I'm not a huge fan of the leaderboard idea. Playing to receive points instead of playing just for fun kind of takes the joy out of it.
Playing for points doesn't negate fun values! I think part of the problem with mafia is that it's really easy to give up because oh well, it's tough and you forgot to talk a couple of days and got lost but if you want to win you can always play some other game. It's hard to remember any point of winning! Woo-hoo if you're lucky someone might post "Persony won with these other people or something.". Yay. That is, when you actually do win it's exciting! But otherwise it can be hard to find incentive. If there's some underlying
reason to win, actually trying as a result can bring a spark of fun back! Even when you lose. Especially when multiple people are actually trying, because it's not fun at all when everyone just sits around in silence!
One problem with a leaderboard might be that people can make their game however they like! That's not bad, but with a leaderboard all of a sudden accidentally biased games throw people a bunch of points because they made too many mafia, or gave the alien an extra power because they felt bad for it that turned out to swing the game. Also, intentionally super-short games.
Too, people can win by forgetting the game even exists. Is it okay to just let them have points? Mafia has a lot of luck value to it and I think putting a system in place to only give people who did the super-best job ever points is really silly, because luck is part of what makes it so other people can actually join! Punishing people who don't end up playing isn't that nice, either. But, if you can do just as well as anyone by joining a bunch of games and sitting on them, that might make it useless as a way to collect participation. Not because of people doing that maliciously, but just because that could feel as non-worthwhile as before to win if you
know just plain getting on the winning side will net points.
I don't know! Maybe it's actually a non-issue. In any case, I'd feel encouraged to play if it was more competitive!
Also, I think having more automated things besides just the names list would also be great for making it feel like an actual
game instead of a kind of dry roleplay, but I'm not sure how feasible it is.
And also would it be a good idea or even possible (with custom roles all over) to have different amounts of points for different kinds of wins? Winning as an innocent is way easier than winning as alien or some other special role. Maybe a number of points for any win that's divided by how many people won it? Like 10 points for a win in that case would mean an alien gets all ten, lovers get five each, and a group of ten innocents get one each.
Maybe two points for being on the winning side, plus one bonus point for being named MVP of the game by the GM (we should make that a thing if we're going with the leaderboard idea)?
That seems kind of rough on the GM to make them decide! Also maybe it'd be kind of hostile between GMs and players if people thought anything was unfair.
Iii don't know about being killed--eh, the mafia will tend to kill the people they think are threats, so that kind of invites playing to survive; maybe one point for being on the winning side but being lynched? Exceptions for alien, etc., of course.
Leaderboard sounds like it might be good in itself, though?
What about rewarding people for doing a good job avoiding being killed, though! Like there's a lot of strategies people take during discussion to deflect the mafia from them (convince them someone else is more dangerous, pretend to be a safe role). I guess if someone is successfully avoiding being killed at night they should also probably be avoiding lynch, but what if someone's
trying to get lynched to protect something better.
They're still getting points so maybe this is also a non-issue.
There is! I prefer playing on the channel because it's easier to discuss and post actions and what-not.
Also it's nice that they can be smaller games! Five people actively trying is a much more exciting game than twenty who are mostly bored (actually twenty people actively trying could get confusing and daunting really quick; wasn't TV Tropes Mafia like that?). Plus you get way more interesting set-ups in smaller groups. You don't have the same deal with throwaway roles or roles that are boring for someone to be for balance, because every role counts! You can make sure every person is able to do something really exciting because there are only a few players to balance.
