AnonCo. Your Source of Anonymous Accounts

[Xivii]

Are you tired of constantly being misread because of inaccurate meta?
Do you wish people would actually play mafia and stop arguing over arbitrary ****? ​

​

Well here at AnonCo we have the solution for you: Introducing AnonAccounts!

"AnonCo has changed my life! Now I feel I can truly just be myself!"​

~#HBC | Tyra
​

"People used to always lynch me for no ****ing reason. But ever since I've started using AnonAccounts, they still lynch me-- but with plenty of reason!"​

~DtJ Jared​

​

Here at AnonCo, we provide you with specialized anonymous accounts to fit all your mafia needs. Our accounts go through a 72-step, fine-tuning process and are all ZV approved, so you know you are getting the best of the best with AnonCo!

How does it work?

Our account distribution process is EZPZ approved! Just send [ @ Xivii ] a private message, and [ he ] will set you up with an anonymous account and pass key. Use this account to register for up to [ 4 ] game(s)!

When your game is finished, simply return the account for reprocessing.

That's all there is to it!



​

Spoiler: FAQ

Q: How many accounts may I check out at a time?
A: At the moment, one.

Q: How long may I use an account?
A: When you register for an account, you will be asked how many games you would like to sign up for. You may register for up to 4 concurrent games. Regardless of how long it takes, you may use the account through the full length of the last game.

Q: How long after returning an account may I register for another?
A: You may register for another account immediately upon return.

Q: Can I use an AnonAccount as a temporary hydra?
A: Absolutely!

Q: Do I get to pick the account I use?
A: I would like for you to, but in order to protect anonymity, all accounts must be given at random.

Q: May I change the accounts password?
A: Please refrain from doing so. I will reset the password each time an account is returned.

Q: May I change the account's Avatar?
A: Certainly

Q: May I link the account to my profile using my Premium Membership perk?
A: I wouldn't recommend it, as it would give people a way to figure out your identity; however, if you do so, I will ask that you remove the link upon return.

Q: May I break forum rules with my account?
A: No, any infractions you may incur on an AnonAccount will be redirected to your primary account.

Q: But YOU know my identity.
A: That isn't a question, noob.

 

[Xivii]

AnonAccounts

DtJ Eric
DtJ Jared
DtJ Beau
DtJ Isabell
DtJ Anita
DtJ Jamie
DtJ Ashleigh
I am Zim!
#HBC | Leviathan

More coming soon ​

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Can we please put an end to this anonymous account trash?

 

[Xivii]

Feel free to suggest names for future AnonAccounts! Those with the most likes will be submitted for creation.

 

[Xivii]

Can we please put an end to this anonymous account trash?

Why do I feel like you sleep as little as I do xD.

 

[#HBC | Kary]

Can we please put an end to this anonymous account trash?

+1

 

[#HBC | Laundry]

edit: nvm i don't want to argue with you

this doesn't solve problems because people spend games figuring out who you are instead of just evaluating play. half of the roster in sleepover finale spent the game trying to figure out who levi was. i don't think this is a good idea

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Why do I feel like you sleep as little as I do xD.

Normally, you're right, but this time it's because I'm sick as a dog and my sleep schedule was irrevocably ****ed.

 

[DtJ S2n]

edit: nvm i don't want to argue with you

this doesn't solve problems because people spend games figuring out who you are instead of just evaluating play. half of the roster in sleepover finale spent the game trying to figure out who levi was. i don't think this is a good idea

why is it not widely considered un-towny-like to try and deduce the identity of an anonymous account? it's a blatant distraction from legitimate scumhunting and the behavior shouldn't be tolerated.

 

[#HBC | Laundry]

why is it not widely considered un-towny-like to try and deduce the identity of an anonymous account? it's a blatant distraction from legitimate scumhunting and the behavior shouldn't be tolerated.

you get the defense of "but i'm trying to get meta so i can read him ergo i'm scumhunting". sleepover turned into a giant ****ing pisshole when murderbush(?) outed that they thought levi was xonar because they were pissed at him, but the anger itself was the distraction, not the reveal nor the hunting. people were using the fact that they thought levi was xonar to read him.

edit: i don't think it's impossible to break players from trying to figure out anonymous accounts. i just think it'd take a lot of lost games/wasted time and dgames seems reluctant to lose games in the short run to get better quality games in the long run.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

You will never see me stop trying to solve who it is because that gives you a lot more information into their motivations.

