "2010-03-19T21:04:01Z")
Quoth **Oredigger** : > [@](#): > > I agree we need to do it toDay if we’re going to and preferably early in the Day so we can work with the data a bit but I don’t think we’re going to catch any scum with it toDay. Right, I think it’s unlikely that _anything_ we do will catch us a Scum toDay (really, how often is the first-Day lynch correct, anyway? I’ve never seen it happen). But doing a name-claim toDay will prevent the Scum from saying “OK, I’m planning on claiming Doctor, so I’m going to take the name Clara Barton. Don’t anybody pick Jonas Salk” (or whatever). On the other hand, if we do have exactly one claimed name that looks consistent with Doctor, and exactly one claimed name that looks consistent with Detective, then the Scum will have a field day with their Night-kills. One suggestion I’ve seen (I think it was in Lost) was that the real Doctor should be encouraged to come up with a generic-looking fake claim: That way, the still-hidden Doctor could protect the presumably-outed Detective. Quoth **Tom Scud** : > [@](#): > > Also, my name came with a parenthetical Capitalized Profession (like the sample PM); it seems like a reasonable guess that everyone else’s did as well. Still, if we do a name claim we should probably leave those out as they’d make what was already a scum fisherman’s paradise even more favorable. Eh, if all the names are people with Wikipedia articles, it wouldn’t be all that hard to look up what the person’s profession is, anyway. I don’t see that that makes much difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/random-mafia/532942.md?page=7)