Suggestions
Experience
Many of the players in this game have played before; many have not. The dynamic will be interesting, and anyone open to learning will be able to do so, but some caution is needed.
Inexperienced players: I suggest you listen carefully to your more experienced counterparts -- they have done this before, in some cases many times. Listen to them, consider their advice carefully. Do not, however, trust them, as their goal is to win the game.
Experienced players: I suggest you exercise a bit of restraint at first, lest things get off to an unpleasant start. You are not expected to soft play -- everyone is trying to win. However, it behooves everyone to recall that this is not an all star game. Also, while you may say anything you want, I would appreciate it if you do not make misrepresentations about the structure of the game, or about basic strategy. Ideally, some of the new players will stick around; please do not drive them away. And finally, I suggest you listen to them -- fresh eyes and new thoughts may turn out to be quite valuable.
Post Volume
While everyone is expected to participate, it can be overdone. If everyone spams the thread, this 21 player game will soon become unreadable to those who want to catch up or do research on what has transpired, and overwhelming to those who did not realize that werewolf is often all-consuming. (Sorry, didn't we mention that?) A modicum of restraint may be in order, particularly in the first few days.
Fighting
Werewolf is an adversarial game. It is also a game of very limited information. Whether for these reasons or others, discussions sometimes become arguments, and feelings sometimes get hurt. In particular, two things are often difficult to deal with: being called names, and getting wrongly wagoned (voted for lynching) or mislynched (meaning, lynched when you're a villager).
Name calling... maybe shouldn't happen, but it does. And I won't stop it, as it is, for better or worse, part of the game. Recall, though, that when someone calls you a moron or says your play is ******ed, he means it in the context of the game -- and he may not mean it at all. Maybe he (or she; you know what I mean) is a wolf trying to agitate you, or a villager trying to make you crack if you're a wolf. On the other hand, maybe he really thinks that right now you are being ******ed. And he may even be right; in retrospect, it may turn out that you're making an obvious mistake. People do that, even people who have played this game a bunch.
Remember always: it's a game. People are trying to win, and you need to, too, but it's not worth getting upset over. Put down the mouse, step away from the keyboard. Maybe take a walk -- you could probably use some fresh air anyway.
Being wrongly wagoned or mislynched... happens. In fact, it's inevitable. In a typical game, especially early on, more villagers are lynched than wolves (until seer peeks come into play, anyway). The person saying you're "wolfy" and trying to kill you for it may really believe that you're a wolf -- and the fact that he can't see that you're "obviously" a villager doesn't make him a bad person, it just makes him wrong. Also, he may be a wolf trying to get rid of you -- but assuming that that has to be the case is usually a bad plan. Meanwhile, if the whole village seems to think you're acting like a wolf, they may be right -- if you're the only one who can see that you're an obvious villager, you need to rethink what "obvious" means. And if you can't convince them, remember that in the long run, if your team wins it doesn't matter if you're alive or dead -- you still won.
Giving Up
That having been said, it is rarely right to give up as a villager. Good players very rarely roll over and say "I guess you have to lynch me" -- while those times happen, they are rare. It is your job as a villager not just to help the village find wolves but also to help it find villagers -- including you.
With that in mind, tantrums when people are wagoned, however wrong-headed and lazy the village may be at the time, will not be tolerated by the moderator. If you find the urge to vote yourself to spite the village, restrain it -- because if you indulge that urge, I may modkill you and give the village another lynch, which would hurt your team even more than the mistake it's making. (Everything in these two paragraphs applies pretty much only to villagers; it doesn't often come up when the person in question is a wolf, but tantrums will not be appreciated regardless who throws them).
If you have trouble, just remind yourself that it may all be the wolves' doing, and that's actually a compliment. If they want to get rid of you, you must be doing something right.
Playing to Win
Villagers and seers win if the village wins. Each wolf wins if the wolves win. This is a team game.
Unfortunately, sometimes it's not so simple. We're human; everyone wants to play. To be honest, the villager who is mislynched day one (if that happens), and the one who is eaten night one, are not going to get as much out of the game as those who make it into the second week. It is the nature of the game, however, that some people have to be eliminated early. Sorry; next game, maybe you'll get to play to end game. Meanwhile, it really is a lot of fun watching the game from the sidelines; try it.
Sometimes you may be tempted to do something that probably isn't best for your team, but will tend to make you survive longer . I can't keep you from doing that, but I will implore you to forgo it. Playing to survive, when you think it hurts your team, is contrary to the spirit of the game. Do not do it.
What Matters and What Doesn't
The answer's easy: none of this matters. It's a game. It's fun. If you don't have fun and think you won't next time, don't do it again. But meanwhile, enjoy this game, and help others do the same.
We don't play for money. There is no fame for werewolf players. There are no championships to win. If you keep at it long enough, people may start saying you're really, really good at the game -- but even then you won't win a whole lot more than your share, because there are large stochastic elements that prevent anyone from dominating. Similarly, if you lose -- maybe this game, maybe a lot of games -- it's not a big deal. Maybe you're just unlucky. Maybe your teammates let you down. Heck, maybe you stink -- but so what? (I'm pretty sure it was about five games into my werewolf career before I was right about anything)
However, you need to be warned. Some of you will find that this silly, text-based Internet game with a bunch of people you're never going to meet in real life, which requires lots of effort but on which nothing rides, takes on a life of its own. You will spend hours at it. You will dream about it. You will not be able to explain why, to any rational person who doesn't play, but it will matter. A lot.
At that point, you will be one of us.
It is still night. Do not post in this thread.
Who is that, anyway?
