Previously on! Survivor!
Nin10mode and NanTheDark would finally choose the tribes. After a nearly clean split with NanTheDark getting his Role Player friends and nin10mode his gamer allies, nin10mode would miss out on Chaos Yoshi, instead getting his very last pick, 1018peter. After that, the tribal phase began in a Gamers vs RPers battle.
Under the leadership of nin10mode and NanTheDark, the Oerhaos and Shadowsquid tribes formed. For Oerhaos, it was all business, with the occasional argument thrown in between these pragmatic players. Shadowsquid, on the other hand, quickly became the love tribe, with all seven members getting along famously and enjoying the adventure.
As the tribes were being established, the first challenge was announced to much controversy. The speedrunning challenge brought forth many complaints from the Oerhaos tribe, causing many rule adjustments. At one point, after found not complying with the challenge, the tribe leader nin10mode voluntarily refused to post one of the seven speedruns in protest.
It would be a close fight, as some Oerhaos members and some Shadowsquid members both won matches. However, it would be masterful runs by Emelia Kaylee and tribe outsider 1018peter that would win the match for Oerhaos, sending the love tribe to Tribal Council.
On Shadowsquid, a majority would form, and it would be the quiet one who wouldn’t show up for the challenge, Chaos Yoshi, who would take the fall in the first majority vote.
13 are left. Who will be eliminated… next?
SPOILERS: Avoid the Breakdown if you don’t want spoilers!
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Breakdown:
Episode 3: “Faggot.”
Tribe Breakdown (In Order of Pick):
Challenge: Memory Lane
Description: In a three-tiered challenge, teams would solve 24 different questions about Runouw forum history, as well as getting proof of their occurrence.
Winner: Oerhaos (72-53)
Oerhaos Spy: Raz
Voted Out: MegaR (3-2-1)
Other Vote Recipients: Bomberman, Harmless (1 each)
Clearly the Shadowsquid tribe was not the same after voting someone out, even someone as nondescript and passive as ChaosYoshi. No one was happy about it, and the mood around the Shadowsquids revolved around one ideology: protecting their family against the evil people who tried to destroy it. While I didn’t get into the divide very much last episode, the Squids being younger Roleplayers who are used to creating characters that interact with others makes it harder when one of them “dies”. Especially in a game where they’re taking away one’s right to win a decent sum of money for one of them.
We also get a bit of Bomberman’s… sorry, have to say it… explosive personality that comes into play this episode. He gets one vote, a reasonless throwaway from Chaos Yoshi, and is immediately upset by it, even if just a bit he seems to be triggered by it. To the credit of Magnen, she’s able to calm him down.
“Someone voted for me. I'm... Okay…” ~Bomberman101
“There there, I had a vote on me, too. Don't freak out if someone votes for you, on this team, we're all friends, so a decision like this is never easy to make.” ~Magnen
This becomes a theme in Shadowsquid, especially when NanTheDark takes two rounds off for vacation. NanTheDark appears to be the leader, but socially and strategically, Magnen is the leader, the one everyone turns to, the big sister figure. It’s not exactly the smurfette principle, but these guys are just getting to know Magnen, and she’s incredibly well-liked. Bomberman tries to take over from Nan, but it doesn’t help matters and isn’t very effective as he is most effective as the cheerleader, not the commander.
Oerhaos is still relatively quiet. Businesslike as ever, they don’t hang around the site other than to participate in challenges and strategize a little. Raz explains it as this:
“Us being members of runouw for a long time at all has nothing to do with it. Our team is simply really close. Pretty much everyone in our team plays together, chats together, and otherwise interacts with eachother daily. AFAIK, [Shadowsquid] roleplays. Our teamwork that we're already used to having just works in our favour.” ~Raz
It’s a very cohesive and viable dynamic. Nin10mode is the leader everyone respects. Raz is the most active member, and carries a lot of team spirit. Ven is the social butterfly, cracking jokes and getting along with everyone. Brandobrawl is the snarker that is more distant but still pitches in. EmKay is lower on the totem pole but still manages to get by. The only visible outsider is Peter, who hails from the Shadowsquid circle more than anywhere else, but there isn’t the drama and emotional instability within Oerhaos that there is in Shadowsquid.
