Troll Defense — Abuse and Smurf Detection
What breaks a beginner first in online werewolf usually isn't losing. It's finding out that the player who said "I'm new" was a veteran all along.
MAFIA doesn't leave that to self-declaration.
🔰 The beginner badge is given, not claimed
MAFIA's beginner badge attaches automatically to players with fewer than 20 lifetime games. It appears above the avatar, next to the seat number, so the whole table sees the same thing.
That means nobody needs to say whether they're new. And the reverse: a veteran can say "I'm new" all they like — no badge, and the table knows.
Alt-account beginner impersonation is detected
If it isn't self-declared, the next trick is making a new account to become a beginner again — the classic smurf: an experienced player on an alt, farming genuinely new players.
MAFIA looks at every login in two stages.
| Stage | What it checks |
|---|---|
| 1st | Whether other accounts have been used from the same connection |
| 2nd | Whether other accounts have been used from the same device and browser |
An account caught by either stage doesn't get the 🔰 badge — even under 20 games. ∴ making a fresh account doesn't hand the badge back.
🔵 To be clear: this is not an account-ban mechanism. Families and friends legitimately share connections and devices, so detection means "not treated as a beginner" — not punishment. Beyond the missing badge, nothing about the game changes.
Abuse is judged by AI, in context
In a werewolf game, "execute", "bite" and "shoot" are everyday vocabulary. Police the words themselves and the game suffocates.
MAFIA's text chat is monitored automatically, but the design is AI reading the full context. Rough in-role talk is treated as game vocabulary; what gets flagged is aggression aimed at the real person — personal insults, discriminatory speech, threats, doxxing.
∴ You don't have to fear false positives for playing rough. Suspect freely, lie freely.
Reports don't stop your game
When someone crosses the line, open their avatar's menu, right in the room — 'Report' is there.
- You can send it while the game continues. No need to argue back on the spot
- Reports are read by the operators only. The reported player is never told
- For anything after you've left the room, or account-level issues, use Contact(ja) — works even while signed out
There is deliberately no block feature
MAFIA has no "make this player disappear for me" button. In werewolf, lying is legitimate play — a mechanism that lets "they tricked me" or "they voted me out" remove a player would break the game itself.
In its place stand the three above: a badge you don't self-declare, monitoring that reads context, and reports that reach the operators. The bluffing stays a game; only aggression aimed at people gets shown the door. That's MAFIA's idea of a table you can relax at.
Related
- Manners and Prohibited Play — where the game ends and harassment begins
- Beyond Beginner — Surviving the Day-One Vote
- There's a player harassing people
- Is there a block feature?
- Contact(ja) — reports and bug reports, works even while signed out