How to teach someone to play?

[VictorThiago]

I have been playing for a long time, and I don't even remember how I learnt to play. I stopped playing for over a year and just kind of retained the knowledge of how to play, but now I don't keep in touch with the friends I used to play with... so I invited somebody new to play the game, and it's hard to teach somebody when the rest of the players you're with aren't new either. He says the game is fun but honestly I don't have fun when we play together because I spend most of the time trying to teach him instead of investing to find roles and paying attention to chat.

He doesn't want to watch videos and I think he would benefit better from me teaching him how to play, nobody wants to sit there and have to read 100's of reddit posts or watch dozens of videos to learn a game, it doesn't make it fun. When you don't know how to play other people get very verbally abusive even if you're new, maybe I'm just a bad teacher but I don't even know where to begin here.

[Superalex11]

When I first started playing I learned most things from the wiki ( https://town-of-salem.fandom.com ), and used it as quick reference mid-game as much as I could afford. For anyone starting out I would recommend against reading the strategic information and just focus on the bare facts at the top of the pages. Once those facts are retained in memory and you don't need to reference the wiki for every little thing, that's when the actual real learning of the game can take place and the connections between the facts start to make sense.

Think about the way a baby learns its first language. For many months it doesn't even outwardly engage with the language at all, and even then will take years before forming sentences. All that time is instead spent taking in the language, even if it seems like it doesn't make sense. Similarly, most of initial learning in most things is understanding that you know nothing and just accepting that the early stages shouldn't be focused on the product, but instead the learning.

So if your friend is just trying to play super casually, there isn't going to be a good answer. If he's not willing to take the time to learn, he will be frustrated.
But if he is willing to take the time to learn, he may still be frustrated at first, but then eventually overcome it.

[BlastingOff]

I just played in Classic and read some stuff here when I was new. There should definitely be a lot of practice, although a lot of theory is also needed here.

[LewisH304]

Maybe a shorter, narrative driven experience would be the best. Something like Gone Home, or Firewatch. Maybe a Telltale game. An investment in story would def help in seeing the game to the end. You also can't really "lose" at these games.

[Meandrina]

It depends on where he is at in the learning... It's been a long time, but this is what I did.
For any new player....
1. Start in classic, once you have played each role/ understand how to play them, move to ranked practice. Rinse and repeat-play that mode until you understand each role and then you can move to other game modes.
As your role comes up, read about it in the wiki as the game loads and during the nights. Stay only on your role page, if you read all of it and still have time, read it again and truly learn it. The best way to learn a role is by playing it.

2. Have the role list and know how it fits together. You can definitely use helpers for this. Some people choose to use a notepad/word doc or something like that. Some would rather it be physical pen and paper (I preferred that because i could keep up with the chat better.) But I actually took it a step further- Lifehack incoming~
I wrote all the roles on a sheet of paper and put that in a picture frame. Using a dry erase marker, I kept track of the game. Here's an example. (Its old and the role list has changed xD )

Circled known roles, lines meant the role was dead. Squiggly line under a role was a claim and I wrote player names when I knew them. In my pic, it shows we had a dead sheriff, we knew we had a transporter (people claiming they were trans, or maybe I was trans'd), a dead doc, a vet (who killed on alert), and a vig (probably attacked someone)....and so on... We also had a player named Chance claim to be survivor. This helps with role claims and piecing the game together as a whole. I could quickly learn some overall social game skills this way.

It is also helpful to make a list of the invest results such as:
vig/vet/maf...
GF/arso/BG...
You can add other interactions to this like who is immune, what roles the sheriff finds as suspicious.

3. Play your role and keep a will. If you are town-write your role then each night write the night number and who you clicked. If the system prompts you anything, write that too (TI results, doc healed). Don't forget to write stuff that happened TO you. If you are evil, tell your team you are new and still learning, ask for their help. Pick a role to pretend to be and then commit to it. During the day, you need to act like that role. Be sure to keep a will and update it with your fake nights info as needed.

Doing those 3 things will be a good start to the game and at least allow anyone to play it without screwing up the game for others. Remember this is not a game that can be learned overnight or even in just a couple games.

For those teaching new players (which is also something I did alot)
Let them play. You don't need to be constantly telling them what to do or how to do it. The best way for them to learn is by experiencing it. I don't know what you are trying to teach during the game, but you can probably cut back on it. Your friend needs a chance to develop their own methods and not just be a copycat of you. There isn't on way to play this game and maybe your style doesn't fit your friend's style. Take a few minutes AFTER each game to discuss what went well, what went bad, why they got hung (Despite being town) or whatever game highlights you want. Then add some "for next time" strategies.