S-FM Ladder Season Three Conclusion

[Orpz]

Season Three of the S-FM Ladder has officially concluded!

Congratulations to Toadette for first place!
Congratulations to Firebringer for second place!
Congratulations to Calix for third place!

Prizes will be distributed at Admin's earliest convenience.

As a community, we've experienced many changes in the FM trends, such as hidden setups, invite-only setups, Hydra setups, and yeah, even canceled setups. But throughout the changing times, we kept our competitive sportsmanship as strong as it was in the first season, and that makes all the difference in evaluating a season's success. And oh yes, this season was a success. Without a doubt, everyone played a great season and I couldn't be more proud to see it all go down.

Admittedly the points system was imbalanced this time around. A common issue was that players could easily get ahead by mass signing and hoping they get carried, so I introduced the streaks incentives to encourage good active play. What I hadn't counted on was that many players, no matter how well they played, could still lose. I wanted to punish laziness but instead I punished losing. This should not be the case, and the next season's point schemes works at removing the snowball effect.

Special shoutout to MattZed for helping me with the reviews process.

Congratulations everyone!

Final Spreadsheet

[Toadette]

GG

[Frog]

GG

Nice Toadette.

Spoiler : was this you? :

The way they presented that aspect of their role suggests that it wasn't something they put in at the start. If Firebriner added in a Miller aspect, then that implies that there's at least one investigative role that would be countered by the Miller.

That assumes that they tell the truth, of course. Considering how easy it is for town to lose majority, it can also be a gambit by scum, but I think the first option is more likely. (scum would be somewhat less likely to claim that first thing due to the risk)

[secondpassing]

We're all winners!
I got a point!

[DarknessB]

We're all winners!
I got a point!

This is deeply offensive to all the people who received no points on the ladder this season. Please apologize.

[secondpassing]

This is deeply offensive to all the people who received no points on the ladder this season.

It's okay you got a point!


I mean yeah okay sorry. Thanks for playing everyone

[DarknessB]

First of all, congrats to Toadette, Firebringer, and Calix for their performance this season -- a job very well done, both in terms of volume and effort.

This was an interesting ladder season for sure -- filled with lots of chaos as Orpz alluded to, with hidden setups, canceled setups (ugh), invite-only setups (not counting on the ladder), and finally hydra setups (just emerging now). I think one of the big knocks on the ladder is that it's inherently a crude measure of performance. You can play amazingly and lose just based on the setup or other members of your faction. More problematically, you can play like crap, get mislynched Day 1, and get points because the Town rallied to a win. The disconnect between performance and points is why some players aren't as keen on the ladder, but it can still be a fun (albeit crude) way to measure how you're doing.

IMO, a couple of points of improvement for all of us, myself included:

1. Activity Levels. Many of us (myself included again) need to do a better job being active in games. No, that does not mean spamming or having to post incessantly. It just means having something to say. Unlike the mod, Forum Mafia is about reads and daytime discussion. I understand we all have lives, but it's not fair to sign up for a game that you can't minimally contribute to. Of course, stuff happens suddenly and that's why we have replacements, but I think everyone stepping it up a little will make for a more pleasant experience for us all.

2. Welcoming New Players. I mentioned this on a staff thread, but we seem to be having a problem retaining new players for whatever reason. Perhaps that's due to longer forum-side games (M-FM or FM), odd setups that aren't received as well, a lack of community here, or just bad luck (in a number of cases). Regardless, I think we all enjoy playing with a variety of people, both old and new. It's crucial to health of Forum Mafia here that we get people interested in playing here in the first place and make them feel welcome so they will want to stick around.

To that end, if you're new, please stick with us -- we have ideas about different queues in the works (traditional vs. experimental games) and a good variety of setups that will be hosted soon. It's great to play with new people and we're hoping you start to feel at home here. You can always contact anyone on staff who plays FM, especially the S-FM staff (Orpz and MattZed) with any questions or concerns, or just to say hi and get to know us better. There are also chat rooms on Skype and Discord that are fun to get involved with as well if you are looking for a more social experience. And of course, the Starcraft II mod is good fun too -- many of us play group games and we'd love to have you involved too.

Looking forward to playing with you many of you next season.

[Toadette]

Nice Toadette.

Spoiler : was this you? :

Obviously was Calix. Sounds nothing like me.

[Sen]

The problem with new players is that it's risky to accept them. I literally opened two spots for new players in an otherwise invite-only setup, and had to replace both because they never showed up.

Small setups are pretty fragile, and a single inactive player can decide the result by forcing one or more no-lynch days due to their lack of participation.
Perhaps we could make it so new players start by joining somebody else in an hydra, that way the game won't be affected if the new player never shows up.