#Sheynold for life baby!
It's so great to be able to talk to you again, Reynold, and I was really bummed that our time was cut short. Thank you for all your support here. It was definitely a comfort knowing I had you starting off the jury by cheering me on! Would love to catch up over some shrimp and grits but these are a couple of pretty big questions so I think I better get straight into them.
So starting with a game defining move....phew that's a tricky one! I think I made a lot of great moves but a lot of them weren't quite singular. They were done with someone else or in a group and while I helped lead these, you couldn't really count them a 'singular move' on my part. I guess finding those idols was singular but they didn't necessarily help me get to the end and I've already discussed them somewhat.
I'm instead going to go with something a bit more unorthodox in that it's something very small, and a move I repeated often, but still something that helped me get to the end. Something that could quite possibly get me the win too. That move? Forgiveness. Sounds lame as hell, right? Like some stupid buzzword in some run of the mill church service. The thing is, making a conscious effort to forgive people in this game was still important. Important to me personally, important to my social game and important for the people around me.
While it's not a big move like some big blindside or idolling someone out, I think it's still big in the sense that it's not always easy to do. Forgiveness is not easy for everyone but I did not want to dwell on the bad in this game and I didn't want to hold grudges. If people voted out one of my allies or if they voted for me or if they did something different to what they told me...I forgave them. Super quickly, just like that. I hate when things get awkward between players so I just tried to clear things up right away. And like, that really wasn't me being fake or anything. I genuinely just wanted to move on from the past. Forgive and not forget is right, but forgiveness was key and I don't think there were many people in this game who could forgive as easily and naturally as I could.
So how is this game defining exactly? Well it was pretty much the heart of what I think was a really strong social game. I think if I burned bridges with everyone who wasn't on my side 100% then there's no way I would be here. I kept things open, I kept talking to people and this allowed me to form short term alliances with people. It wouldn't be all the way to end but I think people liked me enough and respected my attitude enough to come together and warm to me. The alternative would have been even more people coming after me and I definitely did not want that! Ultimately though, I think the forgiveness and kindness that I showed people was instrumental in my social game. That social game is part of the reason why I'm sitting here so although it may seem insignificant to some, I think that was instrumental in setting up my game and improving my relationship with the jury.
Okay let's break this up with a random Sherri gif...
Onto the next question!
So just a bit of background first but this game was nothing like any other ORG that I've played before. I mean that in so many ways but I think a key way here is regarding the alias. The alias is obviously important to keep anonymity in any game but here, that's where it ends. You don't need to act like your alias, I didn't have to be Sherri, I just needed to be myself. That seems like a pretty easy concept but it's something I'm not used to! Most of the games I've played put such a strong emphasis on the alias. You're in character, you're doing stupid schticks and really playing up the roleplay aspects of the game. You don't share things about your personal life, say where you're from or where you work. Nothing like that, you're just hiding behind a character.
Coming in this game, however, I couldn't hide behind a character. I had to be myself and open up to people and share all this stuff to people who started as strangers. It was real weird and part of me was genuinely worried coming into this. I know I'm good at having fun with a character and making people laugh but now I just had to be me. What if people didn't like me? What if they found me boring or unfunny or annoying? If people don't like a character I'm playing then I can just put that on the character, not on me. But I couldn't do that here and that scared the hell out of me.
So nooooooowww I needed to think about me and what kind of player that Sherri was going to be. I didn't go and research past winners or study strategies, anything like that. I just wanted it to be natural and I just hoped that people would like me and enjoy our conversations. Without knowing what some of the winners were like, I just wanted to bring elements of my real self to the game. I don't consider myself an intense person, I'm just chilled out and easy going and sometimes a little silly. I say stupid things or talk about ridiculous topics but that's just because I enjoy having fun with it.
I actually think something that really encapsulates what I'm all about is my night one strategy. I wasn't exactly sure how I would approach speaking to people for the first time but I thought what's something that brings everyone together? Food.
Not just that, but the exciting concept of having breakfast for dinner opened up a world of conversations with people! Like, this legitimately became my first strategy of the game. Talk to people about how I had french toast for dinner and then have that roll into some fun, light hearted conversations...and I think it worked lmao. I'm hoping that if anything, Sherri's 'French Toast Strategy' will be studied for years to come. Oh and by the way, I'm pretty sure I've had French Toast every Thursday night since this game started??? So I'm pretty sure it's brought me luck.
I think I really am a unique person out here. I was obviously focused in on the game but I was also weird and playful and just enjoying myself to the fullest. I think there's probably some classic winner archetypes like the loveable underdog or the badass stratbot...but I was just Sherri. A silly, free-spirited adventurer who legitimately incorporated food into her strategy. I'm really proud of what I've done here so I hope my legacy is one that people remember fondly, have a smile and a bit of a laugh about.
Thank you, Reynold.
