Okay. Advertisements.
Originally, I wanted people to keep the amount they'd advertised hidden so that scum couldn't work out who had how much money left. As I was writing this, I realized we'd have got even more information by asking everyone to claim the exact amount they'd spent (and potentially could have caught someone in a lie). Banakai's claim in particular was really useful.
The main reason I'm just posting my conclusions now is because I don't want to stall this out. It took long enough to get most of the game to claim their advertisements. Even now, I'm
assuming
DoctorPepper and Hermy advertised nothing--Hermy in particular I don't see caring enough about the game mechanics to advertise. (But then again, I wasn't expecting Banakai to have been such a prolific advertiser.)
Here were the abilities auctioned on N0:
Austerity Measures --> claimed advertisement by Seanald
Cop --> claimed advertisement by Banakai ($2) and upside down
Deadline --> no claimed advertisement
Extra Vote --> claimed advertisement by Voidedmafia
Gravedigger --> claimed advertisement by Banakai ($3) and ProHawk
Hitman --> no claimed advertisement (but according to Magua, advertisements on counter-abilities stack, so Banakai's claimed $3 on Doctor and $2 on Commuter mean $5 on Hitman)
Investigative Immunity --> counter to cop (proxy-advertised by Banakai and upside down)
Medium --> claimed advertisement by Zdenek and upside down
Neighbourizer --> claimed advertisement by Banakai ($1), Garuda, and morph
Vote Freezer --> claimed advertisement by Nero Cain ($3) and baldeagle
Now, here were the abilities available on N2:
Commuter --> claimed advertisement by Banakai ($2)
Doctor --> claimed advertisement by Banakai ($3) and morph (after confirmation)
Governor --> no claimed advertisement
Love Potion --> claimed advertisement by Nero ($3)
Ninja --> counter to Watcher (proxy-advertised by morph)
Roleblocker --> no claimed advertisement
Tailor --> no claimed advertisement
Vote Nullifier --> no claimed advertisement
Watcher --> claimed advertisement by morph (after confirmation)
What can we conclude?
1) Banakai is confirmed to have advertised commuter, at least, since it showed up on N2 and no one else claimed it. He's likely telling the truth about doctor unless the scum advertised Hitman.
2) Although doctor might have shown up solely because of Banakai, morph must have been telling the truth about advertising watcher on N0. Without him, the ability wouldn't (unless you think scum would deliberately want watcher in the game).
3) Now, assuming Banakai is telling the truth about all his advertisements...look at the
amounts
he spent. He put $3 on Doctor, but it didn't show up until N1. He put $2 on Cop and $1 on Gravedigger,
and both showed up on N0.
The only people to have claimed these were upside down and ProHawk, respectively, so they're telling the truth. (If Banakai is lying, then upside down and ProHawk are obviously telling the truth anyway. But point 1 makes me believe Banakai was telling the truth.)
4) Seanald, Nero, and Voidedmafia are the only players to have advertised Austerity Measure, Love Potion, and Extra Vote, respectively. All three abilities showed up. Furthermore, baldeagle's advertisement claim (Vote Freezer) is consistent with Nero's claim of $3 on Love Potion and $3 on Vote Freezer. Remember, we've already established that $3 isn't enough for an ability to appear on N0 (unless it was randomly chosen over Doctor). Vote Freezer showed up on N0, but Love Potion didn't appear until N1. However, they could conceivably be scum claiming their real actions.
5) Since no one claimed to advertise Wage Freeze, someone must have advertised Deadline during confirmation. That someone is scum.
6) Since every ability that was advertised showed up by at least N1 (morph even described what they'd put on Watcher as "chump change"), it's conceivable that Governor, Tailor, Vote Nullifier, and Roleblocker were just selected randomly from the list of $0 abilities. But given how mediocre the non-claimed abilities in last night's auction were, there's a high chance that scum advertised at least some of these.
7) We don't have enough information to confirm who really advertised Medium or Neighbourizer. upside down/Zdenek/Garuda/morph, I don't suppose you could claim how much you spent, could you?
8) If DoctorPepper comes in and goes, "Hey, guys! I forgot to tell you, but I really advertised cop AND watcher AND gravedigger," then I'm dayvigging him.
The main thing I'm taking away from this is that morph, Banakai, upside down, and to a lesser extent ProHawk (since Gravedigger isn't as unambiguously protown as some of the other abilities) come out looking really good. Given that the advertisement totals are hidden, I don't see scum dropping money on advertising protown abilities on N0. The only way it pays off is if you happen to be the one player in the game who advertises that ability. And morph going the extra mile of advertising abilities that were in danger of being eliminated last night is a major towntell.
Thoughts?