The Quest

[Irishman]

@Balance

None of which means they are necessarily playing themselves–it just means they’re playing within their own physical constraints, which is true of any combat LARP. It doesn’t mean they can’t be playing a character who conforms to those constraints, but behaves in ways the player normally would not. A nice guy with X skill at task Y can play an evil guy with X (or less) skill at the same thing. Or a total schmuck could play a hero. They just can’t play a character with X+1 skill.

You will note I did say “someone could deliberately take on a persona of attitude and try to game the other competitors”. (Crap, I meant “or attitude”.) Yes, it’s possible they were given a character description that is constrained by their physical abilities - that is exactly the status of the actors. But I discount that as likely. And while the competitors may do things they normally wouldn’t, I think it more likely they are going to be the people they are. If they’re not scripted in how to behave, only given assignments and tasks, it will be much more their natural reactions to the situations, perhaps colored by knowing they are involved in a game. I still feel they are basically themselves.

A more appropriate approach to elimination would be having the challenges include “lethal” possibilities. Aside from pass/fail for the team, if you do X during the challenge, your character is killed off. If you must have the players vote on something, give them a pool of points they can spend to gain various advantages–and one of the options is to bring back a “dead” character.

Hmmm, that could prove challenging to fit the expectation of one and only one competitor eliminated each week. What happens when 7 of the people are “killed”, because the task is more difficult than their abilities? Allow the remaining folks to “resurrect” all but one?

@Antinor01

ABC's 'Quest' a different kind of reality show

Cool article. That says they did everything they could to establish and maintain an immersive environment, including hiding the cameras and cameramen. I’m not sure I buy that.

Here was the one comment about voting:

The interplay between characters defines each week’s challenge, and competitors themselves decide who’ll be banished at the end of each episode.

“This voting component is great because it actually goes to people weighing the values of what make a hero,” says Ordesky. “It’s a very thoughtful, fun process.”

I disagree, per all of my previous points. I suppose if you can keep them focused on “who do we need for us all to succeed?” and the element that they are supposed to be heroes, you might get positive aspects. But I think it’s too easy to fall into “She’s my biggest challenge, and I want to win, so I have a chance to eliminate her now and I may not get another later”. And it’s just not appropos for either a LARP/Fantasy game, nor for their characters as Paladins.

[BeepKillBeep]

Any thoughts on what the 11 Kingdom marks might do? What’s her name won the Mark of Leadership.

They could be (and probably are) purely decorative, a nice little momento for the contestant.

But hypothetically, any thoughts on what they might do?

Could they be maybe a future immunity mechanism?

[Balance]

@Irishman

If they’re not scripted in how to behave, only given assignments and tasks, it will be much more their natural reactions to the situations, perhaps colored by knowing they are involved in a game. I still feel they are basically themselves.

And yet, behaving like someone else is precisely what LARPers generally do. The fact that they don’t have a script doesn’t mean the characters they’re playing aren’t characters. I regularly play characters I’ve created who are wildly different from me, not just in ability, but in personality. Now, it may be that they don’t stay in character, or that the characters they’ve created or been given don’t differ meaningfully from their normal personalities, but–again, not having watched the show–I see no reason to assume that is the case.

Hmmm, that could prove challenging to fit the expectation of one and only one competitor eliminated each week. What happens when 7 of the people are “killed”, because the task is more difficult than their abilities? Allow the remaining folks to “resurrect” all but one?

It wouldn’t be performing poorly (or even failing) that would be lethal. It would be specific actions, probably things that would be obviously “dangerous”, but which offer advantages in the challenge. An example might be a challenge with a stealth component, in which they must sneak past some guards; a single player could choose to provide a distraction by showing themselves and leading the guards away, so the rest of the team can get by. If the group gets caught, they just get a time penalty to represent fighting off the guards; if the loner gets caught, they’re dead–but the team got through without a fight. Each “lethal” option could also be exhausted once one person does it.

Of course, I would add a twist such that players who “die heroically” aren’t actually eliminated. They secretly get some kind of bonus for it and get to reappear in the finale to challenge the teammates who left them behind.

[Quimby]

When I heard about this I figured some ABC exec said “Game of Thrones is pretty popular; Let’s make a reality show about that.” But this was better than that. I’m on for now.

