Social

[Sherlock Holmes]

Anderson always says that I have the social skills of a Spider. His intelligence entertains me every day, how does he not know that a Spider has amazing social skills.

The real question is how did you spin your web to be connected to all the other players and use your social skills to your advantage? It's not good enough to be able to get to the end if you've burned all your bridges along the way.

This thread is for the Jury to ask questions about what you did socially throughout the game and how it compares to your opponent

[Scruff McGruff]

Second question— in what ways did your social game allow you to proceed? How did you take advantage of your relationships with other players to continue, and how did they play a role in helping you get to the end?

[Grouch Cop]

Luci, you made it!!! I'm so proud of you my bestest friend. But, oof, that speech buddy. It's very vague, and I'll address more of it over in the strategy thread, but the part I want to get at here is different. At no point in your opening speech do you name anybody specific with any thing. And I would really like you to go through what sort of connections you had to each of the jurors and what they meant to you. You had to do a lot to get here, and had to do with with people, so tell us about it. What are the social highlights of your path to the end here?

Hercule, mon ami, I have a similar yet different task for you. You did talk a lot about how you connected to people int his merge, but a lot of how you spoke made it sound like you were forced into making certain social decisions, and you distanced yourself from them and glossed over other bits. And that's not good enough for me. You betrayed me super hard and brutally, and while that doesn't mean you have lost my vote because of it, you have a whole lot more justifying of it, and distancing from it won't do you any favours. I don't want you to apologize and wring your hands over how bad a person/player you were for making those moves, I want you to own them. One of your biggest strengths is your social game, no? So I want you to elaborate on how you best used that to your advantage, as well as where you misjudged and messed up. And do it where you talk about people as people, not just people chess. I want to know how you connected to people as themselves and how you played on that front.

[Penelope Garcia]

I agree with Scruff's comment in the Strategic thread, I think this Jury is not bitter in the slightest.

Poirot: You've openly admitted you had to lie through your teeth to Grouch during their vote and convince Leon to send himself home by manipulating his perception of the vote; I guess my question then is, what were active steps you were taking to ensure you were maintaining proper jury management? If the jury was more frustrated about the ways this manipulation manifested itself, how were you prepared to handle those lines of questioning? Additionally, do you see this as an accurate portrayal of your game or am I offbase in saying manipulation was a part of it?


Lucifer, you state in your opening speech that you are aware social gameplay isn't your best trait. What are some things that you learned from this game that you could take into future games you play? What connections did you see as your strongest and what did you do to maintain their strength and making sure you were utilizing them to the best of your ability?

[Hercule Poirot]

Second question— in what ways did your social game allow you to proceed? How did you take advantage of your relationships with other players to continue, and how did they play a role in helping you get to the end?

One thing zat I always tried to do in zis game was leave doors open for myself and play in a way where even if I wasn't actively working with people, I still 'ad strong social bonds with zem and ze possibility zat we would work together in ze futur was still zere. So par exemple, Mlle Garcia was on ze wrong side of ze M. Wilde vote, yet my communication and relationship with 'er throughout ze process meant zat she left zat vote with no significant ill feelings towards, and we were able to somewhat get on ze same page at various points in ze merge. M. Cohle was left out of ze M. Grouch vote, but my strong social relationship with 'im meant zat we were able to rekindle eet afterwards and keep our tight relationship 'idden enough to make ze move zat we did at F4. I think doing my best to maintain social relationships both with my closest allies and with people I sometimes was against was a crucial aspect of my game, and was part of ze reason I was able to be in such a strong position so consistently.

[Judy Hopps]

For both of you.

How integral to votes do you feel like you were? Specifically in the latter stages of the game as I know Lucifer, you didn't have tribals, and Poirot, I know your trajectory already and there was no non-unanimous decisions on SVU.

I think there is a point of contention on specific tribals for both of you. I would like Lucifer to highlight the eliminations of Scruff/Myself/Leon

And I would like Poirot to shed light on Jake/Myself/Rust

PS. To mirror what everyone is saying, we're a pretty chill Jury tbh. Been a pleasant debrief on the game so far.

