Dante's Game - All votes in - who took top prize?

[pablito]

Basic Setup:

Paradise - Eligible Players
Purgatory - Voter/Interrogators
Inferno - Dead final jury members

Players who fall out of Paradise will enter Purgatory ("fall from grace"). Players who fall out of Purgatory will enter Inferno ("snatched into the flames"). Players in Inferno remain there (one special exception applies). Each week after the first one player falls from Paradise into Purgatory and one from Purgatory into Inferno. This continues until three players remain in Paradise.

Paradise: Any player who is still in Paradise, may freely PM any player in Paradise. Anything is fair game when you PM each other - you may even share your lists or who you want to go up. Considering how nominations are calculated, it's tough to fully fix or cheat the system. Also, only players in Paradise may post in the thread (for strategy or taunting or etc). Players in Paradise are the only ones eligible to win the grand prize. All 13 players begin in Paradise. After a placement competition in the first week, 3 players drop from Paradise -> Purgatory or fall from grace. Every other week only 1 player will fall from grace. Duties in a game week of the Paradise players are: respond to the interrogations, rank-order the other Paradise players. After the rank-ordering is calculated, the bottom-most and middle-most players are marked for eviction.

Purgatory: Any player still in Purgatory still has influence on the current game week, and in fact has the final word on the current game week. Players in Purgatory may ONLY PM the host, they may no longer contact any other player in the game once s/he has fallen from grace (no longer in Paradise). The duties in the game week of the Purgatory players are: interrogation and choosing one player to fall from grace (removed from Paradise). Players in Purgatory will no longer be referred to by their username. The host will make up aliases for these people, and these will change every single week (to prevent knowledge of who is currently in Purgatory). There will only be 3-4 players in Purgatory at any given time. The week will begin with 4 players who will all interrogate the Paradise players. While waiting for the responses to come back, the latest player to fall from grace (newest person to Purgatory) will evict one alias from Purgatory into Inferno (snatched into the flames) - this action is payback for being evicted from Paradise - so Purgatory voters should be careful who they bring into Purgatory. The 3 Purgatory players remaining will vote to evict one of the two players marked for eviction. 2/3 will cause a Paradise player to fall from grace into Purgatory.

Inferno: Any player in Inferno no longer has influence on the current game week. However, ALL players still have a vote in the final jury vote and should continue following the game. Players in Inferno may no longer contact any other players from the game regarding the game. The amount of influence a player has in the final jury vote depends on when s/he is snatched into the flames (removed from Purgatory). Players currently in the Inferno are recommended to submit eviction votes each week for one of the two candidates marked for eviction. Exception clause: If at any time a player currently in Purgatory does not or can not fulfill his/her duties, the last player to enter the Inferno can take his/her place - provided that the Inferno player has already submitted an eviction vote. To repeat, if someone in Purgatory needs to be replaced, the last active player in Inferno will take his place. This is why players in the Inferno should continue to vote to evict even though their vote may not count.

Nomination/Eviction Process:

1) Purgatory players will ask a question directed to the Paradise players (individually or group-wise) in the theme of the current deadly sin of the week.
2) Paradise players will post responses to all four interrogators. [72-hrs]
3) Once a Paradise player has posted his/her responses, he may submit his rank-order for the week. Paradise players must submit rank-orders before the deadline - otherwise a randomized list may ensue.
4) The bottom-most overall player and the middle-most overall player are marked for eviction. (numbers: 5+10, 5+9, 4+8, 4+7, 3+6, 3+5, 2+4) Tie-breakers are described below.
5) The three remaining Purgatory players must vote to evict one of the two marked for eviction. The player that gains two votes then falls from grace and enters Purgatory. [48-hrs]

Tiebreaks: If there's a tie for last place, then the middle-most player's votes are removed from the overall tally and who ever remains last is marked for eviction - or vice versa.

Paradise:

1. Pata
2. Cloud
3. ChannelDelibird

Final Jury:
1. bird1111
2. klebian
3. Cephrir
4. Sailor Jerry
5. bethelmark
6. MySnorlaxIsMighty
7. daftbrain

[pablito]

I've had this idea in the back of my head for a long time now and I finally figured out how to possibly make it work. Basically this is a Big-Brother international-style type game where alliances can help, but your public perception is key and competitions have little to no bearing on the game. I've found it very difficult to adapt international Big Brother rules into an online game, but I think I found the right balance between international and US BB rules. The game's theme is based on The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The theme really isn't key to the game, but it works and helps the game along.

Here's the game in a nut-shell and I'll explain it more in depth below.

Players in a house rank-order everyone. The bottom and middle player go up for eviction. Players in purgatory vote to evict one of the two marked for eviction. The newly evicted houseguest joins the other purgatory players. Then the newly evicted houseguest votes out one of the other purgatory players. Play continues until three remain in the house (paradise), then the entire jury votes on who will win. Order that players left purgatory will determine how many points their vote is worth. The player in the house that gains the most points (not votes, so wooing quality players is more important than winning majority vote) wins the game.


Basically the game will start with 13 players. Everyone begins in Paradisio. The final winner must be in Paradise. Once you fall out of Paradise, you can achieve minor victories, but the entire game's winner must be in Paradise. The first step in the game will be a competition of some sort, this will actually be the only competition in the game. The rest of the game relies on social interactions, alliances, and how well you answer questions. The top 10 players will remain in Paradise. The bottom three will fall into Purgatorio. Players in Paradise may communicate freely in the thread or via PMs.

