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Post by Gabriela on May 18, 2009 5:04:15 GMT -5
 Clearly, I have a problem. I keep ending up back in this d  ed Burg. In terms of number of games played, I'm high up on that list with the likes of Matt, Trey, and DC. But I guess the fact that you let me keep coming back is a good sign. So, I haven't talked to anyone yet. Will start working on that over the next 24 hours. Part of it is my character, I don't know what personality I want to (attempt to) give her. For those of you who aren't Sam who are reading this, I didn't fully think up Gabriela on my own. Any of you who aren't new to the series should know about Sam's analness (I think I just made that word up...) when it comes to names and the collection of photos of "interesting" people that he has obsessively accumulated over the past few iterations of this game. So we decided that he would give me a photo and a name, and then I would come up with a bio. I really didn't want to be a woman again, and made the request not to be. To paraphrase Sam's response, "You'll get what I give you and you'll like it b h!" He wanted to give me his absolute favorite ugly photo in the whole wild world but recanted at the very end because the game need an old woman. And thus Gabriela was born. Ok, some thoughts on the setup so far. Assuming you don't have any more workers stored away somewhere (which I'm not expecting, been there and done that) we have a cast of 32. Which is on par with the Shootout which had 33. And 18 of those were people who have played before. So the fresh meat made up about 45% of the cast. Apparently this time nearly 2/3 of the cast is new. You really must have advertised hard, Sam. Nicely done. I hope the majority of them work out well. Sadly a couple rotten apples are expected, but we'll just get them out quick before they spoil the whole barrel. Plus it'll be interesting to have some fresh sets of eyes offering up new perspectives. Which is great because I'm f ing tired of the debates on lurkers an WIFOM. I really like the "Setting the Scene" post. Probably one of my favorite things about this series is that you give each one some flavor. We're not just sitting around systematically eliminating each other, there's a reason for it. A story. And typically a very good story. I'm very interested to find out where exactly this one will be going. I'm really not a fan of the team divisions. But that's like par for the course. The schism, the families, the gangs. Never really been a fan. Especially sense I'm a Citizen. It's one more division in the Burg, and from the Citizens' standpoint, more divisions are bad. And I dislike the fact that we are forced to vote solely inside our team. What if I'm utterly convinced (for whatever arbitrary reason you want to come up with) that no one in my team is a Spy? So what, now I'm FORCED to vote against someone who I don't want to? And I know, I know, the odds of that happening are 1.176%. But that's still greater than zero! And with one group having fewer people, their odds of being Exiled are greater than people in the other teams. The first one is generally pretty random anyhow, so purely from that standpoint their odds of survival are 9/10 as opposed to 10/11. And yes, they're close. But not equal! But I don't know what the method behind your madness is, so for the time being I'm going to make the baseless assumption that there's more to the story that I don't know yet. Oh, and I also HATE how you named them. Why must they all look the same when I'm not paying attention! Part of me wants to try and find some significance to the numbers.  So, no Imprisonment #1? No me gusta, Samwise. No me gusta nada. You always said it'd really suck for someone to look forward to this game for a month and then be eliminated 3 days into it by something totally out of their control. This Imprisonment is just symbolic, so nothing is really changing, other than the fact that The first Exile is happening in about half the time of previous games. Plus it doesn't work from the story standpoint. Why are we Exiling people exactly? As far as we know, everything in the Burg is butterflies and rainbows and kittens. And a triple Exile? What's that all about? The first round is such a crap shoot that it is almost a given that a Citizen will be Exiled. For more information on the subject, please refer to Caela, Martha, Jakub, Winston, and Damien. I'd really rather not have to have three uneducated votes. That all being said, I don't think that's exactly how it'll go down. You said, and I quote, "Each Team will attend their own separate Exile. Where everyone will vote out one person And three will be chosen to be kicked outta here" The key words here are ' chosen to be'. You did not say 'And three will be kicked outta here'. And you have always been one to pick your words very carefully. What exactly is going to happen remains to be seen. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that whoever ends up being the Union Organizer gets to ax one of the three with their one-time power. You did specify that whatever it is would be used soon, and that the Union Organizer is safe at the first Exile. The whole Spies knowing that they are Spies but Citizens not knowing that they are Citizens thing was kind of a neat twist. The Citizens all thinking that this is the super happy fun time where we don't have to worry about anything when really the Spies are already scheming. Too bad it was a bit lost on me because I hadn't spoken with anyone before you revealed that information.  