[Penelope Garcia]

Poirot: Another question and something that always rubbed me the wrong way about your game that you seem to open up a bit in your speech; there were a lot of votes that you completely chalked up to Judy or the way you played always made you seem attached at the hip to her. To me, this gave me vibes that you were closed off and unwavering. Sure, you would talk about how she needed to go sooner or later, and you'd make efforts to distance yourself from her erratic gameplay whenever you could, but not being able to openly talk about votes with others completely closed off paths in my opinion and made me feel like I could never get you on my side so why even try? We had a great social bond, but I knew, strategically, our plans would never align so we both knew we couldn't lie to each other and pretend there was a both forward. What if your contingency plans fell through? Or others were lying to you? Or Judy gets you before you could get her? Did you have a way out that didn't include the exact paths that the game went through?

[Grouch Cop]

Also, I'm gonna tack this on to both of you, what kind of jury management did you try to do, or did you not really bother? As a whole, not exactly a bitter jury no, but I think there's definitely a lot of annoyance about certain kinds of treatment. So I want to know if you didn't do much jury management, why not? And even if you did try and maybe it didn't pay off, what were you planning on doing if you did walk into a jury filled with people who were incredibly upset at you about how you handled them and the rounds they went out? I'd like to know for each juror what you you were thinking worst case scenario you were going to have to explain and own and apologize for?

[Hercule Poirot]

Hercule, mon ami, I have a similar yet different task for you. You did talk a lot about how you connected to people int his merge, but a lot of how you spoke made it sound like you were forced into making certain social decisions, and you distanced yourself from them and glossed over other bits. And that's not good enough for me. You betrayed me super hard and brutally, and while that doesn't mean you have lost my vote because of it, you have a whole lot more justifying of it, and distancing from it won't do you any favours. I don't want you to apologize and wring your hands over how bad a person/player you were for making those moves, I want you to own them. One of your biggest strengths is your social game, no? So I want you to elaborate on how you best used that to your advantage, as well as where you misjudged and messed up. And do it where you talk about people as people, not just people chess. I want to know how you connected to people as themselves and how you played on that front.

Salut mon ami. Eet ees so good to finally talk to you. Eet 'as been a long time coming.

I don't think I was ever forced into making certain social decisions. I think I actually 'ad ze pick of ze litter in terms of social decisions. I don't think zere was anyone in ze game who was ever off ze table for me to work with socially. If anything, I 'ad too many social connections, which was why I sometimes made decisions like ze decision to vote out you.

One thing zat I 'ave learned about zis game ees zat if social connections are great, but if you do not 'ave ze strategic positioning to go along with zem, zey will never be good enough. You cannot and should not be banking on someone making moves against zeir interest just because zey like you. I 'ave banked on zat before and eet leads to failure every time.

I definitely do own ze fact zat I backstabbed you, and eet was a particularly brutal backstab. I did eet because eet benefited me. Because of our social bond, you were willing to open up with me and be very frank and honest about where things stood and about 'ow you wanted to proceed in ze game, and I saw zat not only did eet not benefit me, but also zat eet actually went against my other closest social bonds in ze game. M. Briscoe and I were incredibly tight socially, like on a 'uman to 'uman level, I was 100% with 'im in zis game and I 'ad 'is back. M. Peralta and I 'ad a strong bond and we 'ad a lot of respect for each other. And Mlle Hopps was such a vibrant, energetic, wonderful ally, and M. Kennedy was so earnest and sweet. Zis was ze side I was choosing strategically, but zis was also ze side I was choosing socially. I was in a situation where my strong social connection with you contradicted with my other strong social connections, and I was going to 'ave to choose sooner or later. As much as I loved you, mon ami, I could not choose you.

In terms of where I misjudged/messed up, I misjudged ze influence zat I 'ad over Mlle Hopps because I felt so socially close to 'er, but I should 'ave realized zat a player like 'er ees always going to do what she thinks ees in 'er strategic best interest regardless of what 'er ally ees pressuring 'er to do. M. Peralta and M. Briscoe going when zey did was not my plan, and although I made eet work to my benefit, I should 'ave figured out 'ow to avoid zat situation instead of leading myself into a F8 where Mlle Hopps 'ad all of ze power. I think I was blinded by my social connection with 'er in zat case. And I knew how Mlle Hopps was from ze beginning, I knew, so I should 'ave foreseen eet, but she ees so charismatic. I couldn't 'elp eet.

[Grouch Cop]

I told you that about Judy, you should have listened.

