Post by Neil Patrick Harris on Feb 23, 2011 4:18:44 GMT -5
Time to own up to my failure. It seems sort of silly to go into too much detail about the hows and whys of a game that so many people seem to have taken less than seriously from the beginning, but I gave my word that I'd write a little bit about my strategic shortcomings, so here it is.
I've played three online Survivor games, and this is the first time that I've actually been voted out. (I finished in second place both other times.) I can't say I'm surprised with my elimination, given the huge target on my back. From the standpoint of strategic shortcomings, I guess that's a good place to start. I probably came on too strong in the challenges. My original motivation for doing so was because of the presence of so many immunity idols -- I didn't want to tempt fate in a game where tribal council results would be so difficult to predict. While I still think that there's some merit to this line of thinking, ultimately I feel that it was the wrong way to go, because: a) there weren't many other big-time challenge participants, which made me stick out like a sore thumb, and b) the very fact that tribal councils have been so unpredictable means that even if you're safe for one week and are in the majority, there's no guarantee that you'll stay safe after that, because it's so easy to get blind-sided. I don't want to be too critical of the rules of the game, because I came into it expecting all sorts of twists and turns and it's ultimately up to the host to put together a game that he or she will enjoy, but my personal feeling is that giving everyone an immunity idol cheapens the strategy within the game. There was (and is) little benefit to being within a majority, which is usually the key tenet of good Survivor strategy. Not to whine too much, because I was saved by an immunity idol at one point, but if there had been no immunity idols to begin with then Chukar would have been successful in our attempt to vote out Brett at the first merged tribal council, even accounting for Gary defection and George's absence. (In this scenario, Kathy and Cher would've voted for Brett.) Ultimately I'm not a huge fan of this particular twist, but maybe that's just sour grapes.
Part two of the autopsy of my game has to touch on the Chukar tribe and the overall inactivity within the game. I don't want to unfairly disparage everyone in the game, because people like Brett and Gary have been great, but I've been kind of disappointed by the level of commitment that people have shown. There have been a ridiculous number of self votes, even late in the game, and it's had an enormous effect on the game's outcome. For me personally, I found it really difficult to strategize when you never knew if or when you'd hear back from the people you were trying to strategize with. As I've written about ad nauseum, I was hesitant to get too close with Kathy and Cher, but because of the sheer number of unreliable people I wound up not having much choice in the matter. Ultimately this came back to bite me in the ass, because even though Kathy helped me stay in the game, the two of them made a poor decision in voting out George, and Cher and I are now sitting on the side-lines.
In terms of my last few days in the game, I'll admit to not giving it my all. I really believe that I could have won the last immunity challenge I took part in if I had wanted to, but by that point I was so discouraged by the other people in the game that I didn't see the point. In short, I didn't care enough about winning to give it the kind of effort that I gave in the 7-hour tiebreaker challenge or however long it was. I'm not proud of this fact, but that's how I was honestly feeling. It's a sad commentary on the game that I didn't give the challenge my all and still finished in second place.
So I guess to sum things up, I think that my demise in the the game was the result of poor decisions on my part (being too aggressive in challenges, trusting the wrong people at times ie. Gary) and being forced into bad strategic positions as a result of the inactivity of my tribe (having to cling to Cher and Kathy, watching supposed allies self-vote during key tribal councils, etc.). There's no question that I made mistakes, but hey, you can't win them all.
Once again, I don't want to sound too whiny. For the most part, I enjoyed the game a great deal, in spite of the problems that I've talked about. (And the fact that I'm writing this long an explanation several days after I was voted out should be proof enough that I had a good time!) From here on out, I'd have to say I'm cheering for Gary -- even though I think that his decision to switch sides was actually the incorrect strategic decision given the information available at the time (ie. the numbers game), he's definitely benefited from the move, and it shows that he's thinking on a strategic level that most other people aren't. Good for him, and I hope that I can vote for him in the end.
So this is the end for ol' Neil. In the spirit of Doogie Howser, I hope that this end-of-episode journal entry has been entertaining, informative, and heart-warming. (Or not.) I look forward to All-Stars -- I'm grateful for having been chosen -- and hope that the last few rounds of this game can be better than the first several weeks. And with that I say fare...
