On Replacing Into Games

Original Lecture: On replacing into games

I'll tackle this one, since the third one is sorta-covered by some of my other lectures. (Including the one I just did.)

The basic advice I have is similar to my advice I gave to newbies, believe it or not. Know what you're getting yourself into. Larges produce pages at such an astronomically-high rate that it IS a fairly frequent occurrence for some poor souls to try reading, and to have more pages appear than they read, making them fall progressively further behind. Micros aren't going to be likely to have that type of problem. Themes are often going to require you understand some special mechanic and grasp it quickly--and if you have a role, to be able to use it basically instantly. (Sure, most theme games not in night will be fine, but there are plenty of themes that have usage of day power, and if you're considering replacing into one, be ready to be forced to pull a trigger on a role essentially on instinct.)

Most mini normals are going to be easy, and opens are typically going to be even easier, though it depends on the players. A great recommendation is to look at the game's total page number, the creation of the game thread, and the current day phase of the game. Between the three, you can get a fairly good triangulation of the activity level of the game, without even having looked inside to see the players and whatnot. If the activity levels are high, you're in for a long ride. If the activity levels are fairly low, you can probably get caught up in a single night, even if the game has a ton of pages.

But let's say you replace into a higher-activity game. A few things that I typically do: -I skip any proven townVtown fighting. That is, if a game has flips and they're town, no point reading their spouts; their alignment is known. -However, I will read the content of dead players on living players, -AND the content of living players ON dead players.

It makes reading a bit easier, especially if you replaced into, say, lylo. If you're on the middle of D1, though, you'll probably need a different approach.

One easy trick is to iso your predecessor(s), and take whatever's important from there. I don't recommend doing this and commenting on it, your alignment/role regardless. (You'll be accused of invoking some variant of the Amished tell, true or not, which your alignment regardless, is annoying to deal with.) But doing so gives you an idea of where your predecessor(s) were coming from. If you can see what they see from their iso, then you give some continuity with your slot, making it much easier to interact with all the other players.

You don't necessarily have to agree with your predecessor(s)--just let your attention be drawn to things that they raised. By doing so, you can get a jump-start on your own reads, by basically getting a feel for the gamestate.

Another trick is to simply ask for a summary of the game. Players giving the summary often do so with bias, but by reading their summaries, you can get a better idea of what they've seen, and by crossreferencing things, might get a better grasp on their alignment. (Or weaknesses, if you're scum.)

A third tip is to not bother reading the entire game--to read the early parts, the latest parts, and go from there. Frequently, the earliest section of the game is the most important anyway, and reviewing the latest section of the game is also very important and can get you quickly integrated into the game. If there's something you don't get, just ask for someone to give you the context behind it, and then read said context behind what they're saying.

A related tip is to basically track the votecounts if the mod has enough--I'd discourage from opening with VCA, of course, but I'm more talking about using the votecounts to track where players have stood throughout the game. It gives you an excellent sense of how things have developed, from just a quick skim. Player X was suspicious, but player Y became even moreso, and so on and so forth.

By combining these tips, you get a much better handle on things, allowing you to integrate and give content basically immediately.

What I don't recommend doing? -Reading the entire game if it's long. Nobody needs a ton of random junk thrown in front of them that's no longer relevant. -Not understanding the mechanic and asking others to explain it. If you replace into a theme, it's your job to understand things, and you're likely to be scumread for it. -Not reading at all. This gives you a disconnect with the other players, disjointing you from them which is bad regardless of your alignment. At least skim some of the game. -If possible, avoid discussing things that have been discussed to death. If you think there's something that was discussed that can be brought up again with a new angle, sure, yeah, that might be productive, but even then, you need to time it well so that your discussion on the old is not derailing discussion of something current.

I'm afraid that I can't really give many tips beyond this. Each game will be entirely different, far too reliant on context and circumstances for me to give you advice that will actually be useful for keeping up. But these might be able to help. Remember also, replacing into a game that's active means you need to have the time for that activity, and that's basically the one tip above all others I can think of that will universally aid you.