[The Saucepan Man]

Hidden/coded messages

Well, the general consensus seems to be that hidden and coded messages are OK because they can work both ways and cannot be taken as a guarantee of someone’s innocence (or Gifted-ness). It would, in any event, be virtually impossible to regulate any restriction in this area.

The other issue, which Shelob has explained well, is the extent to which those who are new to the game, or who tend to play less than others, may be disadvantaged by “senior” players using techniques tried and tested in previous games. Again, I don’t think that there is any way to get round this problem. It is inevitable that people will use their prior knowledge of strategies, players and previous games generally as part of their strategy or deduction method, even if they do not state so explicitly.

Originally Posted by Elempi

A side issue for me had been, "why on earth would some innocents want to keep secrets from other innocents?" Here's my point: some of us, when innocents, ain't that great at reading codes, anagrams, and what-not. Any innocents who convey crucial information through codes, run the risk of some fellow innocents not getting it.

I agree that there is little sense in innocents keeping secrets from other innocents, but it is really up to them whether they choose to publicise any codes that they have been using, and also up to the other players to try to spot them (if they feel so inclined). In WW17, where Nilp and I were both innocents and exchanged acrostics to that effect, we ended up giving some pretty heavy pointers to the messages. Our reason for doing it had not been based on any wish to conceal relevant information from other villagers, but merely the natural impulse of born riddlers. Nevertheless, there may be good reason why two or more players would want to keep information divulged by a hidden message to themselves, for example to avoid pointing out a Gifted hint to a Wolf. As long as the messaging is “open” in the sense that it occurs on the game thread, I don’t see a problem.

Interestingly, the Night before this all came up in WW18, the three of us Wolves had considered agreeing some sort of code-word to trigger, for example, a Wolf sacrifice and had wondered whether it would be within the rules. We were going to seek a ruling from Shemod, but then shelved the idea when hidden messages became an issue the next Day.

Ultimately, it is a matter for the mod of each game to set his or her own rules for that game. As a general rule, I think that anything not specifically outlawed should be fair game. And any mod thinking of introducing restrictions on hidden messages etc will need to think long and hard about it, because they will need to be carefully defined, not interfere unduly with the game-play and be capable of enforcement.

Originally Posted by morm

Speaking of which I didn't decipher all of them and would like to know what they all said. I picked up on the majority but not all.

I’ll identify the ones that I spotted on the game thread, if you like.

Originally Posted by Formendacil

However, I wish to go on the record now, since I was unwilling to do so earlier, that I was most irritated and displeased at the irrational and immature behaviour that arose when LMP discovered something new.

I think that I probably have to take some responsibility here. It was probably a mistake for me openly to suggest that I would withdraw from the game if that was the majority decision. I should instead have raised it discretely with Shemod. I can honestly state that it was not intended to secure me any game advantage (and I don’t think that it did), but I was genuinely fuming at the time at the suggestion that I had been cheating.

On a more general note, I have noticed a tendency in a number of recent games for game-related issues to give rise to RL emotional issues and quarrels. I think that we all need to remember (and I include myself here) that these are just games and that, despite all the deception, backstabbing and gruesome narrative descriptions, nothing personal is (or should be) meant by them.

Nilp’s game

It’s tempting, very tempting … but I really ought to give it a break so that I can devote proper attention to work and family, and also to other aspects of this forum. Sorry, Nilp, I would love to play but I am going to have to sit it out. I will be keeping an eye on it, though.

Sorry, Farael, your revenge will have to wait.