Even though players who fall into Purgatorio are no longer eligible to win the game, those who remain in Purgatory have the sole decision of who remains in Paradise. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to have loyal allies in Purgatory. Also the final players in Purgatory at the end will have the most "influence" in the game and can single-handedly crown the winner. However, purgatory players will not be identified, they will become Player X or Player D, for example. Therefore there is no way to know if your allies are still in Purgatory or if your biggest enemies are in there.

Then of course, players who fall out of Purgatory fall into the Inferno. Once you're in the Inferno, you watch the game and can vote, but you no longer have influence until the final jury vote. However, if a player in Purgatory is DQed, then a player in the Inferno can go back in. But this will be explained a little bit later as well.

During a game week there are different phases

1) Purgatory players will ask all the Paradise players a question based on one of the seven deadly sins (each deadly sin represents a game week)
2) The players in Paradise will post their responses to all questions.
3) The newest person in Purgatory will evict into the Inferno one of the other players in Purgatory to keep the number in Purgatory at three.
4) The players in Paradise will rank-order the others, based on how well they answered the question.
5) After calculating all ranks together, the one at the bottom (the least favorite) and the one in the middle (the most mediocre) will face eviction.
6) Purgatory players will vote to evict one of the two players and explain why. The evictee will join the other purgatory players.

Here's a sample game week:

6 players in Paradise (Ajax, Betis, Celtic, Dynamo, Eindhoven, Fiorentina)

4 players in Purgatory (Raven, Saint, Hawk, Patriot)

The rest are in Inferno.

The deadly sin of the week is Sloth (Accidie).

Players in Purgatory ask those in Paradise a question about sloth.

Raven PMs me "What's the longest time you've gone without showering?"
Saint PMs me "What do you think is the worst sin a politician has done by standing idle?"
Hawk PMs me "Which player in Paradise would be most likely to sit in his own feces because he can't leave the computer while playing World of Warcraft?"
Patriot PMs me "Are you lazy? WHY>?!?!?!?"

Then I assign new fake names to each of these guys and I clean up the questions so no one knows who asked which question, like Patriot's question will have those punctuation marks simplified. Then I'll post these questions for the Paradise players to answer. IE: Mr. Blue asked "Are you lazy? Why?" Mr Green asked....etc.

Then once everyone in Paradise posts their answers (with a deadline of course), the newest member of Purgatory, in this case it's Patriot, votes to evict another member of Purgatory. He thinks that based on Saint's writing style that it's his arch enemy Hawk. However, Patriot has accidentally evicted his loyal ally Saint. However, no one is ever told who Mr Green or etc is. Therefore, it should be impossible to tell who is in Purgatory at any given time.

While Patriot was voting someone out, the Paradise players rank-ordered each other based on their answers. For example:

1. Betis (coincidentally his ally)
2. Ajax
3. Fiorentina
4. Celtic
5. Dynamo (coincidentally his enemy).

Then I add up all the ranks. It turns out that the bottom person was Dynamo. However, the middle person was Betis because he was ranked #3 out of 6 total. No one could've ever predicted that or even fixed it that way. It's too hard to predict who will be the middle person ever, therefore it's best to always rank-order on merit.

Then the remaining Purgatory players PM their vote to evict Dynamo or Betis.

Then results are posted:

Mr Blue said "I didn't like how Betis kinda didn't answer my actual question and tried to do something else. I evict Betis."

Mr Green said "I don't care, I'm never voting out Betis. I evict Dynamo."

Mr Pink said "I evict Betis."

Since aliases of Purgatory members change weekly, no one in Paradise ever knows if their allies are still in Purgatory to help them out.

Then the next week follows the same.

I'm sure there are quite a few questions about the complex setup, so feel free to ask away. But go ahead and start signing /up so I can see if interest is high in this type of game or if rules need to be changed before the game starts. Game will work best with 13 players to start. However, it requires a full commitment, I don't want people quitting half-way just because they're no longer eligible to win the big prize.

[pablito]

only people in Paradise can PM each other. You go by your username in Paradise.

once you're in Purgatory, you can only PM the host, there is no other communication in the game.

[pablito]

where would patriot have read any of saint's writing style to think he was hawk?

Well the Saints just won, so hell if I know. But I assume it was based on his previous responses to deadly sin questions. When you're in paradise, you post your own answers in the game thread. When you're in Purgatory, you cannot post in this thread or PM others, you can only PM the host.

[pablito]

Nah, Patriot's just guessing who's in purgatory. Maybe for the hypothetical situation, we can assume that Hawk and Saint were the last two to leave Paradise into Purgatory, so Patriot guessing that Hawk and Saint are in purgatory is a good guess.

I hope that answers that question, and I suppose things would be more apparent in the game itself.

[pablito]

Also, this will take a bit of a commitment and I don't want seven players simultaneously dropping out in the middle of the game. I think signups may have to change before the game starts...at least for people who I don't feel comfortable can make the commitment.

And daftbrain, roleplaying is not necessary, but if someone wants to do it, they can.

Lastly, I do hold strict deadlines, and I feel that I'm going to have deadlines be anywhere between 48-72 hrs regularly, so if you know you can't make that type of commitment, then this game isn't for you.

[pablito]

I'm going to keep signups open, and I would like at least one "replacement". I will take 14 players and have four start in purgatory during the first game week just in case one player disappears right away.

Everyone who's on the list in the first post is definitely in the game.

