Board Thread:Season 34 - Cyprus/@comment-2211541-20160726234227

Well this has been a long journey, and now it's nearly over. As we reach the conclusion of something that has been a defining part of the past two months, now is the time to reflect on what we've learned and leave behind any bitterness and angriness on behalf of the jury and the finalists.

I have no intention of forcing each of you to undertake extensive lists of tasks, jump through a hundred hoops and beg for my vote. I may be many things, but I am never pointlessly cruel. To that end, it seems as if the best idea is to first address each of you, and then give a little activity that some of you may find therapeutic, and others might find patronising or pointless, but, if you have any interest in this game at all, I advise you participate in. It won't be long.

Shannon

Something you may be unaware of is that, in game theory, there is a value known as the Shannon Number. The Shannon Number, or 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000, alternatively 10^120, is an approximation of the lower bound of the game-tree complexity of chess, a game with notable similarities to Survivor. A lesser known fact about the Shannon Number is that it also approximates the number of times you'd need to play this game in order for the sum of your impacts over each game to add up to anything meaningful. Curious, is it not?

Mai

You have made your thoughts of me quite clear, but hopefully personal differences and distrust in the game need not continue to this end. You've received the brunt of one person's ill will in Ponderosa, and I have done my best to defend you, yet the middle ground of the truth still eludes us. I believe I could still be swayed into voting for you, yet the game you've displayed thus far can be best characterised as erratic, confused, and subject to popular opinion rather than personal strategy, which is a theme that appears to extend across the majority of this season. It was filled with players, myself naturally included, that did what was easiest rather than what was best. Perhaps that label, if you fail to remove it, could be your downfall in the final vote.

Ally

Similarly to how the apparent discontent between Mai and myself being excluded as a factor in my vote, I regretfully must say that the genuinely close bond we have developed will also be less of a factor. Make no mistake, this does not mean I'll be ignoring your social game! Only that the genuine bonds of friendship outside the game do not guarantee you my vote for non-game reasons. Your game was, I think, fairly stable and self-interested, yet I cannot know this, for your game as been hidden so very well. Possibly, the label you must remove is that of the floater. It may not be just, but it still may be there.

Good luck to all three of you. I'm sure many of you will wish to defend yourself in the responses to this, but this is not the time nor place for that, as those with a better mind for more incisive questions and more probing inquiries would be able to yield far better results than my rambling discussions. So, this is the simple activity that is all I ask of you.

You may believe it to be self-indulgent, childish, derivative, pedestrian, or a mere simulacra of what a jury speech should be. In that case, feel free to direct your complaints to the nearest brick wall. I'm certain they'll be more receptive to your issues than I shall be.

The activity is: Compare each finalist (including yourself), each juror, and as many premergers as you like (from 0 to all) to a real survivor player, and cast who from this game (again from premergers to finalists) would be the 'heroes' and the 'villains' of this season.

Good luck.

I suspect some of you are in dire need of that tonight. 