Alright boys, its finally really time to make a stand.
On day 1, shortkut, being the stubborn boy that he is, asked me to prove to him that there was information to be gained in this game without real roles, and without random voting. Day 2 came around, and the wolves didn't kill anyone, and like most of us, I was left without much information to glean. Well it's Day something or other now, and there is more information.
I have not been confident about any moves that I've contributed to so far. I have been wrong, and I admit that. And I can even agree (not just for me but for anyone) being repeatedly wrong is always a suspicious feeling. Well its crunch time, if we fail today, we fail. So let's do this.
In a wolf game with no roles, there are really 3 ways to get information on who might be a wolf. The things they say (including if they talk to much), the things they don't say (including if they talk too little), and the patterns they vote with. I'm reading through the thread (well skimming, tbh, I remember most of it), and I'm gonna try and give reads on everyone that remains in the game. Most of the players that have been lynched so far, either by accident or not, have found themselves having done something that looks guilty enough to get them lynched. I don't think theres a TON of information to glean from how people have voted for this fact alone.
But none of the rest of this post is planned, I'm just gonna type and talk until something jumps out at me.
@Fool's Requiem - Suspicion Level: 6/10. He has been active, but not overly so. He mostly seems to chime in with his suspicions, and his reads on the scenario. He (like many people) on day 2 suspected shortkut, Zell, and myself. shortkut is dead, and innocent, but I also agree that the course of events prior to shortkuts death very easily could have been moves he made. Myself and Zell, same thing. Either of us could have potentially pulled this off. Most of Fools post in this thread have either been jokes, or suspicious without much information to explain why he was suspicious. That ITSELF could be suspicious, or he could just be as confused as the rest of us and working on gut reactions (which I can't fault, I do the same.) He's not high on my list, but I could see a scenario in which he was a wolf.
@The Flame - Suspicion Level: 8.2/10. Flame, like Fool, hasn't been INCREDIBLY active in the thread. He has at one point implied he was "bad at the game", he has posted some reasonably insightful things, which makes me wonder if his "I'm bad at the game" comment is a ruse. Sometime around day 2, he implied that shortkut and I were suspicious for talking a lot. Then when confronted by BOTH shortkut and I about how inaccurate that statement was, he immediately walked it back. First he said "I'm inclined to believe the big talkers are suspicious", then immediately "I'm not saying people that talk a lot are wolves!". This kind of flip flopping is common among more inexperienced wolves, they want to stir the pot, and they want to start a suspicion train, but when they're confronted, they immediately walk it back and try to give a different answer. (this is sort of what got shortkut in trouble, day 1 he said "IM VOTING ANTS AND EVERYONE SHOULD VOTE SOMEONE TODAY", then later "I'm not saying everyone should vote, I'm just a man of my word" and then again "no, we definitely need to vote, day 1 abstaining is dumb." The Flame went less extreme with it, but his position DID flip flop a little bit. In the vote off between Warp and shortkut, he did something similar to Vash, wherein he "voted to give shortkut the chance to save himself" which... again is suspicious. We know shortkut was a civilian, but still, why would Flame even give shortkut the option to save himself, he, like Vash, claimed both shortkut and Warp were at the top of his list. So why save one over the other? Why not let cards fall where they may? Since then he has become even less active (he admits to his work week beginning, and as I've said previously, its a lot harder to use activity as a means to deduce suspicion because we're all adults now, I've been less active at times than I used to be as well), but its hard to still not feel like after being effectively caught out twice, he used the work week as a way to reduce his activity. Interesting...
@Raposa - Suspicion Level: 4.5/10. Raposa is a veteran, I do remember his names in past Wolf games, maybe not every one, but he was there. He has been fairly low activity this game (again, not necessarily a metric), but a lot of his posts have been sort of, one off jokes or one liners or non sequiturs. That COULD be a sign of a "quiet wolf" just going about his day, or it could be a sign of someone with no confidence in the direction of the game, but wants to still participate. He made one post where he talks about being quiet, and how it can go either way, and also seems to (like me) enjoy the thrill of a game without roles requiring you to use posts (few or many) to decipher who it could be. A lot of his votes come without explanation, but again, it HAS been that kind of game...
