Round 01

Kyle wasn't picked, so he gets immunity for the round and may find some prizes in the Mysterious Glass Elevator. Because Kyle picked them, Alex and Cam chose tribes.

Alex chooses Violet.
Cam chooses Kenya.

Alex chooses Cory.
Cam chooses Jonathan/cournojo.

Alex chooses Bill/chippewa.
Cam chooses Bryan.

Alex chooses Deetster.
Cam chooses Travis.

Alex chooses Ben/sand storm.
Cam chooses Pete.

Alex chooses Harvey.
Cam chooses Sarah.

Alex chooses Sadie.
Cam chooses Brant.

Snozzwanger Tribe
Brant
Bryan
Cam
Cournojo
Kenya
Pete
Sarah
Travis

Hornswoggler Tribe
Ben/sand storm
Bill/chippewa
Cory
Deetster
Harvey
Jonathan/cournojo
Sadie
Violet

Kyle will join the tribe that votes the first player out.

I was last person picked, but that's no surprise. I just don't know these people that well, but if I'm able to play this game well enough and have luck on my side, hopefully that changes. It's really important that I make some positive early impressions or I'll find myself gone quick. Which would suck because I do believe I have the potential to go to the end if I can gel early with some people. We'll see...

Operation talk-to-other-people-on-my-tribe has started. Now I just need their AIM names.

I think our tribe MIGHT be slightly stronger than Hornswoggler, but it's difficult to tell because I don't talk a lot to most of these people, and who knows what their schedules are like? It could go either way.

I'm hoping to be able to give good impressions to everyone. Utilizing my bond with Kenya will be my backup plan if I look to be in danger, but hopefully I can also bond well with Bryan, Cam, and Pete who are three people I see around the site a lot. Or maybe we'll all target Pete since he's busy. Hmm. I don't know what to say about Cournojo and Sarah yet, but Travis scares me. I'll also try to minimize the threat that he poses and turn it into a positive relationship.

Chat with Cam

Brant: Hey Cam.
Cam: hey :-)
Cam: what's up brant?
Brant: Not much, lol. Just introducing myself since I don't think we've ever talked.
Brant: Even though I see you posting at the site and Tengaged all the time
Cam: hahaha yeah
Brant: I've just been really, really busy. This is my first game at ORG Planet.
Cam: this'll be my 2nd
Cam: i'm psyched for it
Brant: Awesome. What was your1st?
Cam: OPS2
Brant: Nice. I'm semi-following those episodes,
Cam: yeah, it's too bad Pete's been busy and can't post them that much
Brant: Yeah...it's great that he's making an effort to post them at least. Most hosts never even get as far as posting episodes.
Brant: ...even after promising them
Cam: i know lol
Cam: yeah
Brant: Were you in any games at Alt?
Cam: yeah lots
Cam: only remember a few offhand htough
Cam: though*
Cam: ARBB4
Cam: then a bacholorette game
Cam: which was hilarious
Brant: lol
Cam: some survivors i'm sure
Cam: also Jeremy's big game, Battle Royale
Brant: Oooh
Brant: Yeah I was in that, too.
Cam: nice
Brant: I remember making it far...with just a banjo, lol.
Cam: hahaha
Brant: No one ever battled me until the end
Brant: And a bunch of Survivor games besides that
Cam: i remember having a lot of battles, it was stressful haha
Cam: think i was in a mole somewhere along the way too
Brant: It was completely schedule dependent
Cam: yeah it was
Cam: you had to post like crazy
Cam: to kill whoever was against you
Brant: lol, yeah. It was a pretty epic theme. Just sucked for the people who had plans that day or whatever.
Cam: yah
Brant: Mole games are fun, too.
Cam: yep, i totally suck at them though
Brant: Aw
Cam: you can't really have alliances, and i'm bad at figuring stuff out lol
Brant: I've seen hosts do really weird things and make it so that moles don't have any reason to sabotage...and the whole game's weird and hard to figure out
Brant: I think our tribe looks pretty epic here, though. At least it seems like we have more ORG Planet regulars than...whatever the other one's called
Brant: So hopefully that means we can do really well.
Cam: yeah i'm hoping we'll be pretty strong
Cam: would be nice to just criuse through to the merge
Brant: Yeah definitely. We'll probably have tribe swaps and some random twists in the process though :-
Cam: of course lol
Brant: The site's loading really slow right now for some reason, ugh.
Cam: oh really? it seems ok for me
Brant: Just for the last minute or two. It's weird because other sites are fine.
Brant: What browser do you use?
Cam: chrome
Brant: Well now it loads. I mainly use Firefox for the plugins. Chrome's cool though
Brant: I'll be around though for the challenge tomorrow. Definitely want to help contribute to a win.
Brant: And it would suck to be the first tribe to go to TC. Argh.
Brant: I'm heading out. But I'll be around most of the day tomorrow, and I'll ttyl.
Cam: alrighty
Cam: later dude :-P
Brant: later