The one question that still remains to be seen is did any of the Spies know who any of the other Spies are? You only said "If you are a Spy, you have already known you are a Spy since the start of the game." That doesn't necessarily imply that they have access to the Spy HQ. I try not to make any assumptions with you. If you didn't say it explicitly, then it isn't necessarily true. The video you busted out at the opening chat was kind of... meh.  Although I applaud your recent use of video in the process of your storytelling, this clip and the blueprint give me flashbacks of the Shootout and the chart. That was so much more interesting because it was new and different. This time it just doesn't have the same sort of pop to it. Then again, the cast is more new than old so I guess I'm probably in the minority in that point. Plus you also said "the Spies who were already Spies". Not that it implies that Spies can be recruited, but it does beg the question. A lot of familiar elements, I'm not sure what to think. All I do know is that now after watching that video I have an inexplicable craving for raisins and an urge to play BioShock. Ok, I think that's enough for now. I'm sure I'll have more to say after I start talking with people. |
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Post by Judge Sam on May 18, 2009 12:07:52 GMT -5
I don't suppose you know any Spanish? (or I guess she could be italian or french if you know those). That might be fun to throw in a bunch of spanish words all the time! btw I really liked your bio. lol. 'we decided'  It's cause you sent in your application late! late people go to the back of the line. I have worked hard on this one and I hope it works out well but I am just not the best at interweaving flavor with the game. Though I guess my imprisonment stories aren't totally abominations. Hopefully it'll be like Spies 3 which I thought the flavor was at least more coherent than usual.  Yeah that is true, and I know flavor is awesome, helpful, and very useful in making the game better. I try and try at it but my brain just doesn't work well with flavor. It's kinda like when I was back in the closet and pretending to be straight - going through all the motions, saying all the right words, and doing all the right things. I might be able to pull off a pretty good impression of liking women when I needed to but my heart just wasn't in it!  That is why I need someone to co-host with me and become my flavor guru and interwine it all. Yeah, it is (and was designed) to be pretty similar to the how the Chart played out. I was just blown away at how that video presentation came off and how it enticed people into the game and was just cool. btw I did try and bring back the 'plasma screen' but did you know that live.yahoo thing shut down? =/ I found two other live streaming things I'm trying. One worked pretty well, and it had an option to show a youtube movie on it (I was going to do that), but it was really really choppy. especially when showing the youtube movie. maybe if I can get it to work right I'll use it in the future! The thing though with the 'chart was more interesting because it was new and different' is that, at least I think, everything is more exciting the first time you go through it with the newness. Including this whole game haha. It's just that much more 'special.' And it's like, no matter what kind of thing you are talking about, if you find something successful that works well you are going to work with it again you know? And like you also said approx. 66% of this cast is new so for them it's still got that new excitement buzz. |
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Post by Gabriela on May 18, 2009 17:46:43 GMT -5
I have a hard enough time with English, Sam.  But I am glad you liked the bio. Details.  Abominations? Anything but. God forbid if I make an early exit, we'll talk.  Only sites I'm aware of like that are blogtv and stickam. Although I don't know anything about their quality, so I can't really help there. |
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Post by Gabriela on May 19, 2009 3:58:40 GMT -5
  I won. Boris and Ariel can have their public wins, I'll happily take mine on the DL.  I'm not going to sit here and say I knew I was going to win, but I'm not totally shocked other. Having read the other submissions, none of them really blew me away. Not that I think mine was amazing either, but it was definitely better than someone of the other options. I could foresee a few different ways this could pan out for me. Part of it depends on the answers to the questions that I asked regarding the specifics. Part of it depends on what information I find out about everyone else. Lets take Caela from the Shootout. After a while, I started to not believe that she was a Spy and ended up not voting for her. Depending on exactly how the change occurs, I could have been able to save her role. Or possibly even save her, if it managed to clear her name. Or take Angus. After a while it became clear that