I will clean up the rules and first/second posts once I get back home tomorrow. I hope that it will make everything clear. I'm guessing that the roster will be full before I get back. You may begin to strategize as of now and PM each other from now until the first (and only) competition. Remember that the top 10 will remain in Paradise and everyone else falls into Purgatory. Therefore this may be your only chance to speak with some of the players.

I think I'll post the first competition Wednesday night, thus giving you a few days to talk to each other. I am severely considering that this competition will rely on how quickly you respond, so be aware of this. Therefore if you think you won't have access throughout Wednesday night onward, please let me know in advance.

[pablito]

Well the more dedicated players should easily stay in Paradise. So it's not unfair. Especially when I've already announced that time is a factor and I've pre-announced the time when the competition becomes available. I want speedy players in the main game so that things don't lag. The competition will help weed out the slower players.

And it looks like Sailor Jerry is the fourteenth, (I forgot to put Snorlax on before, but he's in the game too) so game is on now.

I'll update the rules soon. I'm still a bit drowsy from the 22-hr drive.

[pablito]

But the people starting in Purgatory are those who lost the 1st challenge, isn't it?
For me it's ok, as long as we don't have to introduce ourselves for the challenge, and do those sad little speeches like, "I'm Ernie and my hobby is joining games that take up most of the time I should use to study. I'm a friendly and trustful person, until I suddendly stab you in the back."
That was my introduction, too, I suppose for newer players will be harder to form alliances so we'd better stick together.

Yes.

No, you don't have to introduce yourselves.

And I updated the first post. I hope that answers any questions and clears most of it up. I think the only rules that you have to pay attention to are who you can PM at which stage (basically you may PM any other Paradise player when you are in Paradise; you may only PM the host during any other stage), otherwise, it's kinda hard to screw things up in the game.

[pablito]

I personally think that these time challenges are pretty bad due to favoring people who live in one place (propably close to you) so anyway could we get more information about when is wednesday night, because it ranges about 24 hours what is a pretty long time

Let's go for Wednesday 8 pm GMT (3pm EST, 12noon PST/ Thur 6am AUS, Thur 4am SING) for when it will be posted. But it's not time only. But I will be weighing the scores so that those who get responses in within 24 hours have the advantage over others or something like that. Basically, I want active players - and considering this game is not based on any non-social skill set at all, the fairest type of competition will somewhat involve time. It would suck to be sent into Purgatory because you couldn't solve a simple riddle (HINT - the competition will not involve complex cognitive processes).

[pablito]

lazarusmoth, you're in as a replacement. You should complete the initial placement competition along with the others. Should any of the 14 fail to complete the competition before the deadline, you will be in the game, otherwise you may or may not end up replacing someone along the way.

[pablito]

I'm sorry but just to say this but I am usually on til 7:30 so what about 7pm instead

No.

As long as you get your answer within 24 hours, you'll be on the same baseline as everyone else. However, those who submit their later, will have some "penalty" points added to their overall score. And the last hint about this placement competition is that there is no definitive objective answer to submit - so your abilities will get you by more than anything else.

Alright, so 20:00 pm GMT (that's Greenwich Mean Time) is when the competition will be posted in this thread. I think I'll set a deadline of Monday 20:00 GMT (3 pm EST) when your response must be submitted. That'll give you about 5 days to complete, more than enough time.

[pablito]

Challenge: Writing Ability
Primary Deadline: 8:00 GMT Friday (36 hr mark)
Final Deadline: 20:00 GMT Monday (5 day mark)
Limitation: Under 400 words (not including question)

There are

two

objectives for this challenge
1) Write a thought-provoking open-ended question (one that requires more than an one-word answer) on the theme of

greed

2) Write a less-than-400-word passage on the theme of

“falling from grace”

a. Write a story describing a character who falls from grace OR
b. Write an argument on which factors most often cause a person to fall from grace

While the social aspect of this game is paramount, your writing ability is also very important, because the weekly task involves answering questions regarding the deadly sin of the week. This challenge will test your writing ability and will reward those who write creative and entertaining passages, but also use proper writing basics while being appropriately concise. Four judges (non-players) will rank-order your passages/questions based on the listed criteria. This will be the only time that outsiders will rank-order your answers. Their scores in addition to your time of submission will solely determine who will be the final ten. Tiebreaks (which I don’t foresee) will be broken by time submission. It is important to write a quality passage (quantity does not matter as much), so you should take your time, but don’t take up so much extra time if it won’t significantly improve your entry. While it is encouraged you stay on topic, you will not be disqualified if you stray away or tweak the topic to your liking. We will be rating you on how well you write, not necessarily the content of the passage (therefore, if we don’t agree with your stance or the way you went, it won’t count against you). Just don’t completely ignore the theme. Therefore, if you have a question about the topic or what to do, just write first and ask questions later (via PM or in this thread).

You will submit two items for this challenge by posting them in this thread. Please place both of them in the same post, not separately. First, you will submit a thought-provoking question regarding GREED. Look at the questions I posted as an example in post #2 if you need some help. You want to ask hardball questions that make a person think hard. This question will not count toward the 400-word limit. Then in the same post, you will submit a passage on the theme “falling from grace”. You will either write a story where a character falls from grace, or you will write an argument on which factors most often cause a person to fall from grace. Choose the style in which you feel most comfortable writing. This passage

MUST NOT

exceed 400 words. I will count the words. If you have 401 words or more, you will be disqualified and automatically enter Purgatory. Also, if you do not submit your entry before the deadline, you will be removed from the game and the replacement may take your spot. Therefore lazarusmoth will complete this challenge, but his entry into the game is not guaranteed. Five days is a generous deadline for my games, so I will be strict on this one deadline.