Thoughts on Chat

It was a decent conversation, sort of awkward. I don't think the full extent of the awkwardness is evident without timestamps because when I sent a message, there were these long 10+ minute gaps before he replied. He didn't get into the challenge or what we'd do if we lost, so I just terminated the conversation after waiting about ten minutes. And he immediately replied saying bye. So it wasn't super encouraging or didn't in any way promise my safety, but it at least opened up a communication channel between the two of us that may be helpful later. I have to keep in mind that out of the 8 of us, I'm the person who Cam initially wanted here the least. I need to try to raise myself above the others to him.

So feeling the most uncomfortable and vulnerable that I have EVER felt at the start of a game, I acted super hypocritically and ran to Kenya hoping to utilize a pre-existing bond. Hahaha.

PM to Kenya
Kenya! We're on the same tribe!

I'll be around on AIM most of tomorrow and for the challenge, so hopefully we can chat more then. I recognize most of the tribe from the site and see them around a lot (meaning we might be the stronger tribe? Idk)...but I'm still concerned because I don't have pre-existing bonds with any of them and was the last one picked, lol. Cam's the only person I've been able to IM so far, and we just had a short, boring introductory convo.

But I'll try to chat with the others and see what I can learn about the dynamics and so forth. I don't know if anyone else knows that we talk or have a bond, so maybe it's something we can utilize? Hmm.

Ttyl.

PM from Kenya
Hey Brant <3 <3 <3

I'm so excited to be on a tribe with you!!! Alright so I won't be on when the challenge is posted tomorrow unfortunately.. since I have to work.. BUT hopefully we'll get to talk at some point or another. Anyway you do know some people.. remember that stupid wedding game? Well remember Timothy? My husband in the game? LOL well that was Bryan. But just as people don't know of our connection with each other.. people don't know of mine and his really either. I think it would be wise for us 3 to team up secretly. Nobody would suspect it at all. I do feel we have a great tribe though and I can't wait to kick the other tribes butt! <3

But you have pre-existing bonds with me and that helps you out right there. We'll talk about other people that I know on the tribe soon enough. I obviously haven't had a chance to talk to people on our tribe.. but I mean I did talk to Bryan. You know I have your back, so no worries there!

PM to Kenya
I don't have bonds with anyone except you, but here's what I know about the rest of the tribe from other games.

Bryan: I remember him, but I don't know if he remembers Jesus Christ. We bonded in the game a little bit even though I ended up voting him out...
Cam: We were in Battle Royale at Alt. We ended up like 2nd and 3rd out of 40, but we never talked since we were busy killing other people. He didn't sound like he remembered me yesterday.
Pete: We've played mini games and on Tengaged. But we haven't talked besides "let's vote ____!" and "what was your score on _____?"
Sarah: I think this is Pete's sister or close friend. I know she was semi-active on Tengaged, but I only talked to her through Pete.
Travis: My closest thing to an "enemy" in this cast. We've been in two alias games now and haven't gotten along for weird reasons. He was mostly inactive at the start of the last game, came back, and made conflicting alliances with the entire cast. No one had a clue where he stood, and he was upset that I made him a target when he was offering to sacrifice himself for the tribe. He might remember me because I won that game. I'm up for fresh starts, though.

So that makes everyone except Cournojo who I know a little bit about. I'm concerned the most that Pete might not be that active and about Sarah who I haven't seen on very much. Cory and Travis also look close and could be a concern later.. The two of us and Bryan would be a great secret team, so hopefully we can work something out.

I've still only talked to you and Cam, but I'll on AIM most of the day. Hopefully we can meet up. If not, there's always PM...

PM from Kenya
Yeah I know what you are saying. I have already talked to Bryan about us 3 secretly teaming up, he's totally down for it.

I'm not on aim like I should be cuz I got me a boyfriend now and well I spend like every second I"m not working with him.. aside from after work haha. So yeah anyway talk to you soon hopefully! I have the next two days off!

PM to Kenya
Awesome, I'll see if I can chat with him sometime. 3/8 is good especially when there is uncertainty with a few of the others. Enjoy your time with your boyfriend and your time off! We'll get to talk I'm sure.

My summer classes started, so I'm just around the computer doing work most of the day. Blah. I'm trying to go through the whole course in a few weeks even though it's designed to last the duration of the summer.

