MafiaReturns is now a game where people put a large amount of time (and potentially money) into their accounts, especially when compared to the older days of briefer, more violent lifespans. Going by the top ten people online right now, the oldest accounts are: 507, 337, 335, 335, 169, 163, 161, 159, 156, and 117 days old. Even if you want to call some of those giant numbers an aberration, it's correct to now say that most accounts are measured in months rather than days or weeks.

Our most recent Christmas and Easter, days that many people spend with their families, we saw major in-game conflicts. (It's possible that this happened during Thanksgiving too, but I don't remember if that was perhaps the weekend before?) I don't think this is a coincidence; it seems obvious that people are using holidays as shields to more easily wage war.

What I propose is that there is a small number of days that are marked as "off limits": New Year's Eve/Day, Easter, Independence Day (US- is Guy Fawkes Night as big of a deal?), Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve/Day. 

I'm talking about 4-8 days here out of 365. Maybe it should just be 3 days. Maybe it should be 10. If the people and administrators support this idea, then the details of individual days can be hashed out.

My general point is that wacking other players should be disabled on days when an overwhelming number of people plan to spend time with their families. 

I can imagine a few arguments against this idea:

BUT GEORGE WASHINGTON ATTACKED THE HESSIANS ON CHRISTMAS DAY! ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR!

We're not actually fighting wars here, though. We're playing a game. If you want to play any other aspect of the game on Christmas Day, go for it. But why should players consistently get pulled away from their families on holidays, when we could easily make a small number of days off limits? If enough people find this tactic of holiday wars consistently frustrating, wouldn't this small tweak result in a more engaged playe rbase?

BUT WE NEED TO ABLE TO WACK IF SOMEONE DOES XYZ.

Fine. Leave HQ wack active to solve problems of disrespect in the streets that can't wait a day. Allow NPC wacking if you must. This is only referring to players wacking other players.

YOU PANSY, BACK IN MY DAY WE KILLED PEOPLE ONCE A WEEK AND TWICE ON SUNDAY.

Right. But accounts live much, much longer now. There's more to lose. And even if you don't personally give a shit about Christmas, I'm referring to the big picture here.

I THINK HOLIDAY X SHOULD/SHOULDN'T BE INCLUDED HERE/ THERE ARE TOO MANY DAYS HERE/ WHO DECIDES WHAT IS "MAJOR?"

We can quibble about the details once/if the general principle has a consensus. I'm fine with leaving the final call up to the admins. No one is suggesting that wacking gets disabled three times a month. We're talking about major holidays that the vast majority of the player base has at least some participation in. Yes, people will still have other commitments and no application of this will ever be perfect. But the question isn't whether this is a perfect change; the question is whether it's a better one.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PLAY ON A CERTAIN DAY, YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES

That's fair, I suppose, but if this pattern continues isn't it bad for the engagement of the game? Invest in an account for months and then get wiped out because you choose to spend Christmas with your family rather than coordinating MR? This game requires a lot from its active, engaged players; isn't it good to balance this out with a handful of days that are off limits?

In Closing

How many of us have had to choose between checking in with a war and spending holiday time with their families?  We have the ability to easily prevent these choices from ever having to occur. If you want to wipe out a family, do it on December 26th. Wars can happen any time, and a very minor change can improve this situation a great deal.

TL;DR: Disable wacking for a few days a year where most of the player base is celebrating so players aren't consistently forced to choose between a game and any holiday festivities. 

As a person who has been playing for a few years now, I can understand this concern. I can't count how many holidays and holiday eves I've spent either on my computer during a shootout or wondering whether something is about to go down.

That being said, as much as it would be a great convenience, I believe that all is fair in love and war. Or maybe not. I'm actually quite torn on this issue.

I think people do what they do in the holidays because they're out of work for the day and have time to play the game but I can understand perfectly what you mean.

