Three years into the UK version of The Traitors, it can sometimes feel like the show’s Faithful have learned nothing. Seemingly-obvious Traitors are still going under the radar, while innocent Faithful are being banished for innocuous reasons. Shouldn’t repeated play of social games – or the ability to view others playing them in previous years, at least – be starting to prompt a more strategic response?
Well yes and no – and this year’s series has indeed seen some Faithful using knowledge of the format to their advantage. But in a constantly-changing meta and under high pressure, progress is slow.
Last year, I spoke with The Traitors UK season one contestant Ivan Brett – author of several gaming books and host of the It’s Just A Game podcast – for his thoughts on whether a knowledge of game design can give you an edge in social game scenarios. This year, I wanted to check back in and find out if this season’s flock of Faithful could really have been doing anything different. Can you really get better at social games through practice? And how does the new finale twist change the game?
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“People are getting more knowledgeable about the game, more familiar with the twists and players are shifting with the meta,” Brett says as I speak to him via video call. “You saw quite quickly when shields were given out in episode four, players understood that they could spread their protection [by keeping who holds them a secret] to make the Traitors work a bit harder to murder. There’s an ability to protect more people, and potentially trap a Traitor too. That’s been done a few times, and it would be genius if it hadn’t been done already, but we want to see players playing at an optimal level with the resources provided. This just makes it more interesting when people start to come up with new strategies.”
“Nobody is going to kill the person they have a rivalry with. In fact, it’s really good to leave that person in.”
Still, there are moments where players aren’t thinking strategically, Brett acknowledges, pointing to the recurring discussions where players are implicated in the murder of someone with whom they “had beef”. “No Traitor who’s seen the show is going to try and do a murder that pins it on themselves,” Brett says. It’s too obvious a move, too easily traced back to the perpetrator, and wastes the opportunity to murder someone more unexpected – something which then also throws Faithful off the scent. “Nobody is going to kill the person they have a rivalry with,” he continues. “In fact, it’s really good to leave that person in the show, as seen in season one, with Wilf leaving Maddie in.”
But while players are becoming familiar with those kinds of ideas, people will not get better at reading social cues, Brett believes. “That’s never going to change,” he says. “Social reads are just flawed, and people are not going to become better at hunting Traitors, because what you’re using is just the clues within the show.” So, how can you play better? It’s difficult, Brett says, as social games like The Traitors don’t offer a strong persistent rulebook of what’s “best”.