You also have unequal access to the information that leads to ****ty situations. Let's say Orbo tells Rake he's going to play an anonymous account (let's be real, this ****'s gonna happen). Now Rake can read this slot better than players who do not know. Even if he doesn't tell him, it means that anyone who sees the slot go AFK and knows them personally can figure it out. I can likely deduce if Laundry was playing an anonymous account by the time that he posts and when he is unavailable in thread. None of that is touching the fact that moderators can check IP addresses (and need to in any case regarding moderation which happens fairly frequently) or Zen who knows all of them.

That is just mentioning unequal footing in the actual game. Another large issue is when people like Swiss play on an anonymous account and start throwing around insults meant to make people angry. I'm not about any life that lets people sit there and sling **** at people without having to put their own face there. I'm am equally against leaving a situation up there for people to play copycat after someone else has done it. Anonymity makes people assholes, and I would much rather know who is taking shots at me. Now, before you get up in arms about "no one would do that," let me remind you this community has Gorf, Xonar, and Gheb.

I would actively call for either the consistent lynch (and therefore ruining of games) or blacklisting of any alt account made to hide one's identity. Hydras already mask your identity somewhat, but they STILL leave a trail back to you regardless.

None of these accounts or any accounts I have reason to believe are alts will be allowed in any game I mod or co-mod and I will not play in any game with an anonymous account in it unless more than half of the playerlist agrees to lynch it on Day 1. In that case, I will vote them and prod dodge until they are dead.

Get this **** outta my house.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

For the record, I have no issue with a fully anonymous game in which the players are revealed at the end or upon flip or some such. Those can be legitimate fun.

 

[Xivii]

edit: nvm i don't want to argue with you

this doesn't solve problems because people spend games figuring out who you are instead of just evaluating play. half of the roster in sleepover finale spent the game trying to figure out who levi was. i don't think this is a good idea

Hypotheses are nice, evidence is better. One can hypothesize about the pros and cons of a free market hosting system all they like, but only evidence shows the truth one way or the other. One can hypothesize about the pros and cons of a mafia culture centered around anonymity, but only evidence will show the truth. The amount of bickering in the world about how things will be without any supporting evidence is so cumbersome. Give things a fair trial before knocking it off.

And no, there was very little time invested into figuring out leviathan's identity in the two games he played. If you think this is the case, please cite so. There wasn't.

The Sleepover game does, however, pose a significant example of the meta dilemma. The meta dilemma has three aspects:

1. Human's naturally tend to use mental shortcuts. We use a type of mental shortcut, called Schemas, to interpret new information based on preconceived ideas we have about a person or event. In mafia, we refer to mental schemas as meta.
2. The use of meta is an unreliable method of discerning a player's mafia alignment, especially in the long run. (I think probably everyone agrees on this. If anyone disagrees, I can pull up data and arguments later).
3. The more games a person plays with another, the more they will apply meta to that person. Because of this, in a tight-knit group of players, the use of meta tends to become more and more prominent and a central focus of games.

This is not just a mafia phenomenon, but a general game dilemma for tight-knit groups. In order to keep it fun, you need either new players, new structure, or a new game. Has mafia not lost a lot of the wonder it had when you first started playing? Have you ever gotten the sense of freshness from playing with other groups in other sections or offsite? I feel like this contributes a lot to why there has been a general decline in interest in mafia over the past several years (coupled with other reasons I've given previously). It just becomes kind of repetitive and boring.

It really just kind of stalls development. Because so much of the game is grounded on meta; other avenues, strategies, and skills are left unused/put on the back burner/shunned. New players, players from other sites, and retirees have stated various times how unfun it is playing games here because everything is focused on meta. They are unable to discuss and debate because all arguments can be denied on the bases of meta that they can't relate to.

Our vision here at AnonCo is a renewed Dgames where metagaming is no longer a factor. We seek to create a culture that thrives on debate and innovative scumhunting. Sure there will be some issues-- nothing is perfect. But I believe they will be minute compared to the issues current. And nothing we can't handle or fix.



tl;dr (since you will claim to not have not read my post, despite doing so):

• Give things a fair trail
• I'm not forcing you to do anything

Spoiler: Sleepover Mafia

Collapsed since it's inherently personal:


As I said, there was very little discussion or care over who Levi was.


The problem was not Levi, it was Ryker.


Ryker needs control. Anything unbeknownst to him makes him wild. That is a personality flaw, not a design flaw.

You will not find any instance of anyone being concerned with Levi's identity before Ryker/Raz made it the central focus of a game.

---

Now, as I said, sleepover was a good example of how bad the meta issue has become. For one, Ryker/Raz on Levi. For two, your complete blotch of D1 because your J meta. You tunneled town J into oblivion and even me as well because of your preconceived notion of how you thought we should be playing as town.