Now the time thing, which has most of you worried. I have not finalized the time penalty points, because I haven’t run enough simulations yet (but I will do that tonight and notify you of this). Basically, if you submit your entry within 36-hours, you receive no penalty points. If you submit your entry within 36-48 hours, you will receive 0.25 penalty points. 48-60 will receive 0.50 penalty points, 60-72 will receive 1.0 penalty points. 3.5 days receives 1.5 points, 4 days receives 2.0, 4.5 days receives 2.5, up to 5 days receives 3 points, over 5 days receives 15 points. Basically I will average all four judges ranks, so if you got a 1, 3, 4, 5 = you’d have a 3.25 score. Then we add on any penalty points. So if you submitted at 3 days, you’d get a 4.25 score overall. It is likely that the cut-off will be somewhere near 10.0 – so if you get high scores but submit late, there is little to no chance you won’t make top 10. Conversely, if you get low low scores but submit first, there’s a significant risk of not making the top 10. But basically, time may make the difference if you're lingering toward the bottom, but otherwise it shouldn't have a big effect on your score.

Questions, ask. Good luck.

[pablito]

Oh, and no responding to other's questions that they post. Stories/arguments, fair game, although I'd rather you not comment on that stuff yet.

[pablito]

SJ's post now considered.

[pablito]

MySnorlaxIsMighty has appropriately edited his story to meet the 400-word limit. Thus, his entry can now be considered.

[pablito]

We're just waiting on Inigo Montoya's and lazarusmoth's entries then. Once both have been submitted, all entries will be counted and the judges will rank-order all of the entries by 1/25. Then the top 10 will remain in Paradise and the rest will fall into Purgatory.

[pablito]

Entry submission is closed. Inigo Montoya is DQed. We will proceed with 13 players.

The three judges (plus me) will submit their rank-order of the 13 entries according to the 5 listed criteria. I will tally up the results and the top 10 will remain in Paradise, the remainder will fall from grace into Purgatory. Once I have the results, I will post the next phase with its respective deadline. So for now, feel free to strategize until the results are announced.

[pablito]

I will now reveal the top 10 players from the last competition in no random order:

1. Pata
2. mikehart
3. Cloud
4. daftbrain
5. MySnorlaxIsMighty
6. Cephrir
7. Ernie
8. ChannelDelibird
9. bethelmark
10. Sailor Jerry

Huge thanks go out to the judges: Foolster41, Green Crayons and Mariyta! All of them contribute to the MafiaScum Writer's Group. If you like to write and would like to contribute by critiquing or submitting your work for the queue, join the group today!

Players in Paradise may still contact any other player in Paradise. The following players in Purgatory may no longer contact any one else in the game and no one may contact them either. This rule must be followed or else you may be DQed.

Fallen from Grace:

Max
klebian
bird1111

Task #1: Greed

Deadline for Submissions: 20:00 GMT Saturday
Deadline for Rankings: 20:00 GMT Sunday

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability by posting your answers in this thread. Once you have posted your answers, you may submit your rankings via PM to me. You will rank-order the 9 other players in Paradise based on how well they answered these questions. There are no ties, and please number 1-9. You must submit your rankings before the deadline. Therefore if you have not seen all submissions, it is in your interest to submit a preliminary set of rankings and note that you might change your rankings later if you have a chance before the final deadline. You may NOT submit your rankings before submitting your answers. For this first time, I will let you change your rankings up until the Sunday deadline. This may change in the future. Remember that the individuals who fall in ranks #5 and 10 overall will be the two that are nominated this round (not who you put in #5 and #10, but after all scores are consolidated, whoever falls at #5 and #10). If you have questions on this process, ask me.

Players in Purgatory

: please watch the thread for the submissions on your questions. I will let you know which two players will be up for eviction. You will then vote on which one of the two you would like to evict via PM. I will give you instructions later. But for now, just sit tight and watch the submissions roll in. Remember, you have the sole decision of deciding. Your votes will be anonymous as well.



Questions:

1. Have you ever tried to take more than your fair share? For example, when you are sharing sweets, do you give yourself more or give yourself the spares instead of sharing equally?

2. If you were forced to choose between a high paying job that you don't particularly enjoy doing as opposed to a moderate-paying job doing something that you enjoy, which would you choose? If the high paying job, why has money taken such an importance in your life that you would rather take money than a career which involve an activity of some sort that you like to participate in?

3. Why are some people more greedy than others with approximately the same amount of money?

[pablito]

Oh come on, in the Miss America pageant, they always go "In no random order, I will announce the top five beauties! And fourth runner-up, is....Ms. Alaska!".

By the way, the order is based on sign-up order, not rankings. I'm not giving that away until the entire game is done.

Also, be sure to read your assignment, since I edited the entry.

[pablito]

All answers are in. Please submit the rank-orders by 20:00 GMT tomorrow. That's less than a day away. So please do it ASAP.

Replacement needed. Sign in here.

[pablito]

Awesome, answers are in on time. Thanks much for the quick turnaround. I think next time we do the question-answer thing, I will give everyone in Paradise 48 hours to post their answers and then 36/48 to do the rankings. So just be aware that you'll have less time to answer the questions, but you will be given more time to do the rankings now.

Now for the results, or at least as much that can be safely revealed...

The range of rank averages went from 3.78 for #1 overall to 6.22 for #10 overall. A 1.00 to 9.00 would have been unanimous choices. So that means it was a close race for who was nominated. And now in

random

order...

