Okay so two things I want to briefly say before I get to the meet of this post. First of all is congratulations to AJ for winning this season. I think a lot of people recognized him as a potential candidate to win the season very early on and yet he managed to stay alive by doing considerably well in challenges and making correct alliances (although yeah he wasn't any social guru.) Second of all I want to thank HealnDeal and Whydon for not only hosting this season of Survivor, but allowing me to participate in an all-star season despite not having all-star results from Survivor FFF.
Now I'm glad I can finally use this post to get this off my chest. I thought this season was an absolutely horrendous season of Survivor for multiple reasons. First, I'd like to say that while HealnDeal and Whydon were kind enough to ask me if I wanted to play this season, in hindsight I really wish they didn't, because this season was an absolute bloodbath in terms of pre-existing alliances, friendships, and enemies. These are things I didn't get to really experience my first time around playing in Survivor FFF because I was eliminated so early. I really wish they (the hosts) would have been able to see far enough ahead where they would say "We'd love to have you on another season but bc next season is going to be an all-star season, we'd recommend you'd wait a season." or something along those lines. I can't remember which host said this to me after I was blindsided this season, but one of them said if you knew AJ / Vooper / Hal was an alliance from a previous season you could have saved yourself. And that's 100% true. But I don't really think I should have to do all that research (Remember this game is not for a million dollars). I wish people would have played with less emotional attachment and with less focus around pre-existing alliances. I feel like that really ruined this season compared to irl TV Survivor All-Stars) Emotional attachment also almost ruined AJ from winning this season. Seriously AJ put the most time and effort into playing this game, he deserved to win imo.
Second, I'm extremely conflicted with signing up for another season of Survivor and here's why. Generally speaking, contestants who have appeared in multiple previous seasons are automatically assumed to be much more of a threat in the game and are more likely to get voted out early. I've already been voted out pre-Tribe Swap both seasons I appeared on. There was also a general sense of apathy from a huge minority of players on both seasons I was given the opportunity to participate in. (I would even go as far as to say 25-40%) And yet a lot of them made it further on in the game than I did. People can come to their own conclusions on whether being at the forefront or taking a bit of a backseat in the game is a better strategy, I just don't feel like either playstyle should be discredited. I also haven't gotten to play in a single Pokemon battling related challenge yet. Putting ZU mod / council on my original Survivor FFF application and for ZU related challenges to come up after I'm eliminated is like a total slap to the face by the hosts and I wish they would be more sensitive to that kind of thing for contestants who play XYZ metas, even if it wasn't necessarily intentional (if that makes any sense.)
Lastly, have the hosts considered taking greater action against those who quit in the midst of a season of Survivor. I know in bigger Smogon team-related tournaments those who choose to quit after being drafted or being selected for their team can receive a ban from the follow-up season. Has this been something the hosts have considered?
Overall I liked Survivor FFF over Survivor All-Stars because I felt like I had control in Survivor FFF. This season I felt like an absolute sheep and by the time I finally realized it and tried to do something about it, there was nothing I could really do because I didn't have the connections pretty much every other contestant had. It didn't help that Cleo got voted off before I did, Energy got voted off when I did, and Inferno got voted off because he tried to make a strategic move with me too that wasn't able to be pulled off. idk, my feelings about this season are totally mixed and I wish I could have actually participated in a season where I didn't feel like I was at a disadvantage.