---

You claim to know how people who play in this environment, but the truth is, we do not know. You do not know how people will respond when there are more than just a few anonymous players in a game. My hypothesis would be that they will not be focused on discerning their identities. But we really just gotta see.

 

[Xivii]

Got a little lazy in the collapse tags, but yeah. It's not necessarily pertinent to this discussion, but I really recommend that video I linked to "mental models". It's pretty cool.

 

[we thuggin]

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

@Raziek Whenever you are back from this weekend.

 

[Jdietz43]

I don't hate the idea as much as the guy above me, but in practice I agree with both him but especially Laundry that this won't be a positive. Anonymous works in an all-anony game, but in one where you have to compare known people to unknown it's a full-stop distraction.

More importantly I'd be very concerned about players letting their quality of play/participation slide, or use it as an excuse to play otherwise un-advisable ways (read: stupidly reckless to the point of throwing games for their faction, possibly only for personal enjoyment). Not to mention things like easing the yoke of pressure to post, or even creating a meta where the only logical course of action is to lynch the "stranger" who may likely sink the entire game, as no matter how many anons may try, any failure will be contributed to anons on the large. Think about how we treat a new player who has no meta and how little a leash they have because of the shortcomings of other new players in either activity or skill level.

Furthermore the fact mods can IP-match people is a huge hole and makes the concept unfair to internal players, both the anonymous and non-mods alike. The fact it won't actually work as intended pretty much bars any discussion on the matter of whether it has merit.

I wouldn't be allowing anonymous players in any game I host unless they're anonymous accounts I specifically created for a designed role or a full-anon experimental game.

 

[Xivii]

Ryker, I like how you boast this pro-capitalist, free will attitude; but, you're no less a tyrant than Stallin himself.

 

[Jdietz43]

May I add that the players most inclined to take up this offer would be those who find their play negatively affects the game in other people's eyes.

 

[Jdietz43]

Ryker, I like how you boast this pro-capitalist, free will attitude; but, you're no less a tyrant than Stallin himself.

You should probably respond to his points rather than his character if you want this idea to get off the ground.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

That's fine. If I get enough people to join a boycott, I don't need to go through you. For once a small community benefits me.

Zen, I like you, but I always seem to end up directly on the opposite side of any issue we both have an opinion on.

 

[Jdietz43]

I would like to add the very important point that letting an anonymous player play with non-anonymous people knowingly gives them an advantage that others can't compensate for, and also may not be comfortable with, because they know the meta of every player who is at-home being themselves whereas those playing with them cannot know theirs.

 

[Dooms]

You will never see me stop trying to solve who it is because that gives you a lot more information into their motivations.

You also have unequal access to the information that leads to ****ty situations. Let's say Orbo tells Rake he's going to play an anonymous account (let's be real, this ****'s gonna happen). Now Rake can read this slot better than players who do not know. Even if he doesn't tell him, it means that anyone who sees the slot go AFK and knows them personally can figure it out. I can likely deduce if Laundry was playing an anonymous account by the time that he posts and when he is unavailable in thread. None of that is touching the fact that moderators can check IP addresses (and need to in any case regarding moderation which happens fairly frequently) or Zen who knows all of them.

That is just mentioning unequal footing in the actual game. Another large issue is when people like Swiss play on an anonymous account and start throwing around insults meant to make people angry. I'm not about any life that lets people sit there and sling **** at people without having to put their own face there. I'm am equally against leaving a situation up there for people to play copycat after someone else has done it. Anonymity makes people *******s, and I would much rather know who is taking shots at me. Now, before you get up in arms about "no one would do that," let me remind you this community has Gorf, Xonar, and Gheb.
.

This sums up why this is a bad idea honestly.

It sounds fine and dandy if you just think "It removes meta 100% from the game" imo, but that won't happen. Someone's going to say something to someone, and it'll eventually be figured out one way or another. That's what happens when you play in a close-knit community like this.

 

[Xivii]

You should probably respond to his points rather than his character if you want this idea to get off the ground.

For the record, that was not an insult, but a compliment: for I am also I tyrant.

#13 is my response to everything. Give things a fair trial before knocking 'em. With regards to the possible issues. Those are things that can be addressed and fixed. Not a reason not to give this a fair shot in the slightest. I'll address em with some ways I think they can be avoided though while I wait for my pizza.