But that’s okay, what happens before the challenge isn’t very exciting. It’s what happens during and especially afterward that’s got all the activity.
Challenge: Memory Lane.
This challenge is, in theory, a three-tiered challenge. There are twenty-four questions about the history of the Runouw.com forum. Some are newer questions for the generally newer-skewing Shadowsquids, and some are older for the sake of the quieter veterans on Oerhaos. They had to put a user to each of those questions, record the date said event happened, and bring a link or an answer to a scavenger-hunt request related to that question.
We did run into a snafu that I had a sporcle quiz, but being new to Sporcle I accidentally put it up in a form where giving up gave you the answers. Both tribes caught onto that pretty quickly. 24 free points right there.
In this challenge, we see the two distinct styles of challenge play. Oerhaos is like a system. Different people work on different things, and at least one person is always working. It’s slow going and cutting it close, but it gets done. Shadowsquid, on the other hand, works a lot in bursts, getting a lot done whenever they pop in but then disappearing, letting it sit unfinished. While they usually are done quicker, their work is messier than it really should be.
Oerhaos is finally feeling the spirit of the game, all of them happily participating with no complaints. Raz ventured a confident guess: “This challenge I'm actually into and I'm pretty sure we're still gonna win it eitherway. That's all I have to say.”
While Oerhaos was a cheerful hive of activity, Shadowsquid, still feeling the lack of energy post-Tribal, was very sporadic and unhappy with their updates. Their conflict was not with each other, but with fate, the challenge, and occasionally, me.
I get the plight of a new ORG player. Survivor, even fake Survivor, is overwhelming, especially when you start off on the wrong foot. So when they lash out at everyone, I understand why, because I was there. It’s no less stressful to put up with, but having been just recently a struggling rookie, I understand the stress level from new ORGers, especially kids with no understanding of Survivor.
Ultimately, though, Shadowsquid would pull out a very strong, respectable score of 53. 24 are from the puzzle, true, but they were able to piece together a lot of what they needed to. I was actually quite impressed and surprised.
Unfortunately…
it was in vain.
Because in a shocker, for the second time that season, a perfect score was submitted, this time by the entire Oerhaos tribe. They did their research and they read all the questions correctly and submitted every single answer. Unfortunately, Shadowsquid was hung up by simple mistakes caused by poor searching and misreading the questions given.
In the series’ first tribal reward, Oerhaos would get a moderate prize that would help them in future events. They would choose one member who would, through Tribal Council, have the ability to be a mute member of Shadowsquid: the Oerhaos Spy.
This is where hell breaks loose.
Faggot-Gate
If you dared to read the episode title in the summary, you noticed that it has a very flagrant title: faggot. Like modern-day Survivor, every episode title is a quote. And this time, the quote is said by not one but three Shadowsquids.
Raz would eagerly ask for and accept the title of Oerhaos spy. Swiftly, before the Squids could even react, he had screencapped and photoshopped everything going on in the forum, including Bomberman101’s insults against them already created, calling them both retards and fags. Emelia Kaylee reacted exactly as one would expect: “"Gay" should not be used as an insult”.
Be careful what you wish for, EmKay.
Luckily, MegaR, one of the three with animosity, had the good sense to keep his rage towards Oerhaos in one PM. However, unluckily for him, this is still going to be a complete and honest documentation of what happened during this episode.
His anger largely stems from the fact that he had real life business to take care of, which has become an extremely unforgivable sin in this game and especially that tribe. JSlayer was voted out largely due to his desire not to participate, and CY was voted out for not showing up. Inactivity is the easiest reason to vote someone out when you really want to, and he knows it. But when you don’t want to vote someone out, you don’t want to blame yourself or your tribe for doing it, even when you lost. That basic human mentality shows up in force during Mega’s final confessional.