MySnorlaxIsMighty and Cephrir

have been nominated for eviction. One of these players was #5 overall and the other was #10 overall. I will not reveal which was which. That's up for you to figure out.

MySnorlaxIsMighty and Cephrir

: You have one last chance to convince the players in Purgatory that you should stay up in Paradise where you belong. Please post ASAP in this thread your final arguments.

The rest in Paradise

: Feel free to talk to each other while you wait. You may do so in thread or via PM.

Those of you in Purgatory

: Please submit via PM your vote to evict either

MySnorlaxIsMighty

or

Cephrir

. In addition to the vote, please explain why you are voting that person out (two word minimum). Your votes and reasons will be revealed anonymously under aliases when I post them. Also in preparation for next week, please submit your thought-provoking question for next week regarding the deadly sin of

SLOTH

. These PMs are due by 20:00 GMT Tuesday. I will reveal earlier if I receive all of the earlier.

Note: If any in Purgatory does not respond within the 48-hr deadline, an impartial observer or lazarusmoth will control his vote for this round only. Then that lazy person from Purgatory will be expelled from the game next round. I will not accept a new replacement because that person may have been recruited by one of the nominees.

Players in Paradise may still contact any other player in Paradise. The following players in Purgatory may no longer contact any one else in the game and no one may contact them either. This rule must be followed or else you may be DQed.

[pablito]

Votes due by 20:00 GMT Tuesday regardless of who all posts the final plea.

[pablito]

Well, that wasn't supposed to be visible, and it's likely people have seen it or will be able to see it before Foolster can edit, so I'll just reveal everything in one lump post instead.

I'm not going to reveal the other votes for this round, so that no identifying factors of the other purgatory members could be singled out. Max has been DQed and Foolster41 was asked to be Max's proxy vote for this week only . Max and Foolster are out of the game, so we should have three active people in Purgatory from now on.

The person falling from grace during this round of greed is....Cephrir.

Cephrir is now part of Purgatory. He may not contact anyone else in the game via PM nor can anyone contact him in the game.

Cephrir, please send me via PM your thought-provoking question about sloth ASAP. When I have Cephrir's question I will post all four questions from members of Purgatory for the Paradise players to respond to.

[pablito]

Task #2: Sloth

Deadline for Submissions: 22:00 GMT Thursday
Deadline for Rankings: 20:00 GMT Saturday

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability by posting your answers in this thread. Once you have posted your answers, you may submit your rankings via PM to me. You will rank-order the 8 other players in Paradise based on how well they answered these questions. There are no ties, and please number 1-8 (1 being best; 8 being worst). You must submit your rankings before the deadline. Therefore if you have not seen all submissions, it is in your interest to submit a preliminary set of rankings and note that you might change your rankings later if you have a chance before the final deadline. You may NOT submit your rankings before submitting your answers. For this first time, I will let you change your rankings up until the Sunday deadline. This may change in the future. Remember that the individuals who fall in ranks #5 and #9 overall will be the two that are nominated this round (not who you put in #5 and #9, but after all scores are consolidated, whoever falls at #5 and #9). If you have questions on this process, ask me.

Players in Purgatory: please watch the thread for the submissions on your questions. I will let you know which two players will be up for eviction. You will then vote on which one of the two you would like to evict via PM. I will give you instructions later. But for now, just sit tight and watch the submissions roll in. Remember, you have the sole decision of deciding. Your votes will be anonymous as well, your votes will be revealed under the name that was used below. One of the below represents Max's proxy question.

Questions:

1. Thomas the Tank Engine asked "What is the most lazy thing you have ever done?"

2. Percy the Small Engine asked "How willing are you to forgive someone not being able to do a task in a group which was essential to the group, if he has good reason to not have done the task?"

3. Edward the Blue Engine asked "Which types of governments could withstand a lazy leader/parliament for 50 years straight and how?"

4. Gordon the Big Engine asked "What is the most effective way to get over being lazy?"

[pablito]

I know that all responses aren't in yet, but please send in your rankings regardless. Please include all people in those rankings. I will announce how nominations will go later due to the delay.

[pablito]

Still missing one person's rankings. Please send it in regardless.

But the bottom line is that Ernie goes straight to Inferno this week. I felt it was the most reasonable decision.

So we'll start next week already. I just need the people in purgatory to actually respond to their prods and send in their thought-provoking question regarding Wrath.

[pablito]

Task #3: Wrath

Deadline for Submissions: 22:00 GMT Tuesday
Deadline for Rankings: 22:00 GMT Thursday

Wrath or Anger, being the fourth deadly sin is described by Dante as being "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite".

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability by posting your answers in this thread. Once you have posted your answers, you may submit your rankings via PM to me. You will rank-order the 8 other players in Paradise based on how well they answered these questions. There are no ties, and please number 1-7. You must submit your rankings before the deadline. Therefore if you have not seen all submissions, it is in your interest to submit a preliminary set of rankings and note that you might change your rankings later if you have a chance before the final deadline. You may NOT submit your rankings before submitting your answers. Remember that the individuals who fall in ranks #4 and #8 overall will be the two that are nominated this round. If you have questions on this process, ask me.

Players in Purgatory: please watch the thread for the submissions on your questions. I will let you know which two players will be up for eviction. You will then vote on which one of the two you would like to evict via PM. I will give you instructions later. But for now, just sit tight and watch the submissions roll in. Remember, you have the sole decision of deciding. Your votes will be anonymous as well, your votes will be revealed under the name that was used below.