1. Mods in games do not need to check peeps IP. It was actually pretty ill suited of Raz to do so on Levi.
2. I'm not playing in any games. I don't have the time.
3. The outside communication rule needs to me strictly enforced. It's a rule that we should not be breaking in the first place.
4. It probably wasn't clear, but people's identities WILL be revealed after completion of the allotted amount of games they signed up for. They wont be able to do this:

I'm am equally against leaving a situation up there for people to play copycat after someone else has done it. Anonymity makes people *******s, and I would much rather know who is taking shots at me. Now, before you get up in arms about "no one would do that," let me remind you this community has Gorf, Xonar, and Gheb.

 

[Jdietz43]

#13 is my response to everything. Give things a fair trial before knocking 'em. With regards to the possible issues. Those are things that can be addressed and fixed. Not a reason not to give this a fair shot in the slightest. I'll address em with some ways I think they can be avoided though while I wait for my pizza.

Sorry Zen but you know that's not how the world works. You don't say "well no one had tried it before" as a reason to let someone break into a house. If someone else wants to see it go down in their's that's fine, but I also don't want the neighborhood to get a reputation for crime because of a few bad events that basic understanding of human nature assure me would happen eventually even if they weren't the regular. The home market is in a bad state as is.

Basically what it boils down to is you're asking a small community of people who play a game that revolves around solving people's true identities and motives, to hide their identities and then do their best to not derail the game to solve them. Combined with the logistical, technical, player quality, and even direct gameplay balance difficulties this idea would bring I can't in good conscience run it in any of my setups.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Bro, not even talking about outside the game communication, unless you mean that I should up and cut all ties to everyone who might possibly be in the mafia game I am currently playing in for the duration of the game, the knowledge granted to me by virtue of being friends with and spending time with Laundry, Xonar, Raz, Dietz, Joey, Gova, Glyph, or Stew will lead me to enough information to solve who the player is or at least cause a large problem.

If you don't think that people won't tell their friends who will be playing in the game (or replacing into the game) that they are on an anon account, you've got your head in the clouds. That **** is waaaaaaaaaay too hard to track to be reasonably enforced.

As for your fourth section, that does not save you for the duration of one game, let alone 4 which could take half a year. Do any of the three I listed care if it is attributed to them at the end? It only serves to rankle the victim while they get to giggle from behind their mask.

Briefly, mod IP checking is less than the outside the game point, but still suffers from the same inability to enforce (especially when moderation needs to occur as that shouldn't wait until after another mod has logged in) and you are not playing mafia now. That does not mean you won't be playing later or that you couldn't use one of your own anonymous accounts. I'm not attributing it to you right now, but saying you're not playing would be a sweet set-up to sign up anonymously.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Also, Dietz, get on Skype.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Also, to go along with Dietz' neighborhood analogy, we invited a friend to play Blazblue mafia who wouldn't join because of the reputation DGames has mostly due to the amount of moderation required in not only our games, but our social thread as well.

 

[Jdietz43]

That is unfortunately true :\

 

[#HBC | Dark Horse]

This idea is really, really dumb.

 

[Xivii]

Guys, you're putting the cart before the horse.

When you have a problem, you don't ridicule a potential solution because it might cause problems. At least if the problems are no bigger than the current ones. And especially when it's actually not that big a deal. This is not a matter of life and death. This is not breaking into someone's house.................@dietz.

Basically what it boils down to is you're asking a small community

I'm not asking anyone to do anything. I'm simply providing a means for people who'd like to play anonymously to do so and in a way that can be controlled and monitored. This is essentially the same thing we do with hydra accounts. Mods can allow or disallow AnnonAccounts as much as they can hydras. I'm not going to fight it. I don't care. I'm just giving people a way to play anonymously within forum rules.

Bro, not even talking about outside the game communication, unless you mean that I should up and cut all ties to everyone who might possibly be in the mafia game I am currently playing in for the duration of the game, the knowledge granted to me by virtue of being friends with and spending time with Laundry, Xonar, Raz, Dietz, Joey, Gova, Glyph, or Stew will lead me to enough information to solve who the player is or at least cause a large problem.

If you don't think that people won't tell their friends who will be playing in the game (or replacing into the game) that they are on an anon account, you've got your head in the clouds. That **** is waaaaaaaaaay too hard to track to be reasonably enforced.

As for your fourth section, that does not save you for the duration of one game, let alone 4 which could take half a year. Do any of the three I listed care if it is attributed to them at the end? It only serves to rankle the victim while they get to giggle from behind their mask.

Briefly, mod IP checking is less than the outside the game point, but still suffers from the same inability to enforce (especially when moderation needs to occur as that shouldn't wait until after another mod has logged in) and you are not playing mafia now. That does not mean you won't be playing later or that you couldn't use one of your own anonymous accounts. I'm not attributing it to you right now, but saying you're not playing would be a sweet set-up to sign up anonymously.

