In the first week of class, we played Ultimate Werewolf. I was already familiar with the game, but I have never played the physical version before. I used to play the game in my teen years on my phone with some random strangers. There were less characters, but I definitely remember a seer. No sorceress though. I think the hardest part about the game, online and physical, was that there was no way to hint at who could or could not be a werewolf. So the real massacre was during the voting rounds. One difference between the online version, however, was that you could not vote for anybody (so no one was voted out). Meaning there was a better chance of figuring out who a werewolves were.

It’s a fun but sometimes frustrating game. If you like logic, then this game might make you rage because no one has a good reason for voting you out. You talk to much, you get voted out. You breath too much, you get voted out. You kinda just have to except it. I also think this game is best played with a lot of players. Although it can get pretty boring for those who are dead or voted out early on. You can only watch until one side wins. But an interesting thing I learned about leadership is mob mentality. I thought it was interesting how a leader is not a leader until one person joins them, then the rest follow suit. In reality, it’s the second follower that holds the power (although if that’s the case then would you say the leader is in the second follower?).

I found the game pretty hard since I am no risk-taker. I couldn’t vote anyone out unless I knew they had something to be voted out for. So most of the game I just watched as other people voted. But by doing this I realized something very interesting. Humans in the game are kind of bad. The story of the game is that werewolves enter the town and start murdering villagers and to protect the town, the villagers kill? banish? 1 person from the town. But ya’ll couldn’t do a buddy buddy system or something? You couldn’t be each other’s witnesses, you just go back to your home alone and wait to see who is killed the next day then banish someone for being too quiet? I don’t know, it just seemed like the villagers just wanted an excuse to get rid of their least favorite neighbors. I guess fear can beat the best in us.