Related to the upcoming theoretical game of mine...

Three routes to victory:

1) Individual achievement

Players all have the same "Main sidequest" at the game start, and it is a race to finish first.

All who finish the sidequest before they die/game end, will be counted among the winners, but the first to complete the sidequest will achieve a victory equal to winning the game outright, shared first place win.

Players investing heavily in this route can play to win this way- the prizes they earn from mini-games and the items they purchase from shops could be in pursuit of this win condition. Such, that they sacrifice potential avenues of victory along other routes. Which means, players pursuing other avenues of victory will have an easier time winning along their routes, because fewer players are competing with them along that route.


2) Mafia versus Village team victory

The objective is the usual- be on the winning side. So, the investment should be in time and energy trying to locate the mafia through in-thread activity, or by reasoning things out, or by other means as well. Focus on keeping team members alive, and focus on destroying enemy team members by the lynch or murder.

If you are good at this, murder the right people, lynch the right people... then you win. Simple. Easy. Takes minimal investment. It is the guess-who-the-mafia-is game that we all know and love.

You don't need any bells or whistles or to even be good at winning or playing mini-games or doing side-quests. You can treat this game like an ordinary, regular, mafia game.


3) Preparing for war

If you invest your winnings and effort toward trying to improve your offensive values, defensive values, and health, then when the inevitable battles come, you can (A) survive better, and (B) assist your team better by protecting others from death, or causing the right deaths.

While this route makes the least impact until the end... it could make the most impact overall.



So, I feel the game will appeal to these three types of players:


1) The individual achiever- this player likes to invest more time and energy into the game, to put themselves in the best possible position as early as possible, by exploring all avenues of victory available to them. This player will get involved in the mini-games and sidequests and build their character, and work as hard as possible behind the scenes to get the W. This player will flourish in this environment.

2) The immersion/roleplayer- this player can roleplay, and participate in games to whatever level they wish, and are available for. They can vote once or twice a round, participate in the occasional mini-game, and invest in the pay mini games to catch up to the more "power gamer" types if they have the good fortune to win more than they lose. And they can help their team with the vote.

3) The team player- this player will do everything they can to help their team, with the vote, with the attacks and defenses in the battles near the end, and come up with strategies to help their team win if they're innocent or guilty.