Questions:

1. Larry asked "Are you just as tolerant of people who are angry at the world because something is going on in their life as you expect (hope) them to be when you are angry at the world? If no, why not?"

2. Curly asked "Have you ever had anger so bad that it caused you to do something that you regreted? If so, what was it?"

3. Moe asked "What makes you angry?"

4. Shemp asked "If a family member of yours was murdered by a serial killer, what type of punishment would you push for?"

[pablito]

If mikehart does not post his answers within the next 12 hours (From the time of this post), he will be DQed plus we'll continue with nominations as normal - which would be #4 and #7 overall. Either way, someone will be voted out by the members of Purgatory. This will be the standard from now on. However, I will be more strict with the answers. No more prodding. If you do not post your answers before the stated deadline, you will be DQed. And this week, only two people got their answers in before the deadline.

[pablito]

The range of rank averages went from 2.50 for #1 overall to 4.67 for #7 overall. A 1.00 to 6.00 would have been unanimous choices. So that means it was a close race for who was nominated. And now in random order...

Sailor Jerry and Cloud have been nominated for eviction.

One of these players was #4 overall and the other was #7 overall. I will not reveal which was which. That's up for you to figure out.

Sailor Jerry and Cloud

: You have one last chance to convince the players in Purgatory that you should stay up in Paradise where you belong. Please post ASAP in this thread your final arguments. Also please PM me a thought-provoking question regarding the deadly sin of GLUTTONY before deadline.

The rest in Paradise: Feel free to talk to each other while you wait. You may do so in thread or via PM.

Those of you in Purgatory:

Please submit via PM your vote to evict either Sailor Jerry or Cloud. In addition to the vote, please explain why you are voting that person out (two word minimum). Your votes and reasons will be revealed anonymously under your given aliases for this week. Shemp was "voted out". Also in preparation for next week, please submit your thought-provoking question for next week regarding the deadly sin of GLUTTONY. These PMs are due by 20:00 GMT Sunday. I will reveal earlier if I receive all of the PMs early.

[pablito]

I guess this counts as an eviction.

Larry said "SJ was trying to ally with everyone. He's out."

Curly said "Sailor Jerry, just because"

Moe said "Voting to evict Sailor Jerry because I feel he put less thought into his answers."

With a vote of 3-0, Sailor Jerry has fallen from grace.

Task #4: Gluttony

Deadline for Submissions: 22:00 GMT Tuesday
Deadline for Rankings: 22:00 GMT Thursday

Gluttony, being the first deadly sin is described by Dante as being "unreasonable or unnecessary excess of consumption".

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability by posting your answers in this thread. Once you have posted your answers, you may submit your rankings via PM to me. You will rank-order the 5 other players in Paradise based on how well they answered these questions. There are no ties, and please number 1-5. You must submit your rankings before the deadline. Therefore if you have not seen all submissions, it is in your interest to submit a preliminary set of rankings and note that you might change your rankings later if you have a chance before the final deadline. You may NOT submit your rankings before submitting your answers. Remember that the individuals who fall in ranks #3 and #6 overall will be the two that are nominated this round. If you have questions on this process, ask me.

Players in Purgatory: please watch the thread for the submissions on your questions. I will let you know which two players will be up for eviction. You will then vote on which one of the two you would like to evict via PM. I will give you instructions later. But for now, just sit tight and watch the submissions roll in. Remember, you have the sole decision of deciding. Your votes will be anonymous as well, your votes will be revealed under the name that was used below.

Questions:

1. Richard Simmons asked "I once drank eight pints of chocolate milk for charity. I was physically sick for much of the evening. Is this worthy of respect or contempt?"

2. Susan Powter asked "Is it better to be bulimic or anorexic? Why?"

3. Billy Blanks asked "Do you tend to eat more than you probably should, less, or about as much as you should?"

4. Robert Atkins asked "Do you ever find yourself tempted to take more than your share when there are limited supplies?"

[pablito]

ChannelDelibird and bethelmark have been nominated!

ChannelDelibird and bethelmark

: You have one last chance to convince the players in Purgatory that you should stay up in Paradise where you belong. Please post ASAP in this thread your final arguments. Also please PM me a thought-provoking question regarding the deadly sin of LUST before deadline.

The rest in Paradise: Feel free to talk to each other while you wait. You may do so in thread or via PM.

Those of you in Purgatory: Please submit via PM your vote to evict either ChannelDelibird or bethelmark. In addition to the vote, please explain why you are voting that person out (two word minimum). Your votes and reasons will be revealed anonymously under your given aliases for this week. Susan Powter was "voted out". Also in preparation for next week, please submit your thought-provoking question for next week regarding the deadly sin of LUST. These PMs are due by 20:00 GMT Sunday. I will reveal earlier if I receive all of the PMs early.

[pablito]

Votes:

vote to evict bethelmark please. Because his avatar is so much less friendly than Channeldelibird's.

Voting for bethelmark because I feel that he isn't really putting nearly as much effort as ChannelDelibird this game

Despite strong ties to both, I'll take out bethel due to not so good responses.

Vote of 3-0, bethelmark has fallen from grace.

bethelmark, please send your question regarding LUST asap or else you'll be DQed and unable to vote in the jury phase.

[pablito]

Task #5: Lust
Deadline for Submissions: 22:00 GMT Tuesday
Deadline for Rankings: 22:00 GMT Thursday

Lust, being the first deadly sin is described by Dante as having "obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature."