“I know I'm fucked here. I'm going out for the same reason as CY, and nothing is going to change that thought. But know that I feel at this very moment an undying hatred for the entire Oerhaos tribe. They're making me vote out someone yet again, and they continue to rub it in our faces. Those fucking faggots can, quite frankly, all go suck a dick. I'm tired of it, and if I somehow manage to make it through this all the way until we split, you better believe I'm voting their asses off without question. They've already pissed off the rest of my tribe, and while I'm remaining calm on the outside, I can't stand their little shitty attitudes inside. I can't fucking live with it, I have other things on my mind when they come in and start boasting about how 'superior' they are.
Especially Raz. He is the fucking standalone worst of that putrid little lot. To first simply say "Good" when I express how Oerhaos has been pissing off my friends to no fucking end is too far. I used to think I could respect that asshole, and now I legitimately have lost any respect for that little shitstain. Then he proceeds to complain about what we're saying. Well excuse fucking me princess, I wasn't aware that you were in control of our opinions. Bottom line, Oerhaos can fuck off, especially Raz. Especially that godforsaken shitstain.” ~MegaR
This is the kind of behavior that persists through Shadowsquid, and what makes it harder and harder as we go to root for Shadowsquid. It sucks to be down, and Shadowsquid is a younger tribe not used to that kind of humiliation in losing over and over. Oerhaos’ behavior isn’t that extreme; in fact, in camp, they have never really mocked Shadowsquid the way vice versa has happened. But there’s no denying that they’re very cold and distant in public demeanor and Raz is a very polarizing character. However, the hatred that the Squids develop for Oerhaos is blinding and very surprising, especially compared to Oerhaos’ mildly cocky indifference.
That’s the kind of behavior that Raz walks into when he spies on the Squids. A lot of it was promptly edited away after Raz screenchopped it, so here’s some of the proof itself, photobomb style.
The general activity of Oerhaos during Raz’s visit was a lot of what they accused Raz of: arrogant, mocking, and over-the-top insulting. This went on to the point where I personally had to step in and call a stop to it. Believe you me, I see Survivor as a social experiment just as the creators intended, and it’s fun to see how others handle situations like this. However, this is my game, and my community. I have to present this to the ORG world, and I refuse to encourage an environment by omission of blatant bullying and homophobia.
“I will call it right now: Deliberate, continued usage of slurs to bully and demean other members will not be tolerated. If I need to get rid of three members in the process, I will. Your guys' behavior has been morally reprehensible and I will not tolerate the ignorance any longer. If you want to call me a bad host or unfair, that's on you, and I won't do anything about it because I won't interfere for sake of personal ego. However, I draw the line at blatant, juvenile homophobia.” ~Me
That, and a PSA from EmKay got people to their senses pretty quickly. This is a much better allocation of his social justice tendencies, especially compared to his argument with Brando.
"Gay" and "faggot", and any variations of these words, are not acceptable to use as insults or otherwise teasing in any form. Homosexuality cannot be used as an insult, and calling someone as so can be both offensive to their sexuality in some cases, and makes you appear homophobic. Don't do it.
"Retard" and its variations are not acceptable either. Mental disability is a serious issue, and using retard as a synonym with "stupid" is extremely offensive. This is a no-no as well.
Then you have the N word, and seemingly that's slipped into common use around 4chan, but avoid that as well.
It also goes without saying that other slurs and some trigger words (that four-letter R word) must be avoided.” ~Emelia Kaylee
After that, things went quiet. People had time to dwell on their mistakes and eventually make public apologies. Bomberman, originally coming in to play a dirty, strategic game, is so burnt out from his own anger and confrontation that the spark he had is lost. C’est la Survivor. http://i.imgur.com/go8ACUM.jpg However, what is also interesting is Magnen taking the opportunity to take from Bomberman the temp leadership position, becoming the new Squid leader until Nan’s return. It’s clear that even though Bomberman had the team spirit, Magnen was the heart of the tribe, to the point where Mega changed his vote from Magnen to Harmless. Speaking of votes...