[Irishman]

@Balance

And yet, behaving like someone else is precisely what LARPers generally do. The fact that they don’t have a script doesn’t mean the characters they’re playing aren’t characters. I regularly play characters I’ve created who are wildly different from me, not just in ability, but in personality. Now, it may be that they don’t stay in character, or that the characters they’ve created or been given don’t differ meaningfully from their normal personalities, but–again, not having watched the show–I see no reason to assume that is the case.

I do not discount the possibility that one or several of the competitors are acting a character that they, themselves, created. My point is that they have not been given a detailed character description to try to embody. Their character description is that they have been transported to Everealm, they are a paladin, and that they are being tested to find the one true hero. They are living in a fully immersive game environment where everyone they meet and discuss is fully in character, they live, breathe, dress, eat, sleep, and poop in the environment. They don’t interact with the producers as producers, and even the cameras and cameramen are sometimes hidden. They are not scripted characters with scripted lines (as opposed to everyone else).

I just feel like they would have a hard time embodying a character in that environment and keeping it up. These aren’t trained spies, they’re geeks who are having their fantasy adventure come true. I think under the stress of the situation, their emotions and feelings and reactions are going to be their natural ones.

[Balance]

@Irishman

I just feel like they would have a hard time embodying a character in that environment and keeping it up. These aren’t trained spies, they’re geeks who are having their fantasy adventure come true. I think under the stress of the situation, their emotions and feelings and reactions are going to be their natural ones.

It depends to some extent on how much and what kind of LARPing they’ve done in the past, and also on their personal reaction to immersion. It’s actually possible for prolonged immersion to make it harder to drop character–I’ve seen people accidentally slipping back into character for several hours after a multi-day game. I’ve gotten “stuck” in a character’s speech patterns and mannerisms a few times, myself. It’s actually downtime–time when no game activity is going on–that most often causes people to break character. Also, most of my play is in a combat LARP, which means I see my fellow players holding character in the middle of actual, physical combat and physical challenges–and our group is among the ones who take ourselves the least seriously.

I don’t know these players, their characters, or their experience. They may only play the characters superficially; I’m not saying they don’t. I’m just suggesting that you may be skeptical about it for the wrong reasons.

[BeepKillBeep]

I really enjoyed last night’s episode. Much more so that the first episode. A great challenge, although I hope the challenges evolve past them “training to be warriors”. I really like the integration of the story with the show.

I am officially hooked.

[Antinor01]

@BeepKillBeep

I really enjoyed last night’s episode. Much more so that the first episode. A great challenge, although I hope the challenges evolve past them “training to be warriors”. I really like the integration of the story with the show.

I am officially hooked.

Although if it does turn out that the Vizier is the bad guy, that would be rather cliched. But yes, I’m really loving this.

[BeepKillBeep]

LOL. He even looks suspicious!

I really hope he isn’t the bad guy.

[Merneith]

The castle is Burg Kreuzentstein,
http://www.kreuzenstein.com/the-castle/

It’s an ancient castle in Loebendorf, north of Vienna. The current castle is a reconstruction begun in 1874 on the cite of the old ruins. It’s pretty spectacular but it doesn’t have electricity or running water. They had to bring all that in for the production crew. The contestants just had to cope. It was also used in “Seasons of the Witch” by Nic Cage.

Here’s an article that tells more about the production

Behind the scenes of The Quest

It’s a silly show but I like it. I hope it does better in the ratings than Whodunnit did last year.

[Irishman]

This episode was pretty good. The challenge was horsemanship and weapons from horseback. Good set of physical challenges, each competitor on his/her own. Last week was a team trial, this was individual skill.

I noticed that the ladies seemed to be at a slight disadvantage with the bow, as it seemed to require a particular draw length to get the power to puncture the paper. One of the ladies had good aim and full draw for her size, and the arrows popped off the paper.

“For Everrealm” - bonk. :o

“Is the horse riding the lady, or is the lady riding the horse?” “That’s not a lady, that’s Christian.”

Kinda shameful he couldn’t get his horse turned the right way around.

They still had voting, but at least they are discussing the right issues. Who will do better, who does what they say they can, who will help us all be successful the best. But yeah, Christian seems like a schemer. Maybe he’s just more sociable than the average Nerd.

