Devlog #6

     I’ve known about and played social deduction games for a while now and in all that time, I still haven’t mastered them. In the article “On Games, Part 2: Social Deduction Games” I learned that social deduction games require a level of critical thinking skills to successfully play. I mean, of course, you don’t always need it if you also understand the people you’re playing with. For example, I’ve played mafia many times with my friends and because I know them so well, I can easily spot when they lie. But when we played in class, it was really hard to know when and if someone was lying because of the fact that I didn’t really know them and their mannerisms. While the six elements by Macklin and Sharp helped me understand other games we played like the game me and my group created, it was harder to use the six-element to explain any of the social deduction games we played. This is mainly because a lot of the game’s actions are dependent on the type of person you are. Are you an analyzer? A liar? Either way, you are meant to play the game differently depending on the role you have or the type of person you are. 

     Social deduction games are so hard because of this exact reason and as the article said you “play a team game where you don’t know your team.” Especially in a game like the one we played on Thursday. It was impossible to ever understand what was going on or who was who because we were all scared we were giving information to a spy or someone on the opposing team. Despite this, the games were really fun even without really knowing the people you’re playing with! 

     The overall confusion everyone experiences int eh beginning of the game slowly goes away after a round or two but by then it feels like your fighting a clock because the ‘enemies’, whether it be werewolves or a bomber already have a sort of head above you because their goal will always be to create some sort of chaos. That’s also what makes being that opposing role so fun. When I was werewolf, I used the advantage that these people didn’t really know me and my mannerism to convince them I wasn’t a werewolf. And because I rarely talk in class, they easily believed my innocent act and voted off the last person who could save them which led to my victory. Whether you’re good at the games or not, social deduction games are just fun to play overall because of the effort you have to put to try to win. Win or lose, you most definitely will have fun.