| Sheep | |
|---|---|
 sheeping at practice | |
|
Best used |
As mafia |
|
How often used |
Lots |
|
Does it work |
yes |
|
Is it risky |
Highly |
|
Is this good for town? |
occasionally |
To sheep is to vote the same as a particular player with a minimum expression of thought or contribution. Sheeping occurs most often on days where there is a definitive clear that everyone can follow, but it also occurs sometimes with players who are very skillful, popular, or charismatic. Additionally, mafia often sheep their mafia partners.
Sheeping as Anti-Town[]
Although there is a certain logic in allowing a definitive clear to dictate who is lynched and who isn't, true sheeping is anti-town. No balanced setup is designed for the town to win by investigations alone, and even a clear with the opportunity to lead usually needs evidence -- in the form of scumtells, towntells, and vote records -- in order to determine who would be a good lynch and who would be a bad one. For these reasons, widespread sheeping, even when it results in the lynch of mafia, is generally antitown because it makes the sheeping players in the game virtually indistinguishable from each other. Even if it is understood that a certain member of the town will make the final decision for the day in terms of who is lynched and who isn't, it's important that the rest of the town contribute their own thoughts and attempt to persuade the leader as to who should be lynched and why.
Sheeping as a Scumtell[]
Although many players sheep even when they are sided with the village, sheeping is even more common among scum, who need to blend in with the other villagers in order to stay under the radar. Scum also have an inclination to add their votes at a point in the day when the additional votes make it seem like a lynch against that player is inevitable. When lynching a villager, they tend to add their votes a little bit before this point (to pressure the town into a bad lynch), and when lynching a mafia they tend to add their votes a little bit afterwards (to avoid the suspicion that comes from refusing to lynch a player who turns out to be mafia). Mafia are less likely than villagers to express their reasons for their vote because any reason they would present would be fake, hence the tendency to sheep, especially if a cleared townsperson is leading the lynch.
Self-voting[]
Another form of sheeping is the practice of self-voting, wherein all players except for a single clear are instructed to vote for themselves, and then once all votes are cast this way the clear hammers. This form of voting releases all the uncleared players from the responsibility of their own votes and instead places all of that responsibility on the clear, leaving the town without a voting record to scumhunt with.
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