How long it's been since this topic got attention...
But I was thinking of alternatives to godkills, and so, it's more proper to revive discussion here than to make another topic, right? At least I hope it is.
I really like Mafia games with post restrictions, so long as they aren't too obnoxious, but the problem with these is that a godkill for breaking them can be exploited strategically. I remembered reading this topic before and on re-reading I saw that Daenym came to a similar conclusion as I thought was neat: Hooking as the punishment for breaking the restriction. (Or, more accurately, the action failing but you don't know it does until you send in the Night PM and get feedback it failed).
This way the player can still vote or talk as necessary, but their overall usefulness is diminished, and if you are for example an inspector, not following rules => not being able to inspect => not obtaining vital info to share => not being able to prove your role and clear yourself => catching suspicion and getting lynched. That's similar to a Godkill, but more drawn out and not as unbalancing to the game, and the village can prioritize who to focus on. Players who care about winning will follow the rules so they can be useful in some way.
There is another benefit to this, as it blurs the line when faking a restriction, since the others cannot know for sure if a user is useless for ignoring their restriction or is being obstinate and not following orders on how to use their ability, like not using it on the agreed-upon target. It opens up room for faking and counter-claiming without revealing alliances too early into the game.
Still, for certain behaviours that wouldn't be enough, and from reading what's been posted above, I agree that suicidal players should be godsubbed out instead of godkilled, whenever possible. OR... they could be godkilled without their Role PM getting revealed until postgame, introducing an element of uncertainty as the Village doesn't know if they lost one of theirs or a Mafian to take down, and the Mafia can't find out which role the godkilled player had (notwithstanding a previous inspection). It even opens up more room for strategic play if the godkilled was the real Role that's been counter-claimed and now there is no CC to oppose the faker.
Just some thoughts I felt like sharing, what do you think? Would that be worth trying in the next games?
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