I plan to start web app development. (Html, Css and Php) I want to make a mafia wars style game for the web. Static graphics game is played using buttons.
Its would really just be a database to store stats and a bunch of buttons.
Would this be too hard for a complete beginner to web development to take on? Would javascript even be necessary for this?
Yes. It would be too hard for a COMPLETE beginner to take on. Where complete beginner = just learning to program. If you have some other background (General CS knowledge, Database experience) then you could probably do it.
JavaScript doesn't sound necessary for what you are describing.
I would suggest going through a couple tutorials on web application development so that you understand the basic concepts, and then decide whether you know enough to start building your game app. Here are a couple tutorials for various development environments:
You should probably at least read through some of those to get an idea of what you should know.
JavaScript. Yes. However, it can be done without but it may hurt the game in the long run.
A project for a beginning? It depends how focus the programmer is. If you are using this project to learn, certainly a good place to start. However, if it is for long run serious project, I would reconsider after learning some of the basic of programming.
Would this be too hard for a complete beginner to take on?
I don't think so. The game hasn't been developed by a single developer, there is a team of developers behind it. That shouldn't be an issue anyway, however, it won't be that easy for a beginner to take on such website initially unless you have good understanding of various concepts including strong knowledge of the main language, javascript, html, etc.
Would java script even be necessary for this?
Possibly. Facebook has its own implementation of javascript named FBJS (Facebook JavaScript), it is more or less similar to vanilla javascript. At some stage or the other, javascript is needed to build some dynamic pages and there are certain facebook-related stuff you will need to use javascript (FBJS) for.
If you love the idea you have and want to run with it, you will learn a ton in the process. Just don't expect to have a working product in a week. Don't let feature-creep hit too hard either. Odds are you'll end up re-writing it once you have an idea of how the process goes over all. I did something similar a few years back over the course of a month and I was pretty pleased with everything I learned.
You can do it, with patience.