I only played one game (two if you count the weird Colosseum arena one) but it honestly stuck with me for so long even after I kinda forgot this site existed and I feel pretty confident in being able to break down exactly what screw ups I did make/what things were not too bad. Though the meta may have changed since then. But also I kinda had a lot of luck in terms of how things opened. I got taken out in thirteenth place (merge was at ten) so like I'm gonna be the first to say that I'm not sure I had the best game at all, but it was fun. Given my early game was about the only thing I did well, I'll focus on that. My ultimate downfall was also because of a mistake I made in the early game, but it was because of how I intended to play around a particular twist unique to that game. That makes it hard to recount and give decent advice from so I won't, but I'll sum up what I learnt from it.
The first thing for me was that choosing a character was part of my strategy. I wanted to be able to have an archetype to play into off the bat. In the Colosseum I was Zubat and played into the meme of "Zubat just wants to make friends" and typed in lower case being annoying 90% of the time. But then I picked one person and was like "Y'know what, I'm getting sick of typing like that all the time can I just talk normally to you?" The idea behind the decision was to try and have something special with each person I was talking to. This person sees that to them I've got a unique thing of speaking not like an idiot. Then other people I would try to quickly find a running gag of some sort that would be unique to them. It's something everybody could remember the conversations by, but not something like a promise so it can't get around that "Oh, this guy's promised final three to seven people... hmm....".
In Eon (the game I played that was actually properly Survivor back in 2016) the idea didn't look exactly the same (as I was now Spooky Scary Shuppet instead), but I was still trying to establish an in-joke with people, or identify common links between my character and someone else's. There's a Gastly on my tribe? I'm a ghost type too, I've got an excuse to talk to you, let's be spooky together. There's a Zorua? "Man, shapeshifting is spookier than being a ghost, I'm just a hovering bed sheet to be honest." Something short and snappy that connects our characters in some way. Immediately our conversation is going to be about how we relate to each other and work together in this abstract fictional world. But that is then very easy to translate into how we work in the game. Within the first 24 hours I had both Zorua as my number one and Gastly as my number one. I think that this is one of the few things I actually had right about my game. And knowing the source material was a pretty big advantage there. I'd suggest researching at least briefly who everyone on your tribe is to see if you can build connections that way. In my case it was nice and simple because it was four tribes of six to begin. In having two number ones immediately I couldn't be voted out pre-swap because I knew three of the six of us weren't voting for me, and I doubted someone would tie the first vote at our first TC. With a smaller tribe I wanted to be in first and have two bonds immediately. I could change my allies as it went on, but at least at first I needed that insurance. Larger games I don't have a lot to go on there but similar principles.
Second thing for me that I think worked well was apparently being transparent. During the first or second challenge I found a piece of a treasure map that was a clue to the idol and everyone knew. Holding onto it for myself would be pointless. But... I kinda didn't want everyone in the tribe to know it. Being one of many pieces, Gastly had shown me a different piece that was hidden elsewhere. I showed everyone Gastly's map piece, as I knew that his piece was publicly available (although hidden), and so what I was telling them wasn't anything that they couldn't have already known. Then the people who I actually trusted I privately showed them my real piece. Having information nobody else has is important, but if they know you have it you can't hide it. But you can pretend to hide it. I tried to use secrets that aren't actually secrets and present them as secrets to build trust. Because, like how the in-jokes and commonality in our fictional personas build bonds, game information builds bonds just as easily. And if the game information isn't even real (or could have been found by half the cast already), then that's doubly good. Though if you really wanna work with someone just give them the true info.
And the final thing that helped me was (and this probably sounds like common sense), but don't tell someone that they're going out if you're part of that plan to get them out. You build bonds with people and it's sad to see them go sometimes. But... if they catch a whiff of it they'll drop an idol or quickly scurry out of it. The first vote I was at was blindsiding Gastly because I realised the way they wanted to play was not the way I wanted to play. But we had someone else not show up to a live challenge. So I just sat there talking like we had been making dumb jokes and filled them in that "of course everyone's going for them, they didn't even show up to the challenge." I could've just stayed quiet, but for me I wanted to know that I was actually capable of pulling a blindside. Because I hadn't played before and if down the line I would have to do that out of necessity then I wanted to be able to do it when it didn't matter. This was pre-jury, so I'm not sure how different that would be late game, but early game they're not gonna tell the jury what happened so it doesn't matter. If the only person who can tarnish your name isn't around to do it, your game hasn't been tarnished. It was just everything else I did that did that. Basically the early game for me was figuring out what I could and couldn't get away with in that particular group. It was easier for me because I was confident five of the six votes were on Gastly, so I could try it out, but if you want to get used to how you might blindside someone that's a good time to practice before it becomes life-or-death.
Those were the only three things that I feel I can look back on and go "Yeah, I (think I) got that right." My downfall was based on what I did with these connections and the Eon Link twist that was in play. The short version is that I was playing a strategy that realistically never would have worked despite having set myself up quite solidly initially. I did a pretty massive screw-up going in with a flawed fundamental game plan. But the takeaway from it was "Figure out what you can influence, or what you know must occur, and plan to that. Don't bank on something happening that you cannot guarantee, or are very very sure, will happen."
If I wasn't so busy now I totally would take a second shot. Instead I'll just hope that my failures help someone who's keen to play.
Oh, and I'll never forget this gem that came up after my elimination, I have it saved on my computer to this day:
Spoiler:
Though funnily enough that is true. I never have returned to a game since.