he was a Spy with a role, a role which he managed to use to extend his life by 2 rounds. Perhaps he could have gone down sooner. Time will tell. The one thing that I love the most about having won is that I know who won. If someone claims a role that is too similar to one that was suggested it could be a coincidence, but there's also a good chance that they are lying. If someone claims specifically a role that was suggested, they are almost certainly lying. And if someone straight up claims that they won the challenge, then they're dead where they stand. And even if it meant having to announce that I was the one who won and sacrifice myself to make sure that they went, I would do it. Especially since it's a one use power anyway. I'd simply be trading it to take down a Spy. Seems fair to me. Last time I had a role in this series, it was also one with a single usage. And looked what happened there. My choice to save Adriana was the first domino to fall in a series of events that allowed me to survive all the way to the very end and connect the dots to convince Rodney to vote Tyson. I was the Alpha and the Omega. (And I'm still slightly embittered that you thought Spies 2 should have been a tie!  ) And I managed to do it with little experience and even less confidence. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how this one plays out. Note to self: Try not to fuck it up. ------------- So, I've had an opportunity to meet a lot of the members of my team. Nothing really profound, so far. And no really solid reads for the upcoming Exile. If I had to vote right now, it would be for Jocelyn. Sorin the Seeker (7:36:28 PM): This whole time... the Spies who were already Spies spies6Jocelyn (7:35:43 PM): saw that coming What do you make of this? That was Jocelyn's reaction when Sam revealed that the spies previously knew their alignment already. Wrong quotation from Sam. Here is the correct one: Sorin the Seeker (7:35:21 PM): "If you are a Spy," Sorin the Seeker (7:35:31 PM): "you have already known you are a Spy since the start of the game." For those of you reading this who are not Sam, you should know I take great pride in not falling for his curve balls. From The Collective: Only 15 people? Where's the rest of the cast, Sam? Damnit, Sam, I'm serious! Where the hell is the rest of the cast?! From The Schism: I asked Sam earlier today, but I'm not home right now so I don't know if he answered me or not. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if there were two independent groups of Spies, each with 3 members. I mean, think about it. There are 29 people. Minus us is 26. In order to win, we have to eliminate 24 of them, and that's assuming none of us are caught. 12 rounds? Even the marathon that was Spies 2 was only 10. I can now confirm that all players currently identified as Spies have revealed themselves. Sam's a tricky man, look at the way that's worded. The Spies may have revealed themselves, but he never said to whom they revealed themselves. There are more out there, I'm willing to bet on it. So more than once Sam has busted out his slick moves only for me to shout "I KNEW IT!" But Sam telling the Spies that they are Spies and who the other Spies are and that the Citizens don't know yet in the emails along with their log in information? Nostradamus couldn't have seen that one coming. Nowhere in the theme or setup or flavor or Sam's wording is there any sort of inkling that something like that would happen. I NEED her to explain to me how on Earth she saw that one coming, and it better be a DAMN good explanation. I keep hearing "A Spy wouldn't be so obvious," but it wouldn't be the first time a Spy put their foot in their mouth. --------------- Way back at the end of Spies 2, Sam asked a question to which my answer was quoted by DC in a later series (4?) and it's a topic we've discussed since. (God we are dorks, we still discuss Spies stuff long after it's over.) The bottom line of it is this: You can't control the "Alpha Female". If you're a Spy and you aren't going to straight up Imprison them, your best bet is to just stay in their good graces as much as possible. So far, there isn't a clear Alpha Woman in my mind, though Ariel, Yvette, and Mei Yun all have potential to wear that tiara. As for the person trying to get in the good graces, Kirsten seems to be getting friendly with Ariel and Yvette. So she's someone I'm going to be keeping my eyes on. As for someone from my own team (seeing as I don't know how long we'll be stuck in them for), Robert's my current pick. He was harping on Almathea earlier about some questions she was asking Yvette. He kept telling Almathea her that she was misrepresenting Yvette, which I think in fact is Robert misrepresenting Almathea. |
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Post by Gabriela on May 21, 2009 2:40:04 GMT -5
First, to fix a previous mistake. I said that Robert was in my team. Clearly that's not true, I was thinking of Rey.
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So, I finally have a title for this episode. The spies6 chat was anarchy with Jenya, Yvette, and Khaled all taking shots at each other. In an IM with Rey, this was said.
spies6Gabriela: its like a cockfight in there
spies6rey: welcome to spies.
spies6rey: please enjoy your stay.
