Mafia Wars: To Tag Or Not To Tag, That Is Your Question

If you're wondering how tagging will work for you when playing Mafia Wars, here are some things you may want to think about. I played Mafia Wars in excess of 12 hours a day for months after recovering from an illness. I learned a lot. First, I was new to Facebook, so I made the classic mistake of merging my personal page with my Mafia playing and that was highly irritating to the people that knew me in real life. I sought out every quick add, friend requester known to the game. I was delighted when I had 100 in my Mafia. After much love and labor I hit my goal of 501 players. After I hit my goal, I relished in the heady accepting of friends who wanted to play Mafia Wars with me, and accepted up in to the thousands.
I noticed that a lot people on my hitlist (or list of people who were robbing me blind, or list of people I was fighting) had little brackets with (usually) an acronym in it. Sometimes the brackets would say something like, [KornEaters] and I thought someone had just found a way to be clever. (As a side note, at the time of this writting, there is no clan I know of named "Korn Eaters", so if you come across one, it was a coincidence. If you make one, I get half your high defense weapons!) I realized by error (attacking repeatedly someone with those brackets) that I would be targeted by more bracket people, all with the same name. Lets say [KornEaters]...we'll use the name for the purpose of this article, it's sticking with me now. Mess with one [KornEaters] and I was eating the boot bottom of the whole gang of 'em. And those little "bracket things"? Those are called Tags, which you probably knew if you came here to get my take on them. I didn't know at the time though, so, for the uninitiated, there ya go.
If [KornEaters] were a real "clan" or "family" they'd all be together in the game, in-so-far as they were organized. You'll know who is in the clan because they are usually tagged. It's often a requirement, and in my opinion, within reason (like when you have enough godfather points) should be. It can be a loose organization, or a really tight one with all kinds of rules for joining. Some might just let you join because you ask, others may require you to send in a swab of your DNA. It just depends. Most will send you an invite. I suggest you stick with a family that has a good reputation. Now what you think is good and what I think of as good may differ. Some people want cold blooded warriors as a clan, others want loyalty and heart-people to befriend. I was lucky when I finally decided. I found a good group that helped each other out with bullies, weapons, and wars. It was a lot of fun.
Take your time before picking who to tag with. You don't want to tag only to find out that there's a lot of drama with that particular family or that when you want to chat or message someone in your clan, hardly anyone is on...ever. The family I picked had organized group of leaders who were all responsible for different things. Most families are like that. Someone will be in charge of helping with bullies, another person in charge of de-escalating wars that will be particularly bloody or particularly ruthless. It can get personal, and that kind of ruins it after awhile, so it's nice to know that you've joined a clan that is half blood thirsty and half diplomat. They're out there.
In my clan, once I helped a handful of people and interacted with as many as possible, they learned to trust me and a couple members took me under their wing. I really needed that because there are so many unspoken rules in Mafia Wars, that when I got myself in to a sticky situation, I really needed the kind of advice that only someone in my clan would take the time to explain. It was ages before a few dumped some seriously high wattage weapons, vehicles and other things in to my account, but it did happen. Don't expect it to. I didn't think it would. Really. I was as gobsmacked as the next person when they huddled around me and helped out in a big way. Having a clan gave me greater fighting power overnight than I had been able to do for myself in five months! Be grateful if someone in your clan gifts you. Always give back when you get the chance. Don't feel obligated to return-gift the person that gives you a gift that only has 12 Attack and 6 Defense repeatedly...you don't have to gift someone back every single time, but it's nice. That said, keep in mind that newbies (I was the ultimate noob with a thousand questions) may only have a gift to give a level 500 friend that to the level 500 is a pittance, but to the level 65 was a real sacrifice, that's why you have to remember it's just a game. The saying, "It's the thought that counts" really matters in that situation. By the same token, I didn't realize that some people in my Mafia were using me as a dumpster for craptastic weapons they didn't want anymore because they were dragging down their score. Argh! I was busy trying to be so thoughtful, I didn't notice I was acquiring really unwanted things by the dozen. When I knew better, I did better. I directed them to a member who was the [KornEaters] trash bin. Everyone was happy at that solution and I could stop being such a brat about it after awhile. Some people will be awesome at reciprocating, or reaching out first for no apparent reason, and others won't be so cool. Just play and have fun. If you can't gift someone equal to their gift, just go to their page and say thanks. It's good form.
Each family has their own personality. You may swipe your card for Zynga points to rack up enough to tag and then find out you're a part of a clan where everyone is always whining, or everyone is always warring, or everyone is always talking trash about each other. Most of us are on to play, not be in a soap opera. There will be some things that happen that get everyone worked up, and you'll just do best staying out of it if you can. If you can't, do your best to patch things up and move on with your playing.
If you're a [KornEater] and a war breaks out between a player you don't know and another player you don't know who are also in your clan, you're expected to have their backs and fight the other clan that is participating in the ruckus. The flip side is, if you screw up, and something is legitimately your bad, you run the risk of drawing your whole family in to your mess. Fessing up is usually the best bet, and the earlier the better, so that things can relax and you can war with a jerk clan that really deserves it. Do prepare for some people to call for your head, or in clan talk, "de-tagging".
De-tagging happens when you quit the clan, or the clan quits you. Either way it's usually not very pleasant.
I've mentioned quite a few upsides to tagging, because overall I'm a social person who really liked having a group to belong to. Now I should tell you I've de-tagged. Eventually, and I've heard this from several former clan members and people who have decided tagging is not for them, there seems to be a general probability that the family will bust up. Coups, spats, misunderstandings, diva fits, the whole gammit. You can't always make sense of what happened to get the whole bunch rialed up, or sometimes you can. Before you know it, [KornEaters] is being dismantled and re-named with a new leader. If you were close to the leadership, or worse, part of it...it can take you off guard and be a real buzz-kill. If you were starting to be annoyed with certain people in the clan, it may break in your favor, turning in to two clans, and you can pick the one with the people you liked in the first place.
Families fight. That's just the way it is. It happens in our lives and it happens online. I must say, however, that if you like people, are willing to give of yourself a bit and want to have a family, tagging is great fun. If you don't want to watch your step in robbing, pilfering, annoying or otherwise causing disturbances for fun (it's your world dude, do what makes you happy) then tagging is probably not for you. If you tag and hit another tag, even by accident, it can cause all out mayhem, and usually does.
Weigh your options, decide what kind of player you are, and then pick a family or be the lone wolf in your wolf pack of one. (Yeah, I stole that concept at the end there, but I love The Hangover, and if you haven't seen it yet, consider reading my article "Why People Who Haven't Seen The Hangover Are Either Too Young Or Never Leave Facebook". No. I would never...)

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