[Hercule Poirot]

Poirot: You've openly admitted you had to lie through your teeth to Grouch during their vote and convince Leon to send himself home by manipulating his perception of the vote; I guess my question then is, what were active steps you were taking to ensure you were maintaining proper jury management? If the jury was more frustrated about the ways this manipulation manifested itself, how were you prepared to handle those lines of questioning? Additionally, do you see this as an accurate portrayal of your game or am I offbase in saying manipulation was a part of it?

I think eet ees absolutely fair to say zat I was manipulative at points, particularly with M. Kennedy at zat F4. I don't think I ever manipulated M. Grouch, I just backstabbed 'im. But you are right zat while I don't think I crossed any lines zis game, I was willing to do a lot to advance myself, even some things zat other people might consider beyond ze pale.

In terms of Jury management, I tried to be generally honest with people when I could and own what I was doing while ze game was still going on when eet was possible? Like with you, I was fairly honest with 'ow about things were after ze M. Grouch vote and in ze rounds following, and when I was with you I told you and when I was against you I told you. But zere are times in zis game where ze other person knowing exactly what you are doing as you are doing eet ees potentially désastreux, so in zose situations I 'ad to leave people in ze dark.

Also specifically with M. Grouch, I'm not sure if M. Grouch 'as reread my last few PMs to 'im, but some of ze things I was saying definitely 'ave a double-meaning if you read zem in ze context of knowing zat I was voting 'im out. I don't 'ave an example off ze top of my 'ead, but I definitely remember thinking zat oh, M. Grouch will look at zis message totally different once 'e realizes what I was doing. I don't know if zat ees Jury management, but I wanted 'im to at least 'ave an idea of why if 'e was looking back for reasons.

Does zat answer your questions? If you or anyone else 'as further, more specific questions about my Jury management, I'm prepared to field zem. I tend to think zat at ze end of ze day, if your social bonds are real, zen zat ees 'alf ze battle of Jury management, but I understand if some of ze people who I betrayed, particularly M. Kennedy who I really was awful to during 'is last moments in ze game, don't feel ze same way.

[Grouch Cop]

Okay but, you say that the end game I wanted and you wanted were drastically different, right? And yet the people who followed me right out of the game were the people I didn't want in the game. The only difference between the endgame I wanted to have, and the one that happened is I was replaced by Leon. So, that sounds an awful lot like bullshit and you telling me what you think I want to hear. Our entire relationship was based on honesty, blunt honesty. And that's what I'm asking for from you. If me leaving was your doing more so than it was anybody else's, then I need a much better reason that what you've said. Cuz that's not good enough. I liked Lennie and would have loved to do things with him, as I told you, but we had just not been on the same side of the vote. I was more than willing to do other things, as I told you again and again. Lucifer going home instead of me would have sucked, sure, but that at least made sense as I could understand you would never think he'd place you over me. Hell, it would have put me that much firmly into having to work with you further because you'd be my best option, no? Which again, I told you. I was worried about going places with you because in the group of people you liked, you were the only one who actually valued me at all. And I told you about that, but I wasn't saying I needed you out of the game, just that the path you wanted going forward as you stated it to me, left me completely at your whim and mercy where I would have just been your puppet. I wanted options that meant we were actually working as partners, but that's not the path you chose. All you had to do was tell me that though, that's all you ever had to do. I'm just really finding it hard to see why this path to the end you had is one that fits with the way you and I talked about whether we had a path together to the end game. It's incredibly hard not to see the way you got to the end and with whom and how you played with them to be different from the kind of plans we were making together. If using what I told you and what I thought is part of your social game, then that's okay, but just say that rather than make it sound like you couldn't have gotten this with me in the game.

Also, I don't know where else to put this, so it gets to be tacked on here, I don't feel from either of you any sort of passion for this game. Did you have fun? Did you pour a lot of yourself into this? Do you even want to win this? Do you think the games you played should win this? Where's your emotionality, you both have it, where is it in your presentation?

[Hercule Poirot]

For both of you.

How integral to votes do you feel like you were? Specifically in the latter stages of the game as I know Lucifer, you didn't have tribals, and Poirot, I know your trajectory already and there was no non-unanimous decisions on SVU.

I think there is a point of contention on specific tribals for both of you. I would like Lucifer to highlight the eliminations of Scruff/Myself/Leon

And I would like Poirot to shed light on Jake/Myself/Rust

PS. To mirror what everyone is saying, we're a pretty chill Jury tbh. Been a pleasant debrief on the game so far.

