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At the beginning of a game of Mafia, there is very little information to be had.  As a result, initial votes are made with no substantial reasoning offered.  These are often referred to as '''random votes'''.
A so-called '''random vote''' is one made very early in the game with no serious reasoning given.


While many random votes are based on the generation of a random number (by a die or some other oracle), they are just as often based on arbitrary factors, such as avatars, nicknames, or even other random votes.
At the beginning of a game of Mafia, each Townie has precious little information about the setup.  As a result, the first set of votes are made with either no reasoning or humorously flawed reasoning.


==Purpose==
The purpose of random voting (and the so-called '''Random Voting Stage''' or '''RVS''') is to spur the game into action by causing players to act in revealing ways.  For instance, a wagon on someone may cause them to panic, or a player may become a bit overeager in wanting to put votes down on players, or a player may suggest a [[Policy Elimination]] on another one (with some players agreeing and some disagreeing), etc.  In this way, events of significance can come about.  The first time many players find something they seriously want to eliminate someone over, they will remark that their vote is "no longer random".


When one is voted for they are closer to be [[Lynch]]ed.  Being lynched is something to avoid, so a player who has a greater chance of being lynched will talk more to defend himself.  The more someone talks, the more they reveal.  If a [[Mafia]] member or other [[Scum]] reveals too much, he gives himself away.  So voting for someone one thinks is a member of the mafia can lead to discovering who really is a member of the mafia.
One common trope of the RVS is that scum players will vote for each other or otherwise start their [[distancing]] early.  For some time, this was a commonly applied tell.


However often one ''has'' no real information to go on at the beginning of a game.  In this case, one cannot actually do better than acting at random -- and '''someone''' has to do '''something''', or nothing will happen.  It is assumed here that voting is the only action one can take at this stage of the game with any real effect.
One criticism of the random voting stage is that the votes are meaningless and pressureless, as players do not tend to have any real attachment to their vote or wanting to eliminate the player being voted for.  The solution to this is to up the stakes.  It is not at all unheard of for a random vote wagon to reach an elimination, or for a [[Policy Elimination]] to occur with little to no discussion, and so forth.  By raising or even possibly enforcing this possibility, the RVS can become more serious.


There are also cases where one has evidence (such as an [[Investigation]]) or a hunch that may indicate that someone is [[Scum]], but revealing the information would make it more difficult to act upon.  In this case, a player may make an ostensibly 'random' vote in order to mask their real reasons.  If legitimately random votes did not occur and often, this would not be possible, as saying that a vote was random could only mean that the voter did not want to reveal their real reason for voting.
Note that ''truly'' random voting, as with the [[dice]] tag, is strictly frowned upon.  A vote that is demonstrably random carries no motivation to be read into, and is completely informationless.  This is not the intent of the "random voting stage".
 
==Arguments Against==
 
# '''It worries new players''' - Players who are new to the game often see random voting and do not understand the logic behind it, and subsequently make some very wrong assumptions--for instance: all random votes are truly random, logic is not necessary for the game of mafia, or that it is OK to cast a lynching vote at random.
# '''It stifles discussion''' - Random voting can become so ingrained/expected that no one will discuss anything of substance until everyone has voted, and therefore the last players to come into the game are left with several unpleasant options:
#* "craft" their supposedly random vote so it lands on someone who does not have a vote yet;
#* cast a truly random vote, and risk putting more votes on one player than all the others, thereby drawing suspicion on themselves and possibly risking someone else's lynch;
#* refuse to random vote, which can draw suspicion of its own (though this is less common than the other two).
# '''It's better to wait for something to happen and use that as a reason to vote''' - Because causal relationships are difficult to infer in mafia, statistics are often employed to gauge the value of different strategies.  If a given strategy yields no result better than random play, then it has no value at all.  So to say that a random vote is the best move is essentially an admission that no reasonable play exists for the circumstances.
 
==See Also==
* '[[Oh My God You Suck]]' voting
* the [[dice]] tag


[[Category:Glossary]]
[[Category:Glossary]]
[[Category:How to Play]]
[[Category:How to Play]]
[[Category:Voting]]

Latest revision as of 20:16, 5 July 2020

A so-called random vote is one made very early in the game with no serious reasoning given.

At the beginning of a game of Mafia, each Townie has precious little information about the setup. As a result, the first set of votes are made with either no reasoning or humorously flawed reasoning.

The purpose of random voting (and the so-called Random Voting Stage or RVS) is to spur the game into action by causing players to act in revealing ways. For instance, a wagon on someone may cause them to panic, or a player may become a bit overeager in wanting to put votes down on players, or a player may suggest a Policy Elimination on another one (with some players agreeing and some disagreeing), etc. In this way, events of significance can come about. The first time many players find something they seriously want to eliminate someone over, they will remark that their vote is "no longer random".

One common trope of the RVS is that scum players will vote for each other or otherwise start their distancing early. For some time, this was a commonly applied tell.

One criticism of the random voting stage is that the votes are meaningless and pressureless, as players do not tend to have any real attachment to their vote or wanting to eliminate the player being voted for. The solution to this is to up the stakes. It is not at all unheard of for a random vote wagon to reach an elimination, or for a Policy Elimination to occur with little to no discussion, and so forth. By raising or even possibly enforcing this possibility, the RVS can become more serious.

Note that truly random voting, as with the dice tag, is strictly frowned upon. A vote that is demonstrably random carries no motivation to be read into, and is completely informationless. This is not the intent of the "random voting stage".

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