Mafioso is an on-line multi-user game in which players must learn the secret identities of those around them. Designed in the tradition of film noir, the Innocents of the town must discover which members are gradually killing off members of the community.

Once users begin the game, they are randomly assigned identities. The various roles include:

Mafia - must plan and murder the Innocents one by one (1 per night) before they are discovered as members of 'the family'.

Innocents - responsible for safeguarding the community against the Mafia and uncovering the secret Mafia members hiding in their own town

An Angel - a member of the town with special powers - each night s/he can choose one individual and learn if s/he is a member of the Mafia. This information is helpful ... but also dangerous - for if the Mafia discovers the Angel, s/he will be their next target.

The game is constructed as a common chat environment in which the town 'interacts'. Chat is both freeform and guided through a series of scripts that are both time and event based. The narrative is broken into days and nights. Each day's activities include free-chat during which the entire town discusses the Mafia's actions and votes to 'expose' the Mafia family. Majority rules, and the day's discussion often revolves around creating alliances, making enemies, and hiding one's identity. The night is broken up into different areas of chat:

common chat - same as during the day; everyone may participate; broken up with tv news ads and reports on mafia activities

mafia chat - only mafia members may participate or see this area; here, they vote which innocent to kill - trying to target the angel first; they also discuss any strategy they may wish to employ

angel area - here, the angel can choose the name of one character and be told whether or not s/he is a member of the Mafia

As character's are eliminated either by death (for the Innocents) or by discovery (in the case of the Mafia), they are blocked from chatting in the game but may follow along for the rest of play. The games are fast paced , and getting blocked from chat should not deter users from full participation in the entire game.

Originally, this text-base game was developed by Eric Green, Kim Martin, and Jean in MicroSoft Leadline (software made available through the MicroSoft Research Group). Currently, Kim and I are using this narrative structure to create a shockwave multi-user version of Mafioso.