@Cole - Suspicion Level: X/10. I'm not going to give my own suspicion level, but I will absolutely be open about the things I've done, and let people decide for themselves. A lot of the moves that have happened in this thread COULD be me. I forget who said it, but someone pointed out that "Cole always comes with a certain level of suspicion", and I accept that. In fact I welcome that. Whether I am wolf, or townie, my aim is always to make the game exciting, I do so by being active, by being vocal, by provoking fights, announcing suspicions. Really, what I do in any game, is tell the truth, I might alter that truth if I'm a wolf, or enhance that truth if I'm a townie, but its always the truth. I *am* capable of doing the things that have been done, and anyone in here would be right to suspect me. I stand by my argument with shortkut on day 1, unless someone were to accidentally reveal something incredibly stupid on day 1, I will *always* vote to abstain. Even if a host says we cant, I'll just take the inactivity hit by not voting. It's not worth it. Moving forward through the game, I have remained suspicious of the same players. Similar to what people said about me, shortkut, Zell, Vash and canadaguy will ALWAYS be on my suspicions left, just because I know they know the game, I know they are smart, and I know they are capable of fooling anyone/everyone. I was wrong about shortkut (but he did kind of set himself up to be lynched), and I was wrong about Vash (and he made himself a target for lynching by his actions the day before he died.) Zell and canadaguy so far undetermined. I've been open about my activity, there are times (like now) where I can sit at my computer for an extended period of time and work up a post like this. And there are other times I'll disappear all night without even being able to check GWF on my phone. I fault no one for suspecting me. I always act suspicious, it's the fun of th e game for me. I am often and have often been a night 1 kill for wolves. Me acting suspicious, even as a civi, mean sometimes th e wolves will keep me around to use towards the end of the game to divert suspicion, my hope being that by that point in any game, I've already figured out who they are. I can not, as of this moment, claim to have certainty on anyone.
@Zell 17 - Suspicion Level: 7.5/10. Zell is an anomaly. ONCE AGAIN I say, activity isn't a true measure, and I know first hand that he was out of town for several days in a row during the early days of this game. But still, his activity has been sparse. He is 100% capable of every single move the wolves have made in this game. And moreover, his insistence that a game is entirely luck due to the lack of additional roles is awesome. I can agree that one or two additional roles is fine, but to insist that they are needed is a bit much. Zells a poker player, and he prefers math over psychology in most cases, and the same seems to be true here. He'd prefer the "math" of a detective announcing who he has investigated over the psychology of reading posts. BUT he's a good enough poker player to respect the psychology of the game and those that can use it well. But he's not doing that... he's insisting the "math" is the only way to play this game. This might sound odd, but his insistence to *not* find me guilty for voting for him is... interesting. He ended up not being killed, but it almost seems like what I talked about above, that he wanted to preserve me for later to use my posts against me to get out of a late game snafu. ...or he is truly convinced I'm innocent. The "just vote for me, I'm not a wolf but I wanna end the game" thing is... a thing too. Why is he so eager?
@canadaguy - Suspicion Level: 7.9/10. canadaguy... when I was preparing this post, and before I started reading through this thread, I expected Zell and canadaguy to be at the top of my list. (For those curious, I look through their posts, I write the paragraph, and then I edit it in my suspicion level. I only put it first for those too lazy to read the entire post). cg spent the early days heavily siding with me. and since I know for a fact he and I are not wolves together, he can't possibly trust my suspicions, unless he's using them, so I did find it odd that he'd be arguing along side of me so adamantly. I can't for certain say that any of his votes or suspicions make him guilty, because I have shared many of them, but by the same token, if I've been wrong about them, so has he.
@Ants! - Suspicon Level: 7.1/10. He's been on and off my suspicion level for a while. The two biggest things that strike me are his activity (I know, I know), but its that he has been active, but that he seems to come into the thread with a plan already made. Like he already knows what he's going to post before he posts it. And second, he's been on shortkut the longest and heaviest of anyone. It could be just retaliation from day 1, or it could be more than that. But since we know shortkut is a civi, it seems strange to me. there have been a lot of "well Ill change my vote if people want..." or "if something comes up I'll change my vote." Normally I'd say a willingness to change a vote is suspicious, why vote if you're not sure. but it also could be that he worries he might not be able to check later, and wants to at least have a vote on record. A lot of his posts have been short and to the point, often just including a vote or suspicion and that's it.
@God. - Suspicion Level: 2/10. Maybe its me getting soft in my old age, but with whatever he has going on IRL right now, I feel like his wanting to stay in the game IS a means of escape, and not a desire to "continue to play wolf". He obviously hasnt posted a ton, with good reason, but there's just... no real information to go off on him. On that reason alone I can't have him high on my list.
CONCLUSION
I've surprised myself. Before reading through the thread, I was sure I'd fall on one of the bigger remaining names, Zell or canadaguy, but after reading the posts, and beginning analysis, I feel like I'm falling on Flame here. As we've all discussed, theres a few ways to go about being a wolf. LOUD and boisterous, drawing so much attention to yourself that people get confused, or quiet and reserved so no one pays attention to you.
Flame seems to be stuck in the middle, which in and of itself is suspicious from someone I know has played before. Zell and canadaguy could very well be in on it with them, maybe this was a concentrated effort by all three of them to create mass confusion, but Zell and canadaguy have seemingly viable explanations for all of their actions (a lot of which I agree with.) Flame meanwhile, seems all over the place, and few things read as suspicious more than flying by the seat of your pants.
I do believe I will be voting for Flame, but as I'm not a huge fan of changing my vote, I will be reserving a little bit longer. But I am heavily leaning in that direction.