FAQ Page

Foreword and FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Survivor?
Survivor is one of the most popular and enduring of the American unscripted or "reality" television shows, combining extreme competition and human drama in exotic locations. Contestants compete in challenges, make alliances, and vote each other out until one remains: the Sole Survivor who wins a million dollar prize. Survivor is produced by and ©copyright Mark Burnett and CBS. The format of the show is their intellectual property.

So what is Survivor Canada then?
Survivor Canada is an online reality game. Twenty-one Survivor fans met online in the roles of the host and contestants of a fictional Survivor series, following the format of the show, with their own performance in online challenges and the votes they cast determining the course of the game and the ultimate winner.

Is this taking things a little far?
Players met online 2-3 times a week for more than three months. These are true fans — that is, fanatics. It isn't unlike some fans of televised sports, soap operas, or science fiction shows, who may gather to watch events, place wagers, organize fantasy leagues, buy collectibles, write fan-fiction, etc. This recreation is perhaps taken a little too seriously by some. However, you do get to socialize with people who share a common interest. In this particular case, playing these trust games seems to capture the essence of Survivor and can have the feel of being a very true experience.

Who was in charge of all this?
The Host of Survivor Canada 3, who organized the game, built the game websites and message boards, recruited and selected the players, designed and implemented the challenges, collected and counted the votes— and many other things besides — was Zoe Dane. Zoe is an online reality game veteran, the winner of three games. This was the fourth game she hosted.

Who wrote the episodes?
The episodes for Survivor Canada 3 were written by Greg Reid. (Hi, Mom!) Greg is a veteran play-by-e-mail role-player and took to online reality games, frequently finishing in the final three. Greg met Zoe while playing in Survivor Canada 2 and volunteered to write the episodes for this series. Parts of the format were borrowed from Donovan's Survivornet series.

Why have episodes?
Most online reality games simply have the game itself. In some cases, where there is the interest and ambition, "episodes" of the game are written up to complete the illusion of the contestants playing through a series of the show. To some effect this is a vanity project. It is fun, though, and gives everyone involved a record to keep. Specifically, Greg wrote this to build more online-reality-game experience, in hopes of gaining the confidence to host a game himself.

Is this what really happened in the game?
Yes and no. It is a dramatization. The episodes are written as if the contestants were really stranded in the wilderness of Northern Ontario, which they weren't. A certain amount of artistic licence was used to make camp life, challenges, etc. seem a bit more exciting and consistent with the setting. Those parts are fiction. However, the player performance and challenge results are true to the challenges used in the game. The Tribal Council results and voting reasons are all true.

Are the people who played the game really like that?
Again, yes and no. Anything which appears in "quotes", votes, final words or interviews are the exact words of the players taken from diary entries, message board posts, emails and chats. However, it is not the whole truth. Not all material was available for editing, and the material which did make it into the episodes was selected for dramatic purposes — just as on the television series. This does tend to turn the players into caricatures. The characters in the episodes are fictionalizations based on the players and the way they played the game, and are not accurate representations of the people themselves.

Why is this site so plain and drab?
There are two schools of philosophy on how web pages should look: designers determine the look of the page by specifying fonts, colours, etc., while programmers allow the look of the page to be customized by the viewer. Because these episodes are in the form of text — and there is a lot to be read — functionality in ease of reading was considered to be a priority above and beyond looking "cool." To accommodate the reader, this site uses default fonts. The reader can adjust their browser's default font settings to whatever is easiest to read, whatever their monitor configuration.

What's with the typos?
In most cases, typos were corrected so the flow of the episodes was easier to read. However, it was felt that certain key elements of the game — such as voting reasons and final words — should have spelling or grammar mistakes left intact to preserve the feel of what was being said and who was saying it. Other mistakes, attributable to the author, are unintended.

Where can I play a game like this?
Thankfully there are websites that keep up-to-date directories of games which are recruiting players. Please visit the Links page or Google for Online Reality Games and E-Squared Gaming.

What computer/software was all this written on?
The content of the episodes was assembled and edited on a Macintosh SE (a machine made in 1986) using Microsoft Word 4.0. Hyperlinks were coded manually on a Power Macintosh 7100 (made in 1996) also using Microsoft Word 4.0. The html files were first tested using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 for Macintosh. A minimalistic approach was used with HTML 3.0 for upwards compatability. Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in Canada and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission.