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A Note on Game-Related Self-Esteem

over 6 years

Indecisiveness is probably one of the heaviest burdens on players that I see (other than lack of effort, but that's not a problem I'm even going to attempt to solve). If you want to get better at mafia, you cannot be indecisive.

Self-esteem is paramount to playing this game. You need it to make good, confident decisions in games and not be bullied or thrown around by other players.

People call me bad all the time, probably every day. If I let that bother me, I would have deleted my account or stopped playing here for that reason a very long time ago (this happens to many users). I know this because it used to bother me, when people would insult me and call me bad (mainly because I joined as a fifteen year old having never frequented another non-flash games website before), but after having only deleted my account one time, a month after joining this website (I joined Sept '11), I never deleted another of my regular accounts or left the website because people were insulting me or calling me bad. It's part of the game, and once you realize this, it might make it easier for you (or it might just turn you off from this game even more, lol).

So if somebody or a group of people insult you or call you bad, don't let it affect you too much. That being said...

Know when to take criticism.

It's really annoying how many people here do something completely suboptimal or wrong, and when they are told they are wrong, say "screw you" and don't learn from it at all. In my opinion, people like this are cancer to our game. This might happen because the people giving the criticism are swearing or insulting the person in anger instead of actually trying to help them (regardless of what they say)--but when people who actually give fair criticism actually try to help users and are denied or turned away in such a fashion, it allows for no growth of our game at all and causes two negative things to happen:

  • The person taking the criticism doesn't learn from their mistakes
  • The person giving the criticism is less likely to help people in the future due to the negative, childish response, and are more likely to get upset at other people, perpetuating this general problem

So while you shouldn't let somebody or a group of people calling you bad hurt your self-esteem, you should definitely man up when you do something wrong, admit it, and learn from your mistakes when you commit them.

And for the people witnessing the mistake, instead of being so overly rude and harsh all the time, be more supportive. When we are needlessly harsh and abrasive, it is more likely for these users to become negative-type-thinking users as well who may end up propagating this type of behaviour, or it may just cause these users who are trying to learn to stop playing and leave the site completely, thus stunting any potential growth for the game.

Thank you if you read this short note on game-related self-esteem; I hope it assists you in some way, shape, or form, be it game-related or non-game related--the general ideas presented in this post are also somewhat applicable to life/situations outside of Epicmafia games.

If you didn't read this topic, I kindly ask you not to post.

deletedover 6 years
it's funny seeing pogoster come back, discover no one cares about him, and then lose his mind in a few threads and threaten to email lucid
over 6 years
remember when pogoster was a force of positivity and love for the site? now look at the monster we've created.
over 6 years

POGOSTER says

lmfao wtf i'm done


Yeah--done from posting, in this thread.
over 6 years
lmfao wtf i'm done
over 6 years
you could change your username to POGOSTURD eater
over 6 years

POGOSTER says

Eat it up.


i imagine this is like one of those cases where you go to a friend's house but you find out that they don't take apart sandwiches and eat the ingredients separately or whatever
over 6 years
Eat it up.
over 6 years
This wet diarrhea gives you life otherwise you'd go back to non-existence
over 6 years
first time i talked to you and im obsessed with you. nice try lol. that is quite a cheap trick to avoid replying to someone who just made u take a seat after u pooed wet diarrhea on the forum all day
deletedover 6 years

POGOSTER says

...why are you so obsessed with me?


you pick on giga, you pick on all of us.
over 6 years
...why are you so obsessed with me?
over 6 years
i spit on your mailman
over 6 years
lool but srs though, dont act like your gods gift to mafia or anything, u have a 55% town winrate from when this website was a townsided copy paste fest
over 6 years
call him a homophobic word too like you did the other guy lol that would be savage af you know what im saying
over 6 years

POGOSTER says

Giga giving mafia advice...I'm good lmfao


wow u are being savage today... did u netflix mean girls for the 7th time?
over 6 years

Giga13 says

If you didn't read this topic, I kindly ask you not to post.


OOOPS
over 6 years
Giga giving mafia advice...I'm good lmfao
over 6 years
Nice. This thread needs more attention
over 6 years
Mafia is a very easy game where lynching the mafia is optimal 100% of the time
over 6 years
Letting town pressure me into hammering my quiet noob townread is always annoying
deletedover 6 years
you spoke my mind. This is why I never let anyone tell me that I am bad. Even if they do I still know I am the best. I have to believe I am the best to be the best and believe in my reads and not be shaken by others. I was bad when I started and now no sh!t can shake me. I get out of situations left and right and maneuver my way as I want.

and the part about people not understanding or trying to understand optimal play, are the reason I picked up so many hc vios. I have had too much patience trying to explain people why doing something in a situation is very much optimal and in some cases has no two ways about it. I still do it. But some people just don't deserve my patience.
over 6 years
Why are u so nice and helpful ;_; diamond in the ruff
over 6 years
I haven't read this thread, but I would like to say: Ban them all, it is always the optimal move.
over 6 years
Mafia can be perfectly competitive tbh. In the round I won (If we don't count the cheater) the players were rather skilled, and the experience was truly enjoyable if not stressful.

It's not that mafia can't be competitive, is that not everyone can play mafia in a competitive way.

Playing mafia in a competitive way means playing to WIN all the time.

What does that means? You need something more than simply skill at the game. You will need a lot of cold blood, a high level of reasoning, and most important a HIGH resistance to pressure and stress.

Mainly because I seen it happen a lot of times (either in comp or ranked games) that if you push people in a certain way (not matter what their aligment is) they usually break up under the pressure,

So whoever said that "mafia can't be competitive" it's obviously someone who can't deal with what means to play a serious mafia game, where ALL the players strive to win no matter what.
deletedover 6 years
tldr lol