Filthy Human Beings

[nax]

So, I'm playing with some pretty mean, nasty, vicious people. That includes my own alliance, and even those I've chosen as my main 3.

Fei's not a bad person. She's quiet, shy, kind of a geek. She doesn't really deserve the shit she's taking from Brookie (publicly) or from Ricky and Nicole. They're being pretty unfair to her, and I"m forced to smile and nod as we go. It's really uncomfortable.

But I know how this game works... you don't tell your alliance mates that they're being douche nozzles. You pretend like you're the geeky kid in HS that suddenly finds himself hanging out with the jocks. You don't want a melvin of your very own, so you point and laugh when the captain of the football team grabs an even scrawnier geek kid. You egg him on, encourage them, because you don't ever want to be left out.

I know. I've been there. And.... here I am again.

The difference is that I know the RULES of this game, so it's all in perspective.Ricky and Nicole aren't total ass-wipes. They're just putting on a role, and I can live with that for the sake of doing well in this game. The other difference is that I know the difference between being that person and ACTING like you're that person. Nicole and Ricky are definitely just playing a part, making themselves entertaining. For me, it's all about keeping tight with my alliance.

Getting tired and still playing this damned challenge. Audi.

[nax]

OK, I've decided that this is going to be an ongoing treatise on the personalities and games of the players in this game. So, let's start with my allies:

Brookie - Total chaos player, thrives on drama, explosions, dogs and cats living together, the whole shebang. She will do or say anything so people will notice her, and doesn't give a SHIT whether it's positive or negative. Also, dumb as a brick, but I gotta admit she's been a real positive element in this alliance. She creates mayhem on CUE. We have a word for someone who will strike on command: Point and Click. She's our PaC.

Jedda - really decent guy, and doesn't participate very much in the bashing of other players. I do respect him for that, and it just brings out his good humor all the more. He's one of the few people who can call someone a "cunt" to their face, and get a smile out of them for it. Dude has real charisma.

Lexi - I think she'll ultimately be unreliable. She's good for now, but I don't think it will last. As far as who she is as a human being... she's young, and not prone to putting herself in others' shoes. She can be occasionally nasty. But not excessively so.

Nicole - younger still, less prone to empathy than Lexi, but playing somewhat "to the cameras". But she's a LOYAL player, like me and, in his own way, Ricky. But she is very verbal about her dislikes, to the point of being a bit vicious. Damn, I'm glad I'm on the good side of her wrath! LOL!

Ricky - he hides a lot of strategic play behind his personal interactions and relationships. He's always watching where people will jump, and he's completely fearless when he goes after someone. If anything, I'm a bit too timid in that regard, but I think he goes a bit far in the other direction. But he, too, is loyal to his "real" alliance. I don't think I'll have to face his blitzkrieg.

[nax]

Because this shit is always a fun exercise, I'm reviving my ....

POWER RANKINGS

LISTED IN ORDER, FROM LOWEST TO HIGHEST, WITH THE PLAYERS MOST LACKING A CHANCE AT SURVIVAL AT THE TOP, AND THE MOST LIKELY TO WIN THIS THING AT THE BOTTOM. THINK OF IT AS A BOOT ORDER... EXCEPT NOT REALLY. IT'S A STRENGTH OF POSITION THING, AS THE GAME STANDS RIGHT NOW.

1. Greg - Greg is not a completely lacking social player, and his greatest inherent weakness is his general silence. He actually doesn't talk enough, or to enough people. But that's not why he's at the bottom - he's at the bottom because he hitched his wagon to the wrong person to begin with. Sometimes, even really damned good games can be ruined by being doused in the wrong flavor of funk. Ask Parvati about how smelling like a Hantz hurt her chances at victory. That's Greg, right there. The best way to kill a man with iron skin is to drown him. In this case, in Fei's impending tears.
   
2. Fei - Again, a solid social game, a strong sense of strategy, but she's got a couple flaws. The first is in the nature of her game - if you're aligned with everyone, and ANY of them talk, someone's going to turn on you. Just can't be helped. You got too close to too many, and voila! The tables turned. Your second problem is inherent, built into your personality. You have a very fragile ego. I'm sure in your daily life it seldom comes up. You surround yourself with people who sincerely like you, and hey, GOOD FOR YOU! But here, you were eventually going to run into someone who decided to make you her bitch. And she did, with all of the rapine one would expect from such an impact. And, finally, you gave Ricky a whiff of your leadership. Yeah. He WILL turn on you if he thinks you're challenging his praxis (look it up - it's a most excellent word!). Oh, and you're probably going to RC tomorrow night, so that's pretty much a deciding factor.
   
