i dunno i feel like we don't really play as much as in (mainly my fault). i think i've been afk, windblown has other forums to moderate, and there just doesn't seem anyone here to drive the forum (marquis although idk if he's still around) do we need another mod? do we just need to make and play games and stop FLAKING? for non-mafia players (mafia players feel free to respond) - do you want to play mafia? what stops you from playing mafia? would you be interested in taking up mafia? for everyone- do you want more forum games? do we still really have a community? is everyone hibernating waiting for their moment? can we get enough/more players? answer if u wish
I think people always have stuff in the works (e.g. marquis, notmafia, myself) but it seems there are just periods where no one signs up/if they do they are inactive. Very seasonal I guess? Also Marquis can't host every game! I can start a game on that infamous date that is the 6th of July, but kinda want a cohost cause don't trust myself for updates. Although that's a short term thing. Long-term. Mafia still good. Just maybe we need to coordinate when people are less busy for more than a week (i.e. 1 - 2 months) ? We could try the ol' continuously run a simple game (matrix/vanilla/basically just a 9-13p with normal mechanics/roles) so that there is always something on but it just seems no one is committed to it. It probably all comes back to activity. Inactivity breeds inactivity. Would need a conscious effort to be active. If everyone was hypothetically not as busy for that couple month period we could try start something bigger. I dunno if that makes sense - pretty rushed post but yeah probably just need more smallish games to be hosted and people to commit to playing them to the end and hosts being enthusiastic throughout
took a break from playing forum mafia cause end of school year, but with summer I can fit a NOC in. rusty me will be fun to watch. I've been looking for another forum mod candidate but inactivity kinda hurts the subforum. We're only having small player setups which is fine but Marquis kinda died who was our main source of activity tbh. My recent Space Invaders game I thought would bring some life into the subforum, but that ended so bah. I'm actually waiting for a 13-17p game cause I feel that would be nice, some classic nitty-gritty mafia that doesn't end in a few game days. Fire and Ice + Taylor Swift were quite good imo.
Yeah I just wanna apologise for my shitty activity in most of the mafia games I've joined. I'd normally like mafia, especially as scum, and I've had plenty of fun playing it when I've been able to maintain my play, but it's gotten to the point where I just can't bring the effort to actually achieve anything in a game. Unfortunately, this stems from mental illness, and hence isn't going to change in the near future. Also worth pointing out that I think I'm pretty active, it's just playing mafia is way too demanding for me right now, especially in terms of attention and concentration. So yeah, note to self; don't join any mafia games in the near future Anyhow, I'm still keen for literally anything else. I think I'd be able to manage (co)hosting, even though it's something I've not done before. I'd like to see more forum games that aren't mafia. For me personally, I'm interested in games that involve regular activity but don't require a great degree of effort to participate in. I kinda think we just have a dormant community. In the games that are run we still see the same familiar faces, sheep games in particular are nice because we are united in calling meowmix a john are really relaxed and just have a good time (although that brings in people from outside the forum games community, which isn't bad but I guess it runs somewhat counter to my point). Also I feel like maybe if #Jalmont mafia saw more activity, just in terms of ppl hanging out chatting that might help (I know I'm not one to talk tho, given how quiet I usually am on server
Yeah jalmont mafia activity would be nice. I used to hang out and talk there a lot but lately the place has been so dead that I don't even bother to look at the channel :[ I'd also be up for hosting/cohosting. NOMINATION MAFIA was p enjoyable to host and I may host again in the near future I will be busy this summer and can't muster up the activity to play, but hopefully I will be able to get some rust off of me come September @MeowMix sux update sheep
yeah i think it's just a seasonal thing. i didn't join any game over the last month or so because of exams and i'm fairly sure i'm not the only one. now exams are over i'll definitely be joining some games again, and my favorites are still plain regular NOCs like Fire and Ice which was fun or like Taylor Swift U-Pick which looked like way more fun. but yeah it's probably something seasonal, i'm going to be joining more and yay for simple games
well my hope is that it's a seasonal thing but i also fear that a lack of activity leads to a lack of identity and a lack of a visible community (considering # of votes). i mean i guess at the end of the day we just have to host games and hope people show up. i'd like to host a game or two this summer, but probably not mafia since i'm sort of burned out (sorry Orth). i guess we will just see what happens!
I definitely love playing mafia and other forum games, and I'm 100% up for hosting them. The inactivity occurred likely due to exams, and now that they're done we could potentially try again with somewhat larger games (like Manic Mafia). Now that I think about it, I still have the roles for that other OC game that Michu approved earlier, which I could host later. (I was supposed to host it with kyu, but idk where he went.) I'd even be cool with hosting non-mafia games if/when I come up with something original/cool. So yeah, I really hope that there's more games and activity to come!
what we're seeing here isn't seasonal; this time last year had quite a few games running successfully if we want forum games to take off again we as a community need to make a conscientious to host games and bring in new blood. I know a lot of us were burned out after fashionable (I know I didn't want to play anything for a while after that) and that's fine, but we let it get to a point where there were literally no games running besides dopog's before I started sheep again. we can't be overly reliant on one person; if we want to keep this going, we all need to pitch in, bite the bullet, and make some games happen also fuck users: Roy Mustang ZoroDark MeowMix sux Fegelein NotMafia meepsvictory Windblown Epikhairz ZZZX Yagura Raducan Fiery Espeon Marina Duster Trace Of Life
Personally, I noticed that village activity seems to drop after Day 1 when some discussion had run dry, which leads to the game being dead. I definitely like NOC Mafia but for the game to be enjoyable there would always need to be discussion. In my opinion, I think there should be more games with power roles (best if every player is a PR like in Taylor Swift) so that players have something to work with. Dedication is a big factor too I feel, if you sign up for a game I think you should be able to finish it even if you've lost motivation (I should not be the one to talk about motivation because I procrastinate a lot in real life). I don't know, do something stupid, maybe start an unnecessary argument just to get discussion going and eventually bring yourself back into the game? Mafia can help activity too by leaving active players alive, but I don't think many are willing to gamble their chance of winning.
