True. That said, if we eliminated the non-voters through the vote or die rule, the mafia probably would have won this game on day 5.
I am curious, Khush, do you want to use that rule again or are you going to drop it in the future? I think it fostered a bit of complacency in the Townie ranks, but it was worth a shot trying it to see how it worked.
In the future, I think I may just bandwagon inactive players to see if we can force them to be more active.
Eh, it has its ups and downs. For a game with a smaller group of people, I'd prefer them all to live as long as possible. Plus, I know that there have been some games where people do have things going on. There was one game where Pale was gone for a wedding for a few days and other people were popping in and out as well. They'd participate when they could but there were also spells of inactivity.
Forcing people to participate can help a bit but at the same time, you can end up killing off someone you don't want to or who could make a big impact. I think of Kashogi Y. Stogi in GP's mafia. He has a big role that wasn't able to get utilized due to the vote or die rule. Good thing, bad thing? Hard to say. When you consider the mafia later won, it could be that was a major factor why. In Animal Crossing Wii-Make, a really interesting situation had occured with both mafia's virtually untouched and the bomber remaining. Neither mafia could afford a hit on the bomber or they would be disadvantaged to the other mafia. At the same time, if they did start hitting one another, by the time one mafia was triumphant, they might be unable to survive an attack by the bomber and lose. It was a really interesting stalemate that ended when the bomber was eliminated from inactivity. Good thing, bad thing? Hard to say but it was definitely a bit of a let-down in the drama department when the bomb turned out to be a dud if you will.
Personally, my strategy has always been to target the low-key inactive players. Chances are, the active players will get caught more easily or bring more attention to themselves. So, if they are mafia, it will become clear soon enough. But if you target the low-key members, you have a better chance of ruining their long term plans of having a couple that could survive to the endgame and make it more difficult for the members already participating. Plus, if you kill of a townie who isn't participating, it isn't exactly like you are hurting the townies too much. A townie that doesn't vote is really an extra mafia member. So, if you remove him instead of an active player, the mafia can only reduce one vote a day instead of two. The final benefit is that by eliminating the non-players, you are able to identify roles faster instead of always having questions over whether they might be such and such a role.
But then, I really shouldn't divulge much on the different ways I see the game. Makes it harder for me in future ones.