What Caused Mafia's Rise?

by **Fircoal** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:51 am

For those of you whom were present during the 2007's you were there to see the mafia community go from one game at a time into a vibrant community with lots of new players coming out of nowhere and trying it. Many games were done at once and it seemed many games were filled with new faces. However that changed down the line. While I'm pretty sure I know what caused Mafia's decline I'm not sure what factors made it rise. I think it'd be an interesting question to ponder, so we could try to use it to our benefit at the current time.

by **safariguy5** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:58 am

I don't really remember why it declined as I wasn't around at the time, but I would guess that it might have been because the site was much newer. Also, I don't know if there was a correlation between the existence of Flame Wars and the spike in activity. I'm guessing that anything that prolongs a player's time spent on the forums makes it more likely that they are going to explore other parts. If you were a GD poster, the more time you spent on the forums at a time, the more likely you probably were to go and see what OT had or maybe look at the Map Foundry. This snowballs into clan participation and tourneys and all that good stuff. Mafia isn't that far of a jump from there as it probably would have been a decent time filler like FW was in between taking turns.

by **shieldgenerator7** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 7:38 am

maybe Mafia has recently declined due to moving to its own forum. Maybe people went to OT and saw Mafia in the little box at the top and explored it. Being right under the OT forum in the index may cause it to be hidden. Maybe we can get a link to Mafia in the OT forum? That'd be cool.

by **Iliad** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:21 am

shieldgenerator7 wrote:maybe Mafia has recently declined due to moving to its own forum. Maybe people went to OT and saw Mafia in the little box at the top and explored it. Being right under the OT forum in the index may cause it to be hidden. Maybe we can get a link to Mafia in the OT forum? That'd be cool.

Fircoal isn't really talking about that, he's talking aout mafia's up and downs since about 2007. This has been, what a week or two, and it seems like a good move for mafia.

Anyway I'm not sure about the exact factors, but I think the presence of a vibrant community is the key one. New people see mafia and check it out, because they're curious, and if the games seem interesting and fun they will try it. In that sense, I guess mafia's decline and rise is kinda self-fullfilling. If a new person comes and sees mafia games flagging, many posts complaining about lack of activity they'll probably pass. If however they see games with players and mods expressing optimism and how mafia's never been better and more fun they're probably likelier to join.

Also, besides a good player base, there needs to be good mods and great games to hold onto the veterans as well as help keep newcomers.

by **lord voldemort** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:31 am

the culture of the players and the intesity it had.
thats what drew me in. I jumped on right near the end of mafia's dominance in this forum to say.
And what got me in was the culture of the players....and the intensity of the games...they were enthralling, the players, the roles, the mods, the setup

by **edocsil** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:45 am

Sigs in Off Topics, followed one and signed up right away.

by **pancakemix** on Tue Apr 19, 2011 3:44 pm

People on are Risk site are already looking for mental stimulation when they come here. People who post in Off Topics are looking for a different kind. Mafia kind of hits a large cross section where the discussion meets strategic thinking.