IlluminatiLizard's guide to playing as Villager

## Villager

One of the most common complaints among mafia.gg players is getting villager. The role is typically considered to be boring, and because of this belief, some hosts will even run setups without villagers, or with very few. The main root of the complaints regarding villager is that players feel that they are unable to meaningfully affect the game since the role has no special abilities. However, this is completely untrue. Villagers are the core of the game and mastering the role is essential to being considered a good player.

## The purpose of Villager

Many people will suggest that the purpose of villager is to take hits for PRs, but that is the wrong attitude. There is no real purpose of villager in a setup. Your ability to affect the game is not tied to your role. You should scumhunt based on what players say, and try to generate info. PRs don't exist to drive the game, they exist to make the game more interesting. This guide will explain the basics of how to influence the game as a villager.

## Things to do

### Aggressive play

One of the most common pitfalls for new players is a lack of confidence. Humility gets you absolutely nothing in mafia. You should question players and make them provide explanations for their actions. If you think someone is scum, don't park your vote on them and wait for cop to check them, interrogate them yourself and push the vote. You should be suspicious of everyone. If someone calls you aggro, you should ask why they consider it a bad thing. Don't allow anyone to hold a position without justifying it. Be proactive and generate your own info. Of course, playing like this is likely to make unskilled players and mafia accuse you of being scum, which is where the next section of this guide comes in.

### Defending

If you are pushed by other players, you need to defend your actions. Make sure you have an explanation for everything you've done. Many incompetent players believe that defending too much is scum, since they believe a villager wouldn't care if they get condemned, but this is untrue. Would you vote the dog, crier, or confirmed cop? No? If you would defend them, then you need to defend yourself, since you're confirmed town from your perspective. You should also defend your townreads by explaining why their actions are town. After successfully defending, you should always examine the motives of the people pushing you to determine if they were just incorrect town, or mafia trying to get a miscondemn.

### Town reads

It is just as important to have town reads as scum reads, as this can allow you to solve the game through process of elimination. Reading players as town and scum mostly comes down to experience, but there are plenty of guides on it. I won't be going into any more detail for that reason.

## Things to avoid

### Coasting

Coasting is when you don't talk unless prompted. This is very bad because it deprives town of info, makes you indistinguishable from scum, and makes it easy for mafia to push an ML onto you.

### PR worship

This is when you just follow whoever a town PR votes. This is bad because you will lose the game if the PR is incompetent, and it also removes info from the game. If everyone is voting the same person, you can't really use voting for info.

### Doing things without reason

This is self explanatory. This is bad because it isn't pro town and can be used to push an ML on you.