On Breaking VIness

Part of Mastin Academy.

Original Lecture: On breaking VIness

Some players carry a negative reputation as being VIs. (Not to be confused with Vi.)

This does not prevent them from making good points, and this does not stop them from learning from mistakes. If you have the misfortune of being labeled as one, the first thing to do is discard that status--acknowledge you have been one, and then show your absolute resolve in breaking from that mold. Recognize you had flaws, and attempt to improve on yourself, and let others know you are trying. If they see you are genuinely giving effort to bettering your process, they will be more willing to listen to you, especially when you make those good points which shouldn't be ignored.

To fix a flaw, first you must know of it. And if you know of it, you can work on eliminating it--or, perhaps, turning what was a flaw into a strength. A VI who knows they've got issues in their play and holds genuine interest and effort in fixing those flaws fundamentally can't say a VI forever. If they continue to be a VI, it's because one of the two halves isn't actually there. Now, granted! It's not an overnight change. You can't one day be incompetent, and the next a scumhunting god.

The process of improvement is gradual--and it starts with that recognition of a need to improve, paired with deep critical analysis of those flaws and slowly but surely working to shift your style to where they're no longer dragging you down. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, and always incorporate the lessons you've learned to refine the process.

Now that said--I actually hold a fair amount of respect for those commonly labeled as VIs. In a way, they hold something in common with newbies: opinions massively outside the norm. This is a good thing, because that nonstandard opinion is harder to manipulate/control/predict. Being a wildcard is not a bad thing, as the ability to shift stances can mess up even the best scum's plans. A 'village idiot' can see things that a normal player would miss.

For this reason, I don't encourage "think more like everyone else", as some would suggest as a solution. Instead, critically analyze with an objective eye what is good and what is bad about your play. It never hurts to ask for opinions of others as well--in fact, I highly encourage it, as you need every bit of help bringing out the good and minimizing the bad. So a VI, in order to stop being a VI, fundamentally needs to learn how to work with others.

Instead of being in their own world and having tinfoil conspiracy theories they randomly blurt out and follow in defiance of all logic, the former-VI can work with others, explain their crazy theory, recognize its status, but ask for feedback if it has any bearing in reality at all. And more often than not...it actually does! Because this is the true value of the former-VI: even if they're mostly wrong, working with someone else can allow that someone else to bring out what's right, encouraging them to flesh the points out which hold at least some merit.

To stop being a village idiot, you need to kill your ego and recognize you're more likely wrong than not. You need to lose any sense of importance you hold. You need to not let your emotions get the better of you. You have to think of the town as a whole, rather than the town of you. It might seem degrading at first--but this mindset is necessary to maintain the effort of improvement. Because it's only when you can think like this that you can communicate on an intellectually honest level with others.

And talking is a key part of the process! This is not something you can do alone; you need assistance. Something only possible if you are asking for feedback, and requesting help. Not just in postgame, but during the game proper too. Yeah, some people who will "help" you won't be your allies. But you can still get good, honest feedback even from scum and not have it be with an agenda. Perhaps the specifics you might not be able to fully trust, but the general process they critique is often sincere no matter their alignment or stage of the game.

Tell people what your angle is. Know you won't be right about everything--but stand firm that you aren't wrong about everything and shouldn't be treated like you are. Recognize the elements which are weird and explain why you think they aren't invalid, yet be open to advice on what you are/aren't onto something about. This often manifests in the scale of what you have given. Maybe your original theory is hugely-improbably and incredibly realistic, violating Occam's Razor. But then with input from others, you can see that scaling your theory back to a smaller scale will reveal something not just possible but perhaps even probable, and that you can emphasize.

Unusual quirks can have a place in games, so don't feel the need to discard them. But always recognize what about them is adding to the game and the risk inherent behind them taking something away. I encourage outside-the-box (even controversial) thinking. I discourage acting impulsively and stubbornly on said thoughts. If you follow these principles, you might not always succeed, and you might not even notice improvement...but if you keep trying, then I promise you that your refined process will eventually make a difference that others will see.