I think the big difference between us here is that I'm not seeing that as much an issue. I had Levi as Xonar before the game started and it didn't make a difference. It didn't in you and Raz ability to read Levi either. I don't think there is any advantage because I don't believe meta provides any tells that would be beneficial to the individual. Players should not allow themselves to be read by meta either, regardless of their anonymity.

There is no way to track and enforce outside communication either, but we stick to the code. I think we are mature enough.

They must be 4 games running concurrently, i.e; their sign ups had to have been up at relatively the same time. So it shouldn't last longer than a standard game length. Abuse will not be tolerated. And I don't think it's fair to assume those players or others would abuse it as you're describing.

If a mod needs to do their mods stuff, that comes first as it's always been. Ruy and Raz have both edited player's posts before and issued infractions despite the affect it might have on a game. If a mod needs to see a person's IP for some reason, then they should, but doing it for in-game purpose is dishonest.

If I say I'm not going to be playing, I'm not going to. You don't know how insulting this is.

I think your main issue is that you feel that people are inherently dishonest. The entire game of mafia is run on an honor code. It's just the way the game is. This is nothing new. This is a relatively mature community. Cheating is so rare here.

 

[Kantrip]

for what its worth hydra accounts are a lot stupider than anonymous accounts and i hate that for a 9 player game in our community to even fill it needs to allow hydra accounts

why some people cannot play unless they are given a pseudo-mason role for free is beyond me

 

[Xivii]

Ok now let me see the views of:

@Circus @#HBC | J @Ashemu @#HBC | Gorf @#HBC | marshy @#HBC | FrozeηFlame @ #HBC | ZoZo @#HBC | Mac @ #HBC | Red Ryu

These are people that I would hope would be in support or at least not be in disagreement of this lol. If no one is willing to try it, then there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not forcing it upon anyone.

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

I'm not going to give my opinion on this at this time til I think more about it, but,

Also, to go along with Dietz' neighborhood analogy, we invited a friend to play Blazblue mafia who wouldn't join because of the reputation DGames has mostly due to the amount of moderation required in not only our games, but our social thread as well.

do explain this one, since I do not know of many public forums that would let people get away with the stuff I shut down there or removed.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Talk to me on Skype if you must know.

 

[#HBC | Ryker]

Zen, I don't think that people are inherently dishonest. I think that a large enough group of our player base are *****.

The meta point is something that we're going to disagree on. I have enough of an issue with it that I am going to move to get this idea shut down or heavily isolated.

Second, there is a large difference in talking to people about what you want to accomplish in a mafia game and talking about an ongoing game. I highly doubt that most of DGames considers pre-game ongoing. Regardless of YOU playing it straight in that scenario, there are way too many people who, in pre-game, would talk to a friend "hey, are you gonna play in this game" and when they say no, want to tell them about how they're gonna try claiming masons with a mafia partner if the possibility is presented to them. It becomes a lot harder to keep anonymity and not run into some things like that which would then blur the lines on whether or not you can, in good conscience join a game.

@ #HBC | ZoZo If given a chance to be anonymous, would you not troll people and laugh about it the entire time you were playing a game?

Mods still create this inherent double standard where they are allowed access to information that no one else has when moderation is required regardless of whether or not they look up the IP on their own time.

And for the record, I am not trying to assign that to you. The insinuation was there because eventually you will be playing mafia again if history is any indication and you fall right into the line of people that I would HATE to deal with in an anonymous slot given the way you enjoy dealing with people in mafia. Eventually, if you wanted to play anonymously, you would deny that you would be doing so, and then enter the game just like anyone else. With anonymous accounts, I have absolutely no way of knowing when your hiatus ends. The main point of that, however, would be that at any point you join a mafia game, anonymous or not, you know all anonymous players.

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

Yeah go ahead tag me when past endeavors show that I don't.

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

May I add that the players most inclined to take up this offer would be those who find their play negatively affects the game in other people's eyes.

idk id like an anon account just because everyone is hella paranoid of me. its not this black/white

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

anyway i support this idea. just do what levi did and use a proxy, but make zen set it up rather than me lmao
its an unfair advantage to the one with an anonymous account but then again someone who puts in a lot of time studying the meta here and then joining their first game has a similar adv. what now tho
idk
what we can all take from this thread is that rykers arguments are like swiss cheese

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

also reminder: if you put levi in the list of official anonymous accs then ur gonna have to tell everyone who it is, u oughta ask himher if (s)hes ok with that