I kind of...accidentally completely cut off my participation in PO as a community in general for like a month (haven't done that in over 2 years :/), and I feel that I should try to make up for this somehow. [NOC] games of all shapes and sizes are a perennial interest of mine so I should probably get back into this subforum. also one of these days i will host a game The server's seemed kind of dead in general in the past week or two, though. And not just the two non-official channels that I still check, but #mafia and #trivia don't have large games in what used to be peak hours. IDK if it's just me but perhaps this is a problem larger than Forum Games? @ZZZX hi
you have a lot of factors to account for: such as summer, where everyone's too busy drinking lager and skateboarding, that PO's servers pale in comparison to smogon's (smogon to use is like 2:1 last time i checked), and that, well, mafia is rather anticlimatic at times. no one's going to waste weeks or even months at a time playing forum mafia for gods sake. people want quick, fun and easy. i'm not really getting a sense of the former two from mafia, despite that i've only played one game here.
to be fair though the main thing that prevents people being on more is school which there is no more of. servers don't really affect us, although it is true we are affected by having a smaller pool of potential players. i disagree that no one wants "to waste weeks" playing mafia (months is a stretch though). you are wrong to say that because clearly there have been people who have "wasted weeks" playing mafia. the draw to forum mafia is its complexity. it is for people who are interested in a more complex and less flawed version of mafia. people may want "quick fun easy" and while we may not be "quick" we definitely can be fun. there is clearly a draw to forum mafia (which i'm not going to expand unless necessary) the issue is getting people to recognize and act upon that draw although to be honest i find smogon mafia more interactive and fun then here because our games focus more on writing whereas i feel smogon captures more of the "mafia" feel. personally preference i guess i want to host my nonmafia game, but i am in a really shitty timezone and there's someone i need to talk to before i flesh out/develop my game more
hi, i have been lurking on this kinda, but holy crap. Summer is PO's peak time in activity as all of the people in school (be it middle, high, or collegian levels) are able to spend more time on PO (among other things). I don't think the time of year is the issue here. Also, a couple side-notes/other nitpicks: 1) smogon's playerbase is more than 2:1 in comparison to us, but that's not relevant as we have had a fair sized mafia / forum games community in the past, arguably, while we don't currently. 2) mafia can be anticlimactic, but it can also me climatic, depending on the circumstances. 3) "(people) want quick, fun and easy" that's what she said (hue) & i am fine with a more drawn-out game if it's entertaining - also, it's peoples' responsibilities to know what they sign up for. 4) if you've only played one game here, why are you talking like you know everything? just wondering.
i am not 'talking like i know everything'. i am just giving my opinion and perspective on things and factors that may lead to the low playerbase
i think you do bring up some good points in that from an outside perspective our games, well, can look boring. i'm not going to lie i don't even follow NOC games because of how zzz they are billions of pages of zzz - whereas on the other hand OC games are fun to read because there is a good mix of joking around, serious gameplay that doesn't totally overwhelm you. obviously there's nothing that can really be done about that, but i can definitely see your point in how the appearance of our mafia games can be seen as uninteresting also i want to say that we've definitely done some things right as there have been times that our playerbase has rivalved that of smogon's even considering they've been around longer/have a bigger potential player pool
declining quality levels (which i will take partial blame for) mostly i just keep losing fellow players i know and like playing with or mostly watching whether they leave or just stop playing mafia (players like waehofen-for-a-bit tso tiwss metal sonic michu marcello hd-man-so-much-hd-tho-we-are-in-contact-again jhen going to stop here before more sadness) ALSO LURKING WHILE I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MANAGE DEADLINE THINGS IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO PLAY THE FUCKING GAME ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO CONTINUALLY PROD DODGE THEN DON'T FUCKING JOIN and the no was temporary i didn't realize this poll didn't allow me to change my vote which is decidedly not in the spirit of good forum mafiaing so there is that too
this is the bitter conclusion of a downward spiral ignited by my failures in moderating po anon set 2
also meowmix won't update sheep which is igniting the dried urine he previously deposited at the bottom of this spiral
i actually really feel you man. looking back at old threads it's kinda sad to see people you've played with that you've genuinely liked and maybe even formed good friendships with leave. vb for one, then a lot of the people you mentioned..i know that at least tso is on mafiascum but i know that people def get new interests, real life happens and suddenly you aren't really around. it's kinda been like that for me too recently... but the great thing about a community like this is that we still have opportunities to find more cool people.. for all the people gone i meet new people who i really like as well, and at the very least the feeling of a growing community is really important to foster just for that factor..
I still want to play games here. I have moved to mafiascum though since games actually happen there. There are not enough people willing to host games any more. I got tired of Hosting games since I wanted to play them, apparently Marquis is now hosting a bunch too. I am working on a non-mafia game that is super awesome and cool but it is going to take a while to get it up and running. I feel like we don't really have the player base anymore for the games we want to run. We struggle on some of the smaller games it seems.