...wait for it...
...well.
Farewell.
I've played three online Survivor games, and this is the first time that I've actually been voted out. (I finished in second place both other times.) I can't say I'm surprised with my elimination, given the huge target on my back. From the standpoint of strategic shortcomings, I guess that's a good place to start. I probably came on too strong in the challenges. My original motivation for doing so was because of the presence of so many immunity idols -- I didn't want to tempt fate in a game where tribal council results would be so difficult to predict. While I still think that there's some merit to this line of thinking, ultimately I feel that it was the wrong way to go, because: a) there weren't many other big-time challenge participants, which made me stick out like a sore thumb, and b) the very fact that tribal councils have been so unpredictable means that even if you're safe for one week and are in the majority, there's no guarantee that you'll stay safe after that, because it's so easy to get blind-sided. I don't want to be too critical of the rules of the game, because I came into it expecting all sorts of twists and turns and it's ultimately up to the host to put together a game that he or she will enjoy, but my personal feeling is that giving everyone an immunity idol cheapens the strategy within the game. There was (and is) little benefit to being within a majority, which is usually the key tenet of good Survivor strategy. Not to whine too much, because I was saved by an immunity idol at one point, but if there had been no immunity idols to begin with then Chukar would have been successful in our attempt to vote out Brett at the first merged tribal council, even accounting for Gary defection and George's absence. (In this scenario, Kathy and Cher would've voted for Brett.) Ultimately I'm not a huge fan of this particular twist, but maybe that's just sour grapes.
Part two of the autopsy of my game has to touch on the Chukar tribe and the overall inactivity within the game. I don't want to unfairly disparage everyone in the game, because people like Brett and Gary have been great, but I've been kind of disappointed by the level of commitment that people have shown. There have been a ridiculous number of self votes, even late in the game, and it's had an enormous effect on the game's outcome. For me personally, I found it really difficult to strategize when you never knew if or when you'd hear back from the people you were trying to strategize with. As I've written about ad nauseum, I was hesitant to get too close with Kathy and Cher, but because of the sheer number of unreliable people I wound up not having much choice in the matter. Ultimately this came back to bite me in the ass, because even though Kathy helped me stay in the game, the two of them made a poor decision in voting out George, and Cher and I are now sitting on the side-lines.
In terms of my last few days in the game, I'll admit to not giving it my all. I really believe that I could have won the last immunity challenge I took part in if I had wanted to, but by that point I was so discouraged by the other people in the game that I didn't see the point. In short, I didn't care enough about winning to give it the kind of effort that I gave in the 7-hour tiebreaker challenge or however long it was. I'm not proud of this fact, but that's how I was honestly feeling. It's a sad commentary on the game that I didn't give the challenge my all and still finished in second place.
So I guess to sum things up, I think that my demise in the the game was the result of poor decisions on my part (being too aggressive in challenges, trusting the wrong people at times ie. Gary) and being forced into bad strategic positions as a result of the inactivity of my tribe (having to cling to Cher and Kathy, watching supposed allies self-vote during key tribal councils, etc.). There's no question that I made mistakes, but hey, you can't win them all.
Once again, I don't want to sound too whiny. For the most part, I enjoyed the game a great deal, in spite of the problems that I've talked about. (And the fact that I'm writing this long an explanation several days after I was voted out should be proof enough that I had a good time!) From here on out, I'd have to say I'm cheering for Gary -- even though I think that his decision to switch sides was actually the incorrect strategic decision given the information available at the time (ie. the numbers game), he's definitely benefited from the move, and it shows that he's thinking on a strategic level that most other people aren't. Good for him, and I hope that I can vote for him in the end.
So this is the end for ol' Neil. In the spirit of Doogie Howser, I hope that this end-of-episode journal entry has been entertaining, informative, and heart-warming. (Or not.) I look forward to All-Stars -- I'm grateful for having been chosen -- and hope that the last few rounds of this game can be better than the first several weeks. And with that I say fare...
...wait for it...
...well.
Farewell.