Tribal Council:
If I had to use one word to describe Shadowsquid during Tribal, it would be “defeated”. Defeated by their own anger, by their losses, by their self-consciousness, by the fact that they had to reject a member of their tribe, and the fact that they were on a downward spiral and they didn’t know how to get out.
MegaR is resigned to going home, barely putting up a fight:
“I'm actually pretty damn positive I'm leaving. Sure, I might have said I wasn't able to help but CY was voted out for that reason and it makes me really damn paranoid.”
Bomberman is beyond caring about what Oerhaos thinks of him, although that position devolves:
“2. Do you think your continued use of slurs such as “fag” and “retarded”, etc. might be alienating people considering Oerhaos won the right to send someone to spy on the camp?”
“I don't care.”
Yurimaster still shows aversion or lack of knowledge about alliances:
“1. Same question to you as Bomberman: four people voted together last time. Do you think four people will vote together again?”
“No. Almost everyone did a hard work this time, and those who didn't was because they were incapable. It'll be a really hard round to vote. But unfortunally someone still have to go out.”
Magnen has her head in the game to be a leader:
“While I mostly stepped up to help others out, I also did it to prove my worth to my team members, and show what I can do. I can't say I'm not disappointed that we lost, what I can say is that we're going to step up our game even more.”
Harmless has his head in the game to be a good member:
“It will definitely take something that puts together our synergy and brains. A strong leader is one thing, but a strong army is another. Oerhaos has the strong army, and potentially strong leaders. In fact, for all I know they all could be strong leaders. I know I haven't been pulling my weight as much as I should be, and I oughta do that more. But if I get voted out then I understand due to the fact that I haven't contributed as much as everyone else has and was nearly clueless on the recent challenge.”
The general mood of the camp is a muted desperation for Shadowsquid to win, moreso than to control one’s own fate. Ultimately, that dictates the vote.
Magnen’s vote is for MegaR; not just for not performing in the challenge, but as somewhat of a mercy killing, noting his behavior.
“Vote: MegaR
Reason: For procrastinating his homework and then doing it when the challenge was going on.
1. This game is incredibly stressful and can interfere with a person's life; that is, a person with better things to do. If he is kicked off, he will no longer have to deal with the agony that is voting people off and watching your friends leave. If he's out, it can only go up, as it's likely friends will join him later on.
2. Okay, this will sound bitter, but I think that if he can't organize himself on getting things done, he shouldn't be here. I don't have bitter feelings toward him, but for the sake of the team he needed to be organized and he wasn't.”
Mega attempts to vote Harmless, feeling much clearer about himself after recovering from that day:
“i want to retract everything i said there, both the vote and the confessional
i was really in no condition to be near the internet as i'd been having a rough day and wasn't thinking straight, i hope this is allowed and i'll try not to let it happen again
Firstly, I'm changing my vote to Harmless. I can do nothing but really vote for the one who hasn't helped... even if that was also me.”
Peculiarly, Harmless tries to deliberately self-vote. However, this is an attempt to break the system I have in place. Self-votes are, in deliberate cases, a coward’s way out of the vote, and wouldn’t be tolerated, so I upped the penalty for self-votes. A self-vote was also sent by default from NanTheDark, who was still on vacation.
Ultimately, the vote would be a wonky 3-2-1 split that was still the closest we got to a unanimous vote with Nan and Harmless’ self-votes. Magnen’s move with Yuri and Bomber to vote out MegaR would be successful, and he would go from my dark horse to win to torpedoing himself out of the game.
With two inactives out of the game, it was up to the band of five Shadowsquids to keep it going.