I actually do think I was fairly integral to all of ze premerge tribals as well, even though zey were unanimous. I think I 'ad a lot of sway and probably could 'ave changed zem if I really wanted to. But I was always getting what I wanted and thought was best.

M. Peralta I was ze opposite of integral, and I 'ave not 'id zat fact. I was arguing with you for hours trying to get Mlle Garcia or M. Morningstar voted out instead. I think M. Peralta going 'ome was a bad move for my game, so if I 'ad been integral to eet, I would question my own judgement. I did 'owever begrudgingly go along with eet after you and M. Kennedy 'ad already both flipped, but I was honest with M. Cohle, M. Morningstar, and Mlle Garcia zat I would 'ave preferred to be voting out one of zem.

Mlle Hopps, I think ees a more interesting case. I definitely 'ad been setting up your elimination and building you up for a target for rounds, and I knew zat eet would be you or Mlle Garcia at 6. I also 'ad leaked ze fact to everyone zat you claimed to 'ave been throwing challenges, including ze challenge with ze cars zat you won, which definitely increased your target level and convinced people zat you were a bigger challenge threat zan Mlle Garcia. Was I truly integral to eet being you rather zan Mlle Garcia zat round? Probably not. To be honest, ze round eetself was one of ze least active rounds of ze game. I went to bed with M. Kennedy strongly preferring Mlle Garcia, and zen I woke up to 'im flipped to preferring you, and 'e never was online to discuss zat with. And M. Cohle and M. Morningstar didn't confirm zeir votes to me until shortly before deadline, at which point zere wasn't really time to argue. So in terms of zat round eetself, people honestly were not online enough for me to influence ze decision very much. But I certainly think zat I 'ad done ze work to set you up to go home, either at 6 or 5, and zat you going 'ome zen was a fine move for me, so I didn't fight eet. Ze important thing was zat eet was either you or Mlle Garcia.

With M. Cohle, M. Morningstar actually never spoke to me after winning ze Immunity and 'e was not really online, so I certainly can't 'ave been said to influence 'im too much during zat round. I did make ze exact argument zat 'e used to keep me at F3 as part of why 'e should take out M. Cohle over me at 4, so I 'ad pitched zat case and I would like to think zat I 'ad some influence? But 'e ees also 'is own person and 'e clearly ees smart, so I'm sure 'e could 'ave and probably did think of all of zose arguments 'imself. I think claiming a 'uge amount of credit for zis would be arrogant, but I did make ze argument about differentiating 'is game better against me zan against M. Cohle to 'im, and I'm glad zat 'e agreed with eet.

[Lucifer Morningstar]

I'm on my way home right now and will start answering all your questions in about an hour!

[Lucifer Morningstar]

Second question— in what ways did your social game allow you to proceed? How did you take advantage of your relationships with other players to continue, and how did they play a role in helping you get to the end?

I think my social game was really important in helping me get to the end, especially in the early merge. I was in an alliance with Grouch, Pikachu and Rust early on that was really important. That alliance proved to be really beneficial, because especially in that first round a lot of names came up as potential votes and so our ability to stick together and refuse to target each other was helpful in keeping ourselves safe. If we had collapsed and flipped on each other, it would've made my path a lot harder. Having all of them as friends I could rely on was a big first step towards my safety and me, Grouch and Rust continued to look out for each other after Pikachu left.
I was also able to rebuild my relationship with Penelope that round which was also very big for me. We were able to work through the fact that we were kind of on opposite sides in the Nick vote on Strike Team. Without her as an ally throughout the merge and being able to rely on her I also would've been in a lot of trouble.
Then the last set of relationships that were particularly important to me was Hercule and Judy. Hercule and I were against each other to a degree at various points throughout the merge, but the fact that I was close to him still helped me. It felt like I wasn't on the greatest terms with like Jake and Lennie in particular at times and so having him as a friend while he was close with them helped keep the target away off of me even if we weren't necessarily voting the same way all the time.
Judy was also a very very important relationship for me in similar ways to Hercule, but more so- I think being able to reconnect with her and work with her again during and following that one tribal council on the strike team was massive. Like without my connections to her, I don't think I would've been able to survive the F9, F8 and F7 tribal councils.
And then as the game drew to a close I was able to build a relationship with Leon too. Obviously it didn't end the way I hoped, but I still think that was important for me.