Thoughts on Chat
This exchange went well. I'm being completely open with Kenya. My vague recollections of Cam and Bryan from past Alt games have been correct. I trust Kenya more than anyone else in this game, and hopefully we can work together. I fear that her bonds with Bryan and possibly me as well may not be quite as secret as she thinks...which could be bad. Plus Cam picked her first, so she's probably super close to EVERYONE. This is the best angle I can think of to survive and having Kenya on my side should provide me with some great information flow, so we'll see how it develops. Hopefully it doesn't backfire and get me or Kenya targeted. I need to talk to Bryan now to make sure he feels comfortable working with me so I'm not just linked to him through Kenya.

Chat with Bryan

Brant (9:07:36 PM): Hey Bryan!
Bryan (9:07:50 PM): Hey Brant! How are you?
Brant (9:08:43 PM): Not bad. Just finished some things so I'm ready for the challenge. You?
Bryan (9:10:45 PM): Just got finished with another challenge. It was a beast, but we won. I'm so tired so I hope this challenge isn't bad
Brant (9:11:37 PM): Oh, congrats on the win. Yeah I hope this isn't bad either...it's not live though so who knows :-
Brant (9:12:04 PM): Hopefully it's not something where we have to keep posting over 24 hours or whatever
Bryan (9:12:18 PM): That's what i just had so i really hope not lol
Brant (9:12:54 PM): That would suck... The last game I played had all live, 15 minute challenges which was really nice.
Bryan (9:13:16 PM): That would be very convenient!
Brant (9:13:24 PM): And the same people who would've won over 24 hours usually ended up winning. Just not great for the people who couldn't show up.
Brant (9:13:56 PM): We'll find out soon... I just really want to win so we don't have to send anyone home yet.
Bryan (9:14:26 PM): I think we have a good shot. Our tribe certainly looks more stacked
Brant (9:15:19 PM): I agree, although I don't recognize most of the other tribe so can't say for certain. We have most of the ORG Planet regulars though
Bryan (9:15:46 PM): Yup I think Cam did a good job choosing!
Brant (9:16:06 PM): They have...Deetster who's online a ton, but we have so many others.
Brant (9:16:12 PM): Yeah haha. I'm happy with it
Brant (9:16:23 PM): Even though I was the last pick lol :-P
Bryan (9:17:12 PM): lol well you might have been higher but Cam's lowest ones just all got wiped out
Brant (9:18:22 PM): Yeah, I don't mind. The games I played at Alt were alias games and I haven't had much time to play games since ORG Planet opened.
Brant (9:18:54 PM): I think (or at least hope) the first targets if we do happen to lose will be the less active people who don't show up or contribute.
Bryan (9:19:08 PM): That's who i'll be targeting
Brant (9:19:37 PM): Same. I like to do that early unless someone goes crazy and starts targeting random people
Bryan (9:19:51 PM): yeah then they need to go
Brant (9:20:20 PM): Hopefully more people show up, though. I've only been able to talk to you, Kenya, and Cam so far.
Bryan (9:20:53 PM): yeah i think we're the most active
Brant (9:21:37 PM): I think Sarah is...Pete's sister, right? I think she was in a Tengaged game with me once. Although I only talked to her through Pete.
Bryan (9:22:05 PM): I've never heard of her, so I hope she's active
Bryan (9:22:11 PM): I know Pete's active as well
Brant (9:23:11 PM): She wasn't very active on Tengaged, but if she's who I'm think she is, I'm sure Pete will remind her.
Brant (9:24:04 PM): Did Kenya mention the three of us working together to you?
Bryan (9:24:51 PM): yup
Bryan (9:24:58 PM): I think it's a good idea
Bryan (9:25:15 PM): what do you think?
Brant (9:25:47 PM): Yeah, I completely agree.
Bryan (9:26:16 PM): Sweeet
Brant (9:26:25 PM): I haven't talked a lot to these other players, so it's nice to have something solid early. Plus if we're secretive enough about it, we can all collect information and exchange it with one another.
Brant (9:27:07 PM): lol, she also mentioned you were Timothy from that one Alt game
Bryan (9:27:26 PM): Definitely! And yes I was. haha I got screwed in it
Bryan (9:27:34 PM): But it's all good
Brant (9:27:54 PM): Yeah, sorry about that. I think I voted for you, but I don't think we had any deals or alliances at the time.
Brant (9:28:01 PM): It's been a while...
Bryan (9:28:16 PM): Yeah I don't think so either
Brant (9:30:01 PM): But yeah, honestly, I don't have bonds with anyone in this and I think it'll be good to have one with you, me, and Kenya. Just to watch each other's back and hopefully give us a chance to go far.
Bryan (9:30:40 PM): I totally agree. If anyone says anything about either of you, I'll let ya know. :-)
Brant (9:31:49 PM): Awesome. And long-term, I have no idea what I want to happen and don't have any plans or anything. No final two with Kenya if you're concerned. Just focusing on the start for now and letting it go from there.
Bryan (9:32:30 PM): Yeah, I don't like making final 2 deals anyway
Brant (9:33:35 PM): Yeah. I'll accept if someone offers me one usually. But I believe they should be built over the course of the game...I've never liked pre-game alliances very much.
Bryan (9:34:09 PM): Me neither. It seems unfair
Brant (9:36:23 PM): Right. I was concerned that a lot of the cast would have them from other OPS games when I signed up for this. But it doesn't seem like everyone knows everyone else which is good.
Brant (9:36:44 PM): I think Harvey and Violet are aliases, could be wrong about Harvey...
Brant (9:37:07 PM): But it kinda adds some fun uncertainty
Bryan (9:37:49 PM): Violet is definitely an alias. Idk about Harvey though.
Bryan (9:37:54 PM): I like when we're all aliases
Brant (9:38:47 PM): I love all alias games, too.

Thoughts on Chat

First conversations with people are so awkward. I've now talked to Bryan about the "secret alliance" with me and Kenya. It sounds good, and I feel like the two of us are really on the same page about this game and ORG's in general. I had another quick chat with Cam that went well, so I feel better now about my chances.

Maybe I'm not quite the oddball, the one whose presence makes everyone feel awkward anymore. I've talked to 3 other people (Bryan, Cam, Kenya) and we'll see what happens at the challenge.

I just updated my last post with the Bryan chat.

This challenge could honestly go either way. It's not about how much you're online. It's about how efficient (speed + accuracy) you can get a posting pattern going. Cam and I were posting maniacs for two hours, and I noticed that the other tribe (from the member list) was producing some really rapid posts for a short period of time. Now things have slowed down, so we'll have to see what happens.

I no longer fear a loss. I trust Bryan, Cam, and Kenya for the most part. Bryan, Kenya, and I have an alliance. Plus Cam and I just bonded through posting. There's nothing like an endurance challenge to bring people together. So 4/8 people won't vote for me, so we should be good if we have to go to tribal council.

I could post all night (honestly) but it's probably best I rest since I have summer classes tomorrow plus there are some relatives I haven't seen for a while visiting our area. So I don't know if anyone else will be able to continue the awesome speed Cam and I were showing or if we'll just fade out.

This is the point where I need to remember that there are more important things than winning this challenge and constrain myself so that everyone in the game won't want to vote me out at the first opportunity for making thousands of posts in this thing.

Last post for the night? I think so. I'm probably going to bed. And hopefully enjoying chocolaty dreams for a good 9 hours or so.

Chocolatey dreams. I hope they're everything you're hoping for and more!

Big lead? I think so thanks to me and Cam, with a little assistance from Bryan and Kenya. Lock for a win? No. Anything can happen in the closing hours.

Drama.

Yay, we won!!!

It's too early in the game to go to tribal council; I need to talk to these people more. Namely Jonathan, Pete, Sarah, and Travis. Hopefully by Friday's challenge I can be better acquainted with everyone. I feel solid with half the tribe, but I can't just ignore the rest or that will be my downfall. Hopefully I'm also not considered the dominant challenge force after this, but if I am, oh well. Deetster and Travis have seen me in past games anyway.

Chat with Pete

Brant (11:16:28 PM): Hey Pete
Pete (11:16:37 PM): hey
Pete (11:16:39 PM): hows it going?
Brant (11:17:35 PM): Pretty good. Tired out, going to call it a night soon. I thought I'd say hi since I haven't had the chance to talk to you yet for OPS4
Pete (11:18:01 PM): yeah I was meaning to say hi but kept getting sidetracked
Pete (11:18:19 PM): glad we won the first challenge, good job
Brant (11:18:21 PM): It's all good. How's everything going with you?
Brant (11:18:48 PM): Thanks, yeah, I'm happy we won too! It's too early to deal with TC and I haven't had a chance to talk to a lot of people yet
Pete (11:19:32 PM): yeah me neither, I've only talked to Sarah + Cam
Pete (11:20:11 PM): I think we got a good tribe
Brant (11:20:41 PM): Yeah I just exchanged challenge talk with a few other people, mainly Cam
Brant (11:20:50 PM): I love it. I think we have most of the ORG Planet regulars
Brant (11:21:36 PM): Besides Deetster I don't really recognize anyone over on the H-tribe
Pete (11:21:55 PM): yeah same, I hope we can all go far together
Brant (11:22:31 PM): Same same. Hopefully we can keep winning challenges and wiipe them out, lol.
Brant (11:23:00 PM): I hope the next few aren't just time-consuming posting challenges. They're really frustrating
Pete (11:23:13 PM): agreed
Brant (11:24:28 PM): Alright I'm going to head out. Just wanted to say hi, and I'm sure we'll talk more soon.
Brant (11:24:33 PM): Nice chatting and ttyl
Pete (11:24:43 PM): yeah definitely, have a good one

