ENglish Mob

ENglish mob was the fourth EN mafia game. It was hosted by Wikey.

Despite the title, the flavor had nothing to do with English mob culture. It was set in New York and the flavor was fairly generic and much less detailed than anything prior. The game has something of a notorious reputation for its general balance issues, reduced player count, unclear rules and eventual implosion of the mafia by its don.

Players and Roles
Town  Mafia Third Party
 * Ari - Reformed Gangster (Vigilante)
 * Aspen - Reviver
 * Drr - Cop
 * Helios Garabandia - Cop
 * Hupu - Doctor
 * Leaffan20 - Boxer (Roleblocker)
 * Malion - Doctor and Reviver
 * SkateGame - Forensic Investigator
 * TLG - Bodyguard and Reviver
 * Bsrj22 - Godfather
 * Curtis - Crooked Cop
 * ff_zero - Doctor
 * LIS - Assassin
 * Boc - English Mob Twin
 * Budd - English Mob Twin

Reception and Analysis
The game was plagued with problems from the start. Coming straight off the back of the very well received ENything Goes, the game nonetheless had a poor player turnout with only fifteen people signing up. There was also some mild controversy regarding Hupu's being allowed to play, after he broke a fundamental rule and revealed game-changing information after his death in the previous game.

The game hosting had a lot of issues in general. Wikey's update times due to his schedule were sporadic and the flavor fluctuated between detailed and rushed, depending on the day. The rules were also never made particularly clear regarding external discussion. This was the first game where external discussion was forbidden, although at one point Wikey suggested it was allowed via PM leaving players to be confused about whether or not they should engage in it at all. To further complicate the matter, Wikey allowed other cases of external discussion to go unpunished.

Aspen was modkilled on the first night and Boc was given a formal warning for speaking after the hammer-vote. The modkill in question was the very first modkill in an EN mafia game. Wikey's reasoning behind the kill was that Aspen spoke to Curtis and offered to revive him every time he died. Thinking he had forged an unofficial alliance with the mafia and fearing balance issues, Wikey reacted by killing him and redistributing his two revival powers to TLG and Malion.

Although the redistrubtion was intended for balance purposes, it actually negatively altered the balance in the town's favor. By giving the powers to two players, it made it harder for the mafia to remove the power from the game and allowed both to be used at once. The decision to pick those players was based on their protective roles, although a lot of players wrongly assumed at the time that TLG was given the revival power merely because he complained about his Bodyguard role.

Ultimately the revivals were used on Drr and Helios, both town aligned cops. Because Wikey gave the cops their scan results prior to dying, they were able to post these results upon reviving, effectively giving the town a free scan which resulted in Curtis being lynched as outed mafia.

During Day 4, having lost LIS and Curtis the previous day and night, Bsrj took it upon himself to end the game early by outing himself publically as mafia don. He further complicated matters by posting a link to the scum-board, revealing all of the mafia players and roles and effectively ending the game before the town could gain a clear and fair win. This was understandably, very negatively received by all the players and Bsrj posted an explanation Vlog shortly after, explaining why he did it.

The game ended the following night with Boc and Budd taking the win as the third party twins, although the win extended to all the non-don mafia members too. The balance of the game was hotly debated, with both sides claiming it was stacked against them. The mafia claimants cited the revivals as being too many and too overpowered, with the town players suggesting the existence of the two third party players greatly reduced any serious chance they had of success.

The debate and controversy surrounding the game meant there was a spin-off thread created where Wikey fielded questions about the game and tried to explain his rationale for some of the more questionable hosting decisions. ENglish Mob wasn't terribly well received at the time, in spite of all these problems, but the general chaotic nature of the game was always well remembered.

Game Links

 * Game: http://www.ndimforums.com/entertainment_news/thread.asp?threadid=3497005
 * Fallout Thread: http://www.ndimforums.com/entertainment_news/thread.asp?threadid=3579687
 * Bsrj's Vlog Explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3vQxeC5g1g