3. Jordan - Yeah, absence will kill you every time. Play or don't play, but don't just linger on like an accident victim kept alive for years on a fucking machine. DIE already!
4. BK - the only thing that will keep you alive for very long is the very thing that makes you a poor player in this game - naivete. You just don't have the life experiences necessary to be an independent force in a game like this, and people will either look at you like a free vote that can be won with a false promise, or as an easy vote if they get stuck in the wrong caste without many friends. Either way, pretty much everyone in this game will look at you the same way a pack of wolves look at a wounded dear: lunch.
5. Brookie - I get that it's your game, but it's over the top. Your persona is ridiculous, and SO abrasive! I'm not even sure that you're aware that when we're laughing at the shit you pull, we're really not laughing WITH you. I called you a Point And Click weapon in another post, and that's pretty much what's going to save you from the next couple votes. After that... you're just too juicy to NOT offer up as a sacrificial lamb.
6. Jermainey - You're a very sharp, VERY personable guy, but you're about to lose pretty much your whole alliance. I really believe you can get back on your feet, but you're going to be off balance for at least one Episode. That one episode could very easily spell the end of your time here. But if you do manage to get your equilibrium, you'll do pretty well, until people start seeing the Jury threat you represent.
7. Quanz - you have a couple weights around your ankles, none of which are your fault, really.You're a returning player - STRIKE ONE! You're too reliant on your alliance, which is about to be dismantled - STRIKE TWO! While you're by no means an idiot, you have more enthusiasm than actual game, are still a bit naive, and don't really talk to enough people - STRIKE THREE! YOU'RE OUT!
8. Animal - From what I've seen, you have one major strength, and one major weakness, and they're the same thing: Challenge Prowess. Really, the problem is that you showed it so early, whether you meant to or not. But it does make you a target, and if you're a target for challenge prowess THIS early in the game, I don't see it going away too soon.
9. Zack - It's hard to judge you, but you and I have not talked. I don't mean, "we've never exchanged words," only that those words have no meaning. There was no depth. And I have to base my assessment on what I know, and from that perspective, you have NO social game. I know you're aligned with Quanz, but really, that's not much of a benefit for you. So you're biggest advantage is your near invisibility... and sadly for you, there are those who do it much better than you do.
10. Jedda - you're a bright guy, and VERY likeable, but you're not very active, and apparently really SUCK at challenges! If it weren't for your being close to Ricky, Nicole and I, you might be a bit lower on this list. But your ultimate sin, and that only because it goes a little too far, is that you just don't give a shit. This game barely holds your attention, and that's ultimately going to cost you at a critical moment.
11. Wood and Joe - you two are pretty interchangeable. Joe's a little more outgoing, and Woods is a little more innocuous, but ultimately neither one of you are very well situated right now. That could change very suddenly for one or both of you, but you need new allies, because the ones you have either aren't very good at this shit, or about to be sent packing. So, yeah, work on that.
12. Lexi - aside from us, you haven't made a lot of friends around here, but the enemies you've made are on their way out. You suffer from a bit of Jedda's sin, but you are a bit more squirrelly than he is - you could probably worm your way into any alliance you want, and I more than half suspect you've already done so.
13. Brenda - Complete, inoffensive invisibility. You've mastered it, girl. Nobody's going to notice that you're still in the game until you hit that last turn toward the final stretch... and then someone's going to snap you up for a critical vote. It probably won't get you to F3, but I expect to see you at F5, at least!
14. Nax - That's me. I'm not at the top of this power rating, and I'm only as high as I am because of my F3 alliance with Ricky and Nicole. I fully acknowledge that I'm not calling the shots, and the game I'm playing right now will be very difficult to sell to a jury. If I want to leap ahead, I'm either going to need to shed Ricky in some monumentally dramatic scheme, or I'm going to have to take over running this alliance. Neither one is very appealing RIGHT NOW. Later. Definitely to be considered later.
15. Nicole - Ricky will carry her to hell and back, but she's just so sweet and likeable and seemingly INNOCENT it's just so hard for people to perceive her as a threat. She won't get any votes at all until a strong majority decides to gang up on her, then she'll get all but three - hers, mine and Ricky's. But she's also VERY bright and VERY strategic, and completely unafraid of telling a convincing lie. She's a powerful player in her own right and deserves her place this high in the list.
16. Ricky - right now, he's pretty much running this game. He's incredibly social, burns energy at fever pitch all the time, and is always revising his strategies on the move. He has a lot of games under his belt. He's got social, mental, physical superiority and a lot of experience. But he also has a weak spot - show him someone who might wrest power from him, and he's suddenly got blinders on. He's a bit megalomaniacal, and, with a little more subtlety, is every bit the Point and Click that Brookie is.

There. First installment of Power Rankings. Takes some doing, but I think the effort is worth it.

[nax]

The Ricky Dilemma - How to steal his thunder. I don't yet have a plan, and I've been up most of the night trying to figure out how to do it. And when. Hell, maybe even if. And now, this afternoon, here's where I am:



(courtesy of Anthony Robinson, Survivor: Fiji)