This is also one of those games where claiming, if not done smartly, can easily be abused by scum (*cough* me in RMM3 *cough*). It may not always be wise to immediately claim that you know the specific combination for the 'Cop' power as scum can use that for their own malicious purposes... Flavor is also fairly important in this game. Not only when trying to figure out which objects match up to which power roles, but also in the general storyline as well as in PMs.
I believe this post is the one everyone expected.
So, as anyone who has played this game with me knows, I LOVE claiming. Probably as much as raerae HATES claiming. Let me break down why I am correct 100% of the time and raerae is only correct 90% of the time, in the context of this game.
I've played every single Archetype game on f.ds (I think). I've been on multiple teams with Archetype. We've co-modded together. Reading my PM, and thinking back on other games, I believe I understand where he's coming from with the post above.
(As an aside, I totally get shraeye's point for why he is generally not a fan of theory talk, which I think is inseparable from claiming. Unlike raerae, who just has a visceral reaction to it, shraeye has a sensible reason, which is almost always true. Players DO come up with ideas about the set-up, and then they DO try to fit everyone into it, and then they DO let that paint the way they see other players in the game. Set-up theory is NOT scumhunting. It is a useful tool though, if you don't let it decide who is and isn't scum for you.)
So, what do we know (publically)? It's RMM, so we can assume no traditional "VT" roles. There are "inventions" we make from stuff. More stuff generally = better inventions. We have to guess from a list to figure it out.
And that's it. We don't know the number of scum, or scum teams. We don't know anything whatsoever about the PRs in the game. We don't know a bunch of other stuff.
BUT! We do know stuff. I know stuff. You know stuff. We also know about "stuff" in the context of the game. Each of us has more information than the other. What we don't know is how sharing that information can help town (or scum).
So. Mass claiming. It's a hobby of mine. I design games with claiming in mind. I build in fake claims into my scum roles. As an example, in Ninjas and Samurai, a normal game, I provided fake claims within the scum flavor without ever saying "here's your fake claim!" Because here's the thing: if a massclaim breaks the game, or ends the game with little to no effort, that doesn't make for a fun game. So mods do their best to take that into consideration (and sometimes fail horribly, like me and what I thought was going to be the awesomest blitz game ever).
What could we mass claim here? Roles? Check. Invention/stuff/guessing/combinations information? Check. Night action Results? Check.
What SHOULD we mass claim here? Roles? No way. Invention/stuff/guessing/combinations information? Nope. Night action Results?
Results? Hmmmm. Remember when I tracked mcmc and caught scum? That was awesome. Here's the thing; if folks had just listened to my hinting without forcing me to claim, we would have lynched scum AND not outed a power role. So my general belief if to NOT claim results from investigations/watching/tracking/etc. unless you have to, even if you caught scum. Instead, just vote and make cases.