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability by posting your answers in this thread. Once you have posted your answers, you may submit your rankings via PM to me. You will rank-order the 4 other players in Paradise based on how well they answered these questions. There are no ties, and please number 1-4. You must submit your rankings before the deadline. Therefore if you have not seen all submissions, it is in your interest to submit a preliminary set of rankings and note that you might change your rankings later if you have a chance before the final deadline. You may NOT submit your rankings before submitting your answers. Remember that the individuals who fall in ranks #3 and #5 overall will be the two that are nominated this round. If you have questions on this process, ask me.

Players in Purgatory: please watch the thread for the submissions on your questions. I will let you know which two players will be up for eviction. You will then vote on which one of the two you would like to evict via PM. I will give you instructions later. But for now, just sit tight and watch the submissions roll in. Remember, you have the sole decision of deciding. Your votes will be anonymous as well, your votes will be revealed under the name that was used below.

Questions:

1. Jenna Jameson asked "When you think of the word lust, do you think of a lust of power or a lust in terms of sexuality? Which do you hear more often?"

2. Linda Lovelace asked "Does how 'hot' a member of the opposite sex is important in how you feel about them?"

3. Ron Jeremy asked "Are/were you in a hurry to lose your virginity? Is/was this the best way to feel?"

4. Peter North asked "Do you often find yourself lusting someone you don't know?"

[pablito]

Two nominees are ChannelDelibird and MySnorlaxIsMighty

Jenna Jameson, Linda Lovelace and Ron Jeremy must submit their votes via PM along with a reason. Please also submit your thought provoking question regarding ENVY.

The two nominees can post a final argument if they so wish. Please PM a thought provoking question about ENVY as well in case you are voted out.

Deadline for the above is 20:00 GMT Saturday.

As always, those in purgatory may no longer contact anyone else in the game regarding gameplay.

[pablito]

Waiting on one vote. Get that in now or else automatic DQ.

[pablito]

Votes:

Vote out snorlax; I was allied with cdb.

I vote to evict MySnorlaxisMighty to protect my interests. And I like kittens.

vote to evict MySnorlax.

By a vote of 3-0, MySnorlaxIsMighty has fallen from grace.

MySnorlaxIsMighty

please PM me your question regarding ENVY asap. If you do not send me a question within 24 hrs you will forfeit your spot in purgatory and the final jury phase.

[pablito]

Task #6: Envy
Deadline for Submissions: 22:00 GMT Wednesday
Deadline for Rankings: 22:00 GMT Friday

Envy, being the fifth deadly sin is described by Dante as having "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs."

Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability by posting your answers in this thread. Once you have posted your answers, you may submit your rankings via PM to me. You will rank-order the 3 other players in Paradise based on how well they answered these questions. There are no ties, and please number 1-3. You must submit your rankings before the deadline. Therefore if you have not seen all submissions, it is in your interest to submit a preliminary set of rankings and note that you might change your rankings later if you have a chance before the final deadline. You may NOT submit your rankings before submitting your answers. Remember that the individuals who fall in ranks #2 and #4 overall will be the two that are nominated this round. If you have questions on this process, ask me.

Players in Purgatory: please watch the thread for the submissions on your questions. I will let you know which two players will be up for eviction. You will then vote on which one of the two you would like to evict via PM. I will give you instructions later. But for now, just sit tight and watch the submissions roll in. Remember, you have the sole decision of deciding. Your votes will be anonymous as well, your votes will be revealed under the name that was used below.

Questions:

1. Jeffrey Dahmer asked "How much do you believe self-esteem effects envious traits within a person? Have you ever found that it wopuld effect you, and can you give an example?"

2. Jack the Ripper asked "Can envy be a positive thing? Specifically, can coveting things that others have encourage us to strive to achieve them?"

3. Vlad Tepes asked "How often do you find yourself envying your peers?"

4. Erzebet Bathory asked "Do you often feel that because you have more or better possessions than someone else, that you are better than them?"

This will be the last time we continue with the traditional format. After the next elimination, we will go onto "final jury phase".

[pablito]

Two nominees are ChannelDelibird and daftbrain.

Unfortunately, the one who went under the alias Jack the Ripper was taken away from Purgatory this week, nonetheless s/he will still have his/her final jury vote, etc.

Jeffrey Dahmer, Vlad Tepes and Erzebet Bathory must submit their votes via PM along with a reason. Please also begin to prepare your final questions for the final jury vote. I will let you know when you are allowed to post those.

The two nominees can post a final argument if they so wish.

Deadline for the eviction votes is Monday 23:59, That's almost 2 days from now.

As always, those in purgatory may no longer contact anyone else in the game regarding gameplay.

[pablito]

Yes, posts #0 and #1 have repeatedly said that there would be a final three.

There's no point in ranking each other with three people in paradise because there's no way to break ties anymore.

[pablito]

Votes:

Channeldelibird because daftbrain ... IS MY GRANDMOTHER!!! *HEARS THE GASPS AND HORRID SCREAMS OF SHOCK*

Vote out daftbrain for worse responses.

I vote to evict daftbrain because of my alliance with CDB.

By a vote of 2-1, daftbrain is the final person to fall from grace.

daftbrain, please PM me which of the three (jeffrey, vlad or erzebet) you would like to be the final person to be taken into the inferno. This person will have less jury weight than all others.