Venexis
Let’s talk about Venexis a little more.
In the first season of Survivor, in fact the first three, the format was the same with some minor alterations as far as voting patterns. Tribes compete in challenges, then whoever has the most at the merge stomps the rest of them and worms their way into the finals. If there is any spoiler to that hostage situation, it is Venexis. He’s already known as being one of the smartest members of Runouw.com, and one of the more social. He’s a threat just on that standing alone, and he’s the first to show interest in the other tribe and concern over his own. While his position changes slightly over the episode after Faggot-gate happens, he’s still this season’s potential spoiler from a typical outcome.
“Truth be told I actually do feel kinda bad for the Squids. It's a pretty safe bet they're working just as hard (if not more) than us, and they've been shut down twice in a row. We're at the third elimination already, and it's been one of Nan's preferred crew all three times so far- that can't be good for morale, it can't be good for friendships, and it can't be good for their stress levels. Guess we'll find out for sure when Raz reports back.
As much as I like my team, we're certainly going to face the same dilemma eventually. Whether we eliminate all the Squids or lose a challenge, it's the same end result. I have a nasty suspicion that MK and Peter will be first to go, so I'm fairly confident with my odds..... unless an unseen alliance enters the field. I'm watching the Raz/Nin/Brando trio especially.
Got a bad feeling about that, too, I'm pretty sure our overwhelming victory was a mistake now that I've been credited with the win. Of course it wasn't all me, though- Raz, Peter, Brando, and Nin all helped to varying degrees and narrowed down the search a lot- all I really did was organize it. Still, if everyone is going to remember it as my win, they're sure to remember that it'll make me a threat when it becomes every man for himself.
That's an interesting mechanic, and one I had completely overlooked until now. Forces a team to share a challenge's workload more or less evenly, lest one member mark himself as a target later on... Damn. Might need to seriously consider alliances at this point.” ~Venexis
Venexis is one of the few people in this game to master the art of secrecy.
Predictions for Next Episode:
MegaR’s elimination was maybe not a blindside to him, but up until the post-challenge it was to me. Personally, the way I see it, everyone who participated in faggot-gate right in front of Raz’s eyes is not going to get his forgiveness. If Yuri and Bomb aren’t voted out before merge, they will be after it. However, I think Harmless has more to fear, being consistently in the minority and not hugely helpful. He is likely the next boot.
And the way I see it, I don’t see a Shadowsquid winning unless they are used as fodder. They have a strong team spirit but they’re young, brash, and extremely emotional. Their only hope of having a majority is to win every single challenge. I don’t see that happening. However, if it happens, it’s Magnen that makes it happen, likely with the visible outsiders of Oerhaos. With her around, she gets the authority that Nan got and then some. His vacation is making him lose stock in the game.
Raz has shown himself to be amazingly, consistently, and constantly aware. He is a threat to win, for sure. I see him taking brandobrawl as a goat, dumping nin and Ven in 3rd and 4th. I do, however, think his brute honesty can get the better of him, what with him naming his alliance in chat and telling Venexis that he doesn’t trust him fully.
I think Ven will be the wild card. He mentioned finding an alliance of his own; whether he joins onto Raz’s or perhaps takes 1018peter and EmKay and uses them as numbers has yet to be seen, but if anyone spoils a Raz/nin victory, it’s Venexis.
This Week’s List:
12. Harmless
11. 1018peter
10. Yurimaster
9. Bomberman101
8. NanTheDark
7. 1018peter
6. Blackyoshi
5. Magnen
4. nin10mode
3. Venexis
2. Brandobrawl
1. Raz
Next Time on… Survivor:
Temptation enters the game in the form of a mutiny.
A shocking conclusion happens after a tribal challenge that has potential to change the game, after a member of the game gets busted for cheating…
Archive: Find Confessionals, Voting Reasons, TC Answers, and Post-Game Interviews Here
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