Thoughts on Chat

Super, super formal chat with Pete, but you have to start somewhere. I know he's really busy and I'm tired out after that challenge, so I didn't want to hold him long with pointless small talk. When there's something important to talk about, I'm sure the conversation will be less formal, more interesting.

Chat with Cam

Brant (11:07:04 PM): We did it! :-)
Cam (11:07:13 PM): YESSSSSSSSSSSS
Cam (11:07:17 PM): yeah i just saw :-D
Brant (11:08:02 PM): Lol, yeah. Thanks to our epic speed posting
Brant (11:08:11 PM): But I hope we never have to do that again lol
Cam (11:08:11 PM): yep, we rocked it out
Cam (11:08:14 PM): omg i know
Cam (11:08:16 PM): please god no haha
Brant (11:08:58 PM): It took me a minute to recognize we were the S tribe
Brant (11:08:59 PM): lol
Brant (11:09:12 PM): It's really hard to remember those names
Cam (11:09:32 PM): haha yeah i don't even remember their name
Brant (11:10:29 PM): Well now we have a break so that's good. No TC drama
Cam (11:10:36 PM): yep lol
Cam (11:10:41 PM): glad to not have to deal with that
Brant (11:11:01 PM): Hopefully H-tribe self-destructs...they did really well in the challenge, just not fast enough
Brant (11:11:09 PM): But they were basically posting the entire day
Brant (11:11:41 PM): So that makes me semi-nervous for the future, but hopefully we can keep coming through and other people will step up next challenge
Cam (11:12:09 PM): well i mean people were stepping up, just we were faster so we wanted us to go instead of them lol
Brant (11:12:30 PM): Good point, everyone did show up for a little
Brant (11:12:49 PM): And why waste time posting slowly and inefficiently when it doesn't help much
Brant (11:12:52 PM): lol
Cam (11:12:57 PM): exactly
Cam (11:13:09 PM): i hope people understand that and don't think we "hogged the challenge"
Cam (11:13:13 PM): i think they do thoug
Brant (11:13:39 PM): Yeah idk, I need to talk to people some more now that we're done posting
Cam (11:13:50 PM): lol
Cam (11:13:50 PM): same
Brant (11:13:51 PM): But it's all good since we have like 48 hours until the next event
Cam (11:13:57 PM): yah

Thoughts on Chat

Even despite my "secret alliance" with Bryan and Kenya, Cam is the person I have now bonded the most with through the challenge. We haven't even gotten into strategy, but I think we have respect for each other and our devotion to winning the challenge. I wonder how Cam would've voted if we lost since he hand-picked this tribe? Based on how much the other people on our tribe were online and how fast they posted, we would have lost that challenge without me and Cam posting.

Travis is apparently away showering. Sarah isn't online. I tried talking to Jonathan earlier, but he didn't answer my messages. He was online on the board all day, and I was going to ask him if he was interested in posting with me for the challenge, but he didn't answer my IM's. Boo --- hopefully it was just internet problems that he was having and he isn't upset with me and Cam for hogging the challenge. I love how I'm associated with Cam now, so if people ARE upset at the challenge hogging, it's against the two of us and not just me. And since everyone was picked by Cam, hopefully it blows over.

I was going to make some kind of banner of the tribe for my signature or avatar to replace my seasonal brant goose, but I'm struggling to find any graphical representation of a snozzwanger. Plus I don't how I'd represent the people on our tribe without just using their names. Looking for real life pictures of everyone would be way too creepy, and we don't have people from the book/movie that we're representing.

Are there going to be episodes of this after the game ends?

There may be. I was actually talking with someone who's done really great episodes in the past to see if I could work something out

I have weird plans later tonight, so I don't know if or when I'll be around. It would be great to be around for the challenge because maybe I could talk to some of these people who I don't see online often. Maybe it's just me (and I don't think it is) but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of communication between anyone.

I'm sure it will pick up later in the game for those who make it far.