Translation: Yes, Roy, that's exactly what I mean. I have no regard for the rules or the other players, I'll just ruin everything for everyone if I get a role I don't like, I think I might lose, or I simply feel like it.

Just to be clear.

I'd play if I knew I could, but since I'm really not sure that I would be able to make time, I'll do the decent thing and not sign-up.

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Also, yikes, that's a lot of hostility. Seems out of place considering we're playing a game here.

It's because he's saying he's going to not play if he doesn't feel like it, even though it's in violation of the rules and the spirit of the game, and has a negative impact on everyone else who is playing legitimately.

If someone might decide they don't want to play, they shouldn't sign-up at all. By signing-up, they are indicating they are able and willing to play. Having someone go inactive mid-game for any of the reasons listed in my previous post is unreasonable, especially when they're saying they might do it before the game has even started.

The problem is it screws with balancing.

Balance is both the responsibility of the host and players. The host needs to balance the initial conditions of a game, and the players need to all participate to their fullest to maintain the balance the host has initially created. I have yet to see a game where all players are putting their all into the game (there's almost always a couple players idling, players not even reading the posts, mindless sheep, etc.), so "balance" is always just a crapshoot. If a game feels balanced, chances are it was weighted to favor the town, because the town has more players and therefore more likely to contain inactive players (oftentimes the more boring roles), thereby disrupting the balance.

Basically, as long as the role distribution is decent, the rest of the balance shouldn't be stressed over; We aren't all hardcore Mafia players, nor would we all want to be.

*applause*

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