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I KNEW IT!!!
Okay, so I almost knew it. Instead of Ariel picking which of the three gets the ax, she gets to pick which of the three to grant a reprieve. In hindsight, this makes more sense. Instead of an Imprisonment and an Exile, there are two Exiles. But I'm still taking the win on this one because other than one minor detail I had it all worked out.
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I'm having such a hard time with this character. I'm trying to be all mature and serious, but every 30 seconds I find myself wanting to make some sort of smartass comment. Well, at least so far I'm pulling it off, because Tiberius has already made a comment regarding it. But if there's a Spies 7, and I play it, I'm getting my application in early!!!
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Rey's really starting to irritate me, and Ellis is looking scummier by the minute. I swear all the Spies are in my team. I don't know who I'm going to vote for. Tomorrow's going to suck. I don't think it will be, but it very well could be.
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Post by Judge Sam on May 21, 2009 12:01:04 GMT -5
so what's the blueprint all about then huh? tell me that one! |
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Post by Gabriela on May 21, 2009 16:44:10 GMT -5
Don't hate. |
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DC
Alumni
Yves is my butt-monkey
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Post by DC on Jul 29, 2009 10:16:08 GMT -5
1. Good job at anticipating the twist yet again
2. I still agree with your comment regarding how to handle alpha females in this game - either straight-out eliminate them or be in their good graces. Just look at Jason/Trey with Jenya/Michelle - his ability to work with strong women is one of his strengths.
3. I cannot believe you applied late. You spent months and months waiting for Spies 6 to come back, and then you don't get your application in on time? MEN.
4. I agree with your opinion on teams
5. "He wanted to give me his absolute favorite ugly photo in the whole wild world but recanted at the very end because the game need an old woman. And thus Gabriela was born." - LOL
6. "I swear all the Spies are in my team." - LOL, not that far off.
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Post by Ellis on Jul 29, 2009 10:29:04 GMT -5
I totally disagree with your opinion on teams. I think it worked out superbly. It's SO much easier when you don't have to concentrate on thirty-odd people in three days.
Also, I was going to put some sarcastic comment about your opinion that "all the spies are on my team", but DC ninja'd me. So I'll just say: LOL!
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Post by Thor on Jul 29, 2009 10:31:48 GMT -5
Yeah I think the teams were pretty good. It made it a lot easier to focus. Although I think I lot of the subsequent speculation based on it - i.e. since Clusterfuck exiled a Spy they must all be Citizens (LMFAO, btw) - was unnecessary.
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DC
Alumni
Yves is my butt-monkey
Posts: 321
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Post by DC on Jul 29, 2009 10:38:39 GMT -5
I ninja'd you? Yeah! It fooled me, Thor |
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Rey
Rey
Amor del Rey
Posts: 161
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Post by Rey on Jul 29, 2009 11:12:09 GMT -5
spies6Gabriela: its like a cockfight in there
spies6rey: welcome to spies.
spies6rey: please enjoy your stay.
Yay, I inspired a title!
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Post by Ellis on Jul 29, 2009 11:14:03 GMT -5
Yeah I think the teams were pretty good. It made it a lot easier to focus. Although I think I lot of the subsequent speculation based on it - i.e. since Clusterfuck exiled a Spy they must all be Citizens (LMFAO, btw) - was unnecessary. Don't even START Sam on that topic, Thor. Trust me on this. |
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Post by Jason on Jul 29, 2009 13:27:16 GMT -5
2. I still agree with your comment regarding how to handle alpha females in this game - either straight-out eliminate them or be in their good graces. Just look at Jason/Trey with Jenya/Michelle - his ability to work with strong women is one of his strengths. I have a LOT of practice in that area... I think I did so every game except as Delilah... |
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Post by Kirsten on Jul 29, 2009 16:52:52 GMT -5
2. I still agree with your comment regarding how to handle alpha females in this game - either straight-out eliminate them or be in their good graces. Just look at Jason/Trey with Jenya/Michelle - his ability to work with strong women is one of his strengths. I agree as well with this opinion. I called Callahan and Ed as citizens early in the game simply because they went out of their way to make enemies of Yvette/Ariel. Spies may be dumb, but most of them aren't suicidal! |
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