There are a number of online mafia games out there. Though registered players and size of the jackpot varies per site, one thing is constant in all of them. The accusation and talk of house players.
A house player is the term used for a player that works directly for the admin, if not the admin itself. For the unindoctrinated, having an admin or someone play for them is not that much of an issue right? Wrong! House players have a very big effect on the outcome of the game. Online mafia games relies heavily on turns available to a player. Turns is what a player use to do most of the actions in the game. You want to attack, use a turn. You want to collect money, use a turn. The number of turns you get per minute also depends on your game status. Although online mafia games are "free" to play, players have the option to "buy" turns with real money. When you purchase turns using "real" money, you become a supporter. And with that, an increase in starting credits or turns earned every 10 minutes. With that, you gain an edge on those who play for free. How big of an edge depends on how big you are willing to spend. For every credit card swiped to purchase game credits, a small percentage of it goes to the jackpot. At the end of the round, whoever has the highest networth wins the pot. Ive seen games where the jackpot reached $4000 USD. Pretty big for a free to play online game huh? And that's where the house player issue become unignorable like a hurricane that's about to hit the coast.
The use of house players is a trick employed by site admins to get players to spend more than what they intended to. They are the ones who create tension in the game. The more you hate them, the more you will go after them. The more you go after them, the bigger the chances of you taking out that credit card and swiping a bigger amount this time. And like what i said, every swipe adds to the round jackpot. And who wins the jackpot? Most of the time the guy that you hate, the house player.
So is it a form of cheating? Well it depends on how you see things. There are admins who uses house players just to spice up the game. They use their house player as the figurehead of a union and have big wars round after round which makes their game worth playing. But then again, there are some who are just plain greedy and want all the money for himself/herself and doesn't look out for the long term sustainability of the game. My personal view with the question if its cheating or not is this. "It depends on the admin". If the admin knows how to balance fun for its players and profit making, then i think the use of a house player is "tolerable". Call it a "symbiotic relationship". And besides, there's no sure way for us to know if one is a house player anyway.
So how do we solve the issue of house players? Or better yet, do we want to solve it or leave it be?
As long as there are greedy players with egos as huge as the solar system, house players will always dominate games that they are in. The only way for them to fall is if players let go of their differences and personal quest for glory and work as one. But then again, its easier said than done. With the example i used with regards to ego stated above, we humans haven't even gone to Mars yet.
As for the second question, i couldn't care less cause im a free player. And besides, its a "mafia" game! Do you really expect things to be all bright and sunny?
So happy swiping supporters! LOL
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