- Sun Dec 04, 2022 11:38:21 pm
#75335
time to finally answer these questions!
1. How excited are you to be back playing Stranded again? Tell us what's been going on in your life since Aegean Sea happened. What made you come back once more?
tres excited! i had to come back, Stranded was my intro to the org world so how could i not? I remember being SO nervous doing that interview for the first one, like unreasonably nervous. kinda embarrassing but goes to show how much i was not putting myself out there - that just the thought of playing anonymous online games had me shaking. Stranded was that "first thing" that i did to help push me in a better direction mentally, and obvi the actual game part didn't go well, but i look at it as a stepping stone on my overall journey. Coming back wasn't even a question for me I had to <3
in terms of my IRL life since those crete days... not much has changed on paper! still doing the same job (w the added personal shopper one, look at me go!) and just generally vibing.
in terms of my ORG life y'all created a lil monster - i've done 4 since Stranded. The last 2 i played, I won the one and came third in the other; cut just before final 2. Rightly so bc i would have won. I also help host a cute little org, nothing fancy like y'all got going on over here but it's been fun to help come up with challenges and just spectate all the chaos that comes from these things! I've also made an org bingo that i wanna finish, that can be my retirement goal idk. The next thing that would get me a bingo would be going to rocks so fingers crossed it happens this time!
2. Look around you. What are some initial thoughts about who is on this season of Mykonos with you? Are you surprised to see anyone, or not see anyone? Anyone that you are excited to play with, or not play with?
So the only person i knew walking out on the beach was Paul! in fact i barely remember who was one the crete vs rhodes side - if my math is right there are 5 cretes and 7 rhodes. I did watch s40 after i got booted, but i mostly watched what was going on w zakros pre-merge. and i barely watched rhodes (oops). So i've got no clue what people's play styles are really like and what past relationships may come into play. I could go back and read all that, but lets be real im too lazy for that. vibes are what i will base most of my decisions off of.
To breakdown what i think i remember correctly;
Paul - he's paul! we know paul, and we love paul!
James - biology, may have gone by "king" james so perhaps quite the aggressive kind of player. I think he was aligned w morgan and maybe stephanie? y'all i did not prepare for this
Morgan - pretty sure she was a close pair w james? im gonna go w that, its in my brain
Stephanie - i think she was one of the ones blocked by jess? i remember rooting for her i think she had a cute idol play? omg am i embarrassing myself, are my facts right?
Mike - all i can remember is otters? idk if hes the otter or his child is the otter? but theres a connection to otters? also had some rivalry w vince i think? but hes not here so
Rodney - this was the cars 2 for psp guy ya? he was a character i like that hes back
Carolyn, Sydney, Hali, Voce, Naseer - genuinely dont remember much, BUT they're lovely to meet now!! i just dont remember rhodes!! (unless. was hali close w lindsey? i remember liking a duo like that? i think michelle and hali would get along) (second unless, sydney may have been one of the wild ones in the spec lounge? if shes who im thinking of then i like sydney)
3. How are you feeling about the contrast of playing on a smaller and shorter season this time compared to the (surprise!) cast of 40 players last time?
I think it's great! I love playing a variety of diff kinds of orgs, a small season like this is typically not seen - i think its gonna be really cool to be a part of it! Tho istg if theres another island of 12 aegean pre-mergers doing their own thing and we merge later on im gonna have words.
But for multiple reasons i think this will be fun:
a) it takes us to a merge style gameplay right away, which we all missed out on for s40 so its nice that we get a taste of it
b) i think a shorter game could add more chaos bc we won't have those long lasting/tribal bonds. it's gonna be an individual game through n thru
c) we end before christmas which is swag!
4. Think about your previous game, where you sadly were a pre-juror. Why do you think you went out when you did? If you could change one thing you did last season, what would you do different? Are there any experiences from last season that you will put into this season?
Um so obvi there was the zakros 3 conflamma that got me the boot, at the time it felt like there wasn't much i could do! But its more fun to feel like your own fate is in your hands, so i've accepted there were lots of things i could and should have done differently. Yes i was social, but i perhaps should have been more gung-ho in joining either a bigger alliance, or really having people feel like i wanted to work w them so they would have told me my name was out there. Additionally, read the room leading up to the vote. I remember chitter chatter quieting down. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it contrasted how people were talking to me earlier on and having an idol in my pocket, i should have picked up on that and played it.
In terms of what i will do differently, im gonna 1) not go home first, and 2) win. Just these two simple steps will bag me that $100.
I've got more org experience, simple discord ones, not the big leagues like stranded; but any juror based social game is going to have crossover strategies. My general rule of thumb is to be likable. At the end of the day people just seem to vote for who they like best. You can't just blow off the FTC, but it's easier to win by confirming people's biases who already want u to win vs proving people wrong who want to see you lose. Granted, something like that is heightened when theres a million dollars on the line - personal feelings will matter much more in that case. But for the most part, you vote for who you like. The main drawback (and what happened to me in my last org) was that people won't want to take you to the end. So gotta have a balance.
5. Are you going to play similarly to how you did during S40, or do you have a different strategy going into this?
I touched on this a bit already in the last question! I didn't get to show off how i would have played, i'll never really know how i would have approached the game for my first ever time. The plan was to always be social and friendly, so that i had people either filling me in on plans or doing work to protect me. That tends to be how i've played every other org. Sometimes it works, and i have people doing moves that serve me but not them. Sometimes it doesn't, and I go early bc people think being likable makes me too much of a threat.
Either way I can't help but play as me. It's too much stress for me to be someone im not! Doesn't mean i wont be a lil fake and lie here n there, but i always follow my heart!
Now one thing i'd like to work on, is maybe embracing being chaotic. Dont get ur hopes up! because that's something i always shy away from doing myself, but love watching other players go for it. Im just nervous to make waves and have to deal with the confrontation. For that, i think i can maybe play - dare i say - gamebotty? I don't feel like i am one, or at the very least a relatable and likeable one! But i tend to play a cookie cutter social game. It's got a decent success rate so that will always be my base style, but i like to embellish it in diff ways each time.
At the end of they day, i play day to day. The endgame is in my mind, but at the back of it, its more fun to play in the present. Being adaptable will be paramount