Yesterday was Easter and my birthday. I had to get late to my own party because of MR and that didn't felt right, I hope it doesn't happen again so +1 on this suggestion for me.

me no likey -1

While it seems like a nice idea I don't like it. Which major holidays? Only the Christian ones, so no wacking on Christmas but Eid is ok? Only US ones, so no wacking on 4th July but Chinese New Year is ok? You could end up with a lot of days off limits.

pzo, you want to elaborate? I'd love to hear what your concern is.

dalora, Leave aside the issue of which days for a moment, that can be thrashed out at as much length as possible. do you have an issue with the idea in principle? or just a concern over which days?

Assuming a set of days that are both acceptable to the masses and the admins can be set up, I am enthusiastically for this. There are (as far as i personally am concerned) maybe 4 days out of the calendar that I really would like to be able to see my family without getting a call that a war is on.

Its a +1 for me, did the not call a christmas ceasefire in ww1 so everyone could enjoy it together, so yeah why not implement something like that here 

Squishy,

I can certainly appreciate you wanting to make sure that everyone can use these days equally. If the original suggestion is impossible or preferable to you, I think your alternate solution is something I'd love to see. Both proposals help get us closer to what I would submit is the ideal we're pursuing here. My concerns would be that it would require much more work to implement and have more potential for abuse, but I'm absolutely certain that you're more qualified to make those judgments than I am.

I still think it's less complicated/more fair to pick several days from a community survey and just disable wack for those days, but I will ultimately support people being able to sit down with their families and friends a few times a year and not worry about getting called away for a MR war. If you think that is better implemented on an individual selection basis, then you have my full support.

if the original suggestion is impossible or not preferable to you*

Squishy

What if I see that half a city's big guns happen to be on vacation? Am I more likely to attack now knowing that the number of bullets coming back to me is cut in half? Also, I can just blast away at proers. So when those suckers come back from vacation, and due to the countdown I know exactly when they're back, I can be ready to pop them. This could be even more incentive to attack on a holiday, since people would know that X, Y, and Z won't be online.

I'd almost wish for it to be much more stealthy. Like you have to set it 14 days in advance, but when you're on vacation no one knows you are without actually trying to hit you sort of thing.

HOWEVER

I do think that this potential abuse could be solved with good communication and teamwork. So a crew whose big guns will all be away on Christmas Day can inform their crew that they should all ideally select that as one of their days.

Again, I support anything that results in people being able to avoid getting dragged away from their families on a holiday due to a war, so consider anything that moves toward that a +1 from me.

This all seems abusable on both methods.

Pzo

How could a blanket day with wack disabled be abused?

While this is a great suggestion and can be worked with... I'd still like to see a vacation mode in place so those of us who enjoy our lives outside of the game and do go away from time to time can at least have that. 

GavinByrne

How could a blanket day with wack disabled be abused?

 You know exactly when the people you attack won't be able to retaliate for starters. I really think this offers a lot of potential for abuse as well. Part of the allure is that you can be killed at any time for any reason.

I like this concept now squishy. This is a healthy balance.

Would it be transparent. For example, I select Christmas eve. Would it be displayed on my profile? I think it would be best if done transparently instead of hitting the wack button and getting some sorta "vacation message."

Also, 3 days in advance is too short. Should be at least a week or so in advance so potential hitters can plan appropriately.

Idk. Drunk so just spitballin.

I agree with Gavin that if people can pick and choose days a lot are just going to choose the major holidays anyway. Then any rogues or aggressive crews can just run riot for the whole day with almost no resistance. 

I think the only way choosing vacation days would work is if both of these systems were implemented. So there would be no wack on major holidays and people can choose vacation days with a good amount of advance notice. This would stop people from abusing the few days of the year that the majority of players would want to pick as a vacation. 

That said I do think it would be difficult to choose what days wack gets disabled for. This year we had Christmas eve, but Christmas day, boxing day, new years eve and new years day would all be just as annoying for many, yet blocking wack for all those days seems too much. That's without even getting in to national/regional holidays.