Becoming a general gaming site has not helped RV out. That is evidently clear. Of course, 2 years ago, there wasn't much else the admin team could do. But that was 2 years ago. If RV is to grow again, instead of becoming a stagnating clique, we need some sort of modern focus.

Although I have never played Mafia, i know how popular it is with RVers. Whilst I don't think it's enough to bring in a new generation of members, I believe it has a large enough following to at least get the ball rolling again. To start with, i believe the current Mafia topic should be given more prominence on RV. A homepage article, and link to the topic, as well as possibly globalling the topic too.

It might be worth a small effort to write a dedicated Mafia backend, allowing mafia games to be set up, tracked and administrated much more easily than as a simple topic. Of course, this is open to discussion, and may happily be torn to bits if you wish. But having a dedicated backend could provide an easy way for new games to be set up.

Of course, Mafia is only something to get users to stay, we really need something to get them hooked in the first place. As much as it's been suggested before and nothing has been done about it, it might be an idea to rebrand the village as a bi-monthly newsletter-type thing. One of the biggest assets RV had was the Villager. I think the Villager could possibly be the saving grace once again. Adding interactive quizzes, mafia game results, and of course the odd original article or two could help draw new Villagers in.

I'm just beating ideas around. Feel free to drop in your own suggestions.

And please [i]please[i] don't turn this into a flame fest. If you have nothing constructive to add, don't post anything.

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Everybody is suffering from a lack of light.
One day, the eldest of this village leaves for the mountain with a teaspoon in his hands.
The others ask him what he intends to do.
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"But you will never succeed!" they cry out.
"No, i will never succeed, but somebody has to start."

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Kikori wrote:

Runevillage the forum is pretty well much done. Runevillage the group will eventually die, but as long as we're still friends with each other in the end, it's still a pretty big thought in our heads. Runevillage the family is forever, no matter where we settle down. If absolutely nothing else ever comes of Runevillage in the future, that alone is a pretty damn awesome thought.

Mafia wasn't just popular with the Villagers - It was, and still is, popular with forums across the internet. I can guarantee any forum that's been up for a while will of had at least one mafia game.

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Kikori wrote:

Topsummoner wrote:

Riptide wrote:

I used to get you and J@n mixed up. Except your funnier. And nicer. Happy 21st bro!

Oh man Jan, you just got zinged by Riptide. How much does THAT suck?

Well, statistically speaking, slightly more than a giant suckusaur. A dire one.

PenguinGuy wrote:

Lets see if I remember how to play...

EX REX IS MAFIA SCUM FOURTHVOTER UNVILLAGE BLAH BLAH BLAH SCUM BLAH WINE IN FRONT OF ME BLAH BLAH META GAME BLAH BLAH BLAH SMELLS OF ELDERBERRIES BLAH

Right?

I agree with 123. Mafia should definately be given some prominence. Tracking stats of games is a good idea. Wins and Losses, Special Role Wins, etc.
It could even be the hook itself, although it would be nice to have more than one hook....hmmm...

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I feel like as dead as mafia games have gotten on RV that it may be more beneficial to try playing mafia somewhere such as http://www.mafiascum.net/

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To do this sort of tracking, you'd need to either standardize the games (from what I've heard, many flavors of mafia get played), or otherwise there'd be too much overhead in generating meaningful results other than win/loss.

I think the main reason why I don't play mafia is due to the timing of it - I played chatroom mafia and enjoyed the pace, but waiting for day/night phases is a real turnoff for me.

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We don't even do Mafia very well, though, to be honest. How would making it our main focus benefit RuneVillage, when there are much, much better Mafia sites out there (Pyro posted the main one)? As a user who would have never been to RV before, I don't get the impression that I would stay here for Mafia games alone.

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.Legendary themed months are back! Maybe.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*why* is their mafia better than ours? how can we make ours better??

Wow, didnt expect to see something like that!

-Phat

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PoopbaLL`

Hiker, their mafia is better simply because they have more people. It's run more efficiently and by people who have more experience than us.

I've played mafia on that site a few times and I prefer our mafia games for obvious reasons. I know and like everyone here. I generally know what to expect and frankly our metagame makes the game more fun for me. There is no metagame when there are dozens (hundreds?) of games going, and there really is no getting to know anyone on a mafia site with hundreds of active users. At least that's the way it appeared when myself, Top, Paidea, and whoever else used to play there a few years ago.

As everyone has said, our community is what makes us special and it is our community that makes mafia games here so enjoyable. Nowhere else does D1 like we do. Nowhere else has the inside jokes, like the nocturnal detective. Nowhere else plays by the exact rules we do (or don't ). But this does not exactly translate to new people wanting to play here, because let's face it, some grievances about RV being 'cliquish' are valid. All of my closest friends on the site play or have played mafia. Those of us considered 'good' at the game are in a group alone, and I myself am perhaps the worst offender on perpetuating that sentiment. It's part of the reason I saw fit to quit mafia.

At any rate, our games are much, much better run than mafia games on other RS forums and general forums. But they are not on par with mafiascum or (I imagine) other websites that are dedicated to mafia. While I think perhaps, depending on the activity in the game that is forthcoming, mafia could be a saving grace or at least hold off the death knell for RV, we should not model ourselves or our mafia after Mafiascum or any other site like it. If we did, we would lose some of the things that make RV special.

So what now?

Also, hiker, come play mafia. I would absolutely love to battle you intellectually.

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I don't think I could handle playing mafia on RV. I've started playing it this year on the forum I spend most of my time now. Most games there run 3 days minimum and maybe 8 - 10 days maximum, with anything from one to fourteen hour phases. Anything over 12 hours usually results in people becoming impatient, though. I've never played on mafiascum, do they have similarly quick games (compared to RV)?

I'm not dissing RV's mafia scene either, just think after becoming accustomed to short games I'd get frustrated over longer games regardless of where they're played.

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That's actually an incredibly good point, ape. But it is a double-edged sword. A game with three day long day phases allows for (generally) a lot more to happen. If RV cut its day phases to 24 hours or less, many of us wouldn't even have an opportunity to post. But, on the flipside, that might actually encourage more activity.

Allowing phases to be a few hours in length would be disastrous for RVs mafia scene, though. Most of us have day jobs, go to school full time, etc. But cutting the daytime length could be something worth trying.

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Yes, it's worth mentioning that the majority of the forum I was referring to are located in Australia/NZ, so we all share the time-zone or at least similar. That obviously helps quicker games become more viable.

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