All seven jury members (those who I've PMed already plus newest jury member daftbrain) will be able to ask questions to any of the final three paradise players up until

23:59 GMT Friday

. The jury members should attempt to answer any question directed to them. No questions are off limits as long as they are reasonable. Please PM me the name of the one person you want to win the game before

23:59 GMT Saturday

. You can PM your vote whenever you want, but if you do not vote BEFORE THE DEADLINE (as has been a problem), then your vote won't count.

Pata, Cloud and ChannelDelibird: Remember that to win the overall game, you don't need to win the most overall votes, you just need to win the votes of the most influential voters because their votes count for more. Please answer all questions.

For every question directly addressed to you that is not answered, you will lose five points in the final count (each jury member carries a certain number of points based on how long they were in purgatory).

From now on, no one may contact each other via PM. All communication is done in thread.

[pablito]

It's voting time! No more questions! No more answers! Get those votes in!

[pablito]

Deadline extended because way too many votes missing. I'm supposing that the weekend deadline got people, since a lot of people are usually gone on weekends. So Monday by the lastest, otherwise you don't get a vote.

[pablito]

Fun times! We have a winner!

I'm voting for Cloud.

That's 1 jury point for Cloud, 0 to the other two slackers.

Voting for ChannelDelibird because he put a lot of thought in his answers and because I was allied with him.

That's 2 jury points for CDB, 1 for Cloud and nil for Pata.

Vote: CDB.
No question. I hope he wins. If either of the other two win it will be a complete travesty.

Add 3 points to CDB's stack for a total of 5. Cloud still has 1 and nil for Pata.

I vote for CDB to win.

Uh oh, CDB adds 4 to make it 9. Cloud still has 1 and nil for Pata. Cloud is not out of it, he needs to sweep the rest of the votes (all worth 5 points each) to win. But will Pata steal any of those votes?

my vote goes to Cloud

Cloud adds 5 for a total of 6. CDB still has 9 and nil for Pata.

Winner: Cloud - Cloud dese4rves it. His answers were thought out and funny. Plus the whole "alliance" deal.

Cloud adds another 5 to make 11. CDB is now in second with 9 and nil for Pata. All comes down to klebian who managed to stay in Purgatory until the very end. He will crown the winner, will his effort to stay in Purgatory as long as possible be worthwhile?

cdb winz

And CDB takes his 4th vote and adds 5 more points to make 14! CDB winz!


With 0 votes and likely negative points, Pata comes in third. The whole not answering thing probably did that.

With 3 votes worth 11 points overall is Cloud! Unfortunately, Cloud was pretty much screwed with too many opposition alliance members in the jury.

And with 4 votes worth 14 points overall is ChannelDelibird! Congrats CDB!

Notes, you guys really set firm alliances from D1. From rankings alone, I could figure out the three main alliances. The only ones I couldn't read were ceph, bird and klebian who were already in purgatory early on. But once there was CDB vs other alliance thing going on in F5, it was pretty obvious he was going to take the game no matter what. bethelmark getting voting out was what clinched CDB the win.

I can put up all the rankings and stats and such if you want. But that'll be later. When I have time.

The strategy in this game then was to create as large of an alliance as possible. In the beginning, CDB plus others were outnumbered in paradise, and those modkills didn't help them. But what helped was that they had a larger alliance total because they had helpers in purgatory.

Feel free to talk to each other and disclose whatever you want. Also feel free to post comments, gripes, adulation, etc. Could this game be run again and would there be interest? (I'm not doing it, because I don't have the time, but just curious how your experience was)

[pablito]

Cloud, the creative writing aspect was deemphasized in the second part of the game. In retrospect, I would've loved to have it count for something, but the game was about the ranks and votes. However, when a person had to rank/vote someone who he had no idea about, they always defaulted to the writing samples. Like the first vote/rankings in the week of greed, it looked like it was all based on writing. Also for unaligned people they used the answers for their determinations, it seemed. Here's the following from the opening page.

I've had this idea in the back of my head for a long time now and I finally figured out how to possibly make it work. Basically this is a Big-Brother international-style type game where alliances can help, but your public perception is key and

competitions have little to no bearing on the game

.

It did not help at all that Inigo Montoya, Max and Ernie disappeared from the site completely. I thought about getting replacements, but then I realized that if any replacement was recruited by someone already in the game, it would upset the balance, plus that person would've been at a severe disadvantage. That's why I set up the time portion of the initial challenge, it should've weeded out people that couldn't keep up with strict deadlines (so I would have to prod less people). I would've been interested in at least seeing how Ernie and Max would've voted had he stayed in. mikehart's vote was already set, but Ernie didn't seem to have much preference to anyone outside his alliance. And Max, who knows how he'd vote.

I kept everything in an excel file, and I'm having trouble converting it into BB code, but I think I have a solution.

[pablito]

Spreadsheet with all rankings (give thanks to google for its spreadsheet services)

As mentioned before, the four raters were Foolster41, Green Crayons, Mariyta and me. For the most part, each of the raters correctly selected 2/3 of the actual bottom three, and no one in the bottom 4 got a rank above 8.

In gluttony week, bethelmark and CDB failed to send in rankings so both were auto-nominated. You both picked up prods and well the deadline had been over for 20 hrs after, so it felt necessary. Even if I had received both rankings, there would've been an interesting and difficult tie to break for last place. So it actually made it much easier for me.

bird sent in rankings for the greed week, but his rankings did not go into the overall score. they're included for novelty purposes.

If you've got questions on the spreadsheet or you can't view it, then just let me know.

Thanks for the game, guys, it was as much fun for me to watch the numbers/votes come in as it would've been to play.