Devlog 6

“Social deduction” games often entail a lot in the category of actions, goals, and rules in discussing the Six Elements from Macklin and Sharp. Most of them are not playspace-specific, because they are intended to be played almost anywhere. Many of them don’t have a required amount of players, but many of them are the most fun when played with more people, such as Werewolf. Many also either have no game-specific objects involved or a minimal amount of objects. This makes them easier to setup play than something like a board game. Social deduction games usually have specific actions involved, such as the werewolves pointing at a player to “kill” them, or voting other players off by pointing. The goals are also usually specific, like voting off the werewolves before the villagers are outnumbered to achieve victory, or else face a loss. The rules are also specific, like keeping your eyes closed until the moderator calls for a player’s group to open their eyes.

Playing a social deduction game calls for a general understanding of body language, behavior, and psychological indicators. It also helps to play with friends or people who know each other well, because it makes the deception of a role like the werewolf more difficult to pull off, but therefore more rewarding when it is successfully done. These games usually are pretty immersive in creating the “magic circle” effect, because most people would not consider lying to their friends easy, but will happily do it when playing a social deduction game. There is an interesting morality shift in these type of games in particular, where lying becomes not only an important part of gameplay, but also becomes downright expected from other players with no lasting consequences once the game ends, because the lying took place within the magic circle. While occasionally, the ability to pull off a convincing lie in these kind of games can reveal something psychologically about the person who does so, it isn’t often read into like that by other players of the game, so it becomes a skill that is treated more as a skill that helps the player in the game.

Social deduction games also involve suspicion of those around, but also the forming of alliances, at least loosely. Most people choose another player or few that they think are “safe” and support them, or have their eye on another player they think is possibly the “werewolf”/ “imposter”.