I liked that the elimination challenge this week did not have an eliminate another person element. It was do your best and stand on your own score. Though some of those nail jobs looked rather shoddy.

When it comes to voting off, if you’re one of the two, you’d like to see it really balanced (like tonight) if you’re eliminated, but really one-sided if you remain. Right?

@BeepKillBeep

A great challenge, although I hope the challenges evolve past them “training to be warriors”. I really like the integration of the story with the show.

Given the poisoning and the previews, it looks like next week’s challenge is to find materials for a cure, rather than training drill.

Though I do appreciate the first couple episodes being training drill. They all need some training for the skill sets they’ll supposedly need for the final battle, and so better to make it part of the show. They may alternate in more training with more story.

[BeepKillBeep]

I don’t mind the training for the first couple of episodes. It is very much in line with the “Hero’s Quest”. A start from humble beginnings followed by a rise to a legendary hero.

[StarvingButStrong]

One minor thing – and I might be misinterpreting it – was that after the elimination one of the guys said ‘It’s one to one now.’ Which I suspect is a reference to the M/F split of the Paladins.

If so, this brings to mind all the discussions in Survivor when various ‘Men’s Club’ have been superparanoid about there ever being more women then men left. It just seems to click something in their psyche. For women, having more men in the club/company/whatever is just sees as normal.

[BeepKillBeep]

There was the woman who said quite openly in the opening episode she wanted a woman to win, which is almost as bad going to Boston Rob and telling him you were considering voting for him but changed your mind. LOL

That would make me consider the women getting together. Although based on voting so far that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

[BeepKillBeep]

I like this show more and more each week.

This week we got an actual quest. It was very cool. Well done. I like the story elements. The hag was very convincing as a hag. I liked her little rhymes.

I like the way challenges are obscured by the story. Yes, the challenge tonight was just like we see on other shows, but the lore / story / feel makes it interesting.

I do wish the contestants would (maybe they’re not allowed) to interact with the story more. I.e. more roleplaying. They just stand around watching the story with us. Their comments on the story are always in confessionals.

I liked the final challenge. Simple and fair.

Christian deserved to go. There is clearly an alliance going on here. There’s more he can teach you about weapons and other skills? What? He’s been in the bottom three all three times. He lost his key. Pfft. Whatever.

[Irishman]

See, this episode exactly proves my point about voting. We had people admit they voted for Christian, not because they thought he was the best choice, but because they saw the others voting for Christian and wanted to protect themselves. They’re worried that later someone would hold that vote against them when they end up in the bottom.

THAT’S SO WRONG! You’re a fucking Paladin. Be a Paladin. Dammit.

Why didn’t one of them mention when it came up Christian was helping Bonnie “Hey, how much help did he really give Bonnie? She’s the one who offered to help him find his key, and he just piddled around with her lock. His lock was clean of tar really fast, he spent all his time looking for the key that he lost. But when it’s Bonnie’s lock, he didn’t make any progress on clearing her lock, did he?”

Hell, he even said in his confessional that he was piddling around.

But no, that didn’t get said. And apparently people used that as justification for keeping him over Jim. Now maybe Jim would be the next one out anyway, he seems to struggle. But I’d take Jim over Christian in a heartbeat. Christian is the schemer, and he needs to be gone.

GRRRRRR. Stupid voting.

[Frosted_Glass]

@Irishman

See, this episode exactly proves my point about voting. We had people admit they voted for Christian, not because they thought he was the best choice, but because they saw the others voting for Christian and wanted to protect themselves. They’re worried that later someone would hold that vote against them when they end up in the bottom.

THAT’S SO WRONG! You’re a fucking Paladin. Be a Paladin. Dammit.

Why didn’t one of them mention when it came up Christian was helping Bonnie “Hey, how much help did he really give Bonnie? She’s the one who offered to help him find his key, and he just piddled around with her lock. His lock was clean of tar really fast, he spent all his time looking for the key that he lost. But when it’s Bonnie’s lock, he didn’t make any progress on clearing her lock, did he?”

Hell, he even said in his confessional that he was piddling around.

But no, that didn’t get said. And apparently people used that as justification for keeping him over Jim. Now maybe Jim would be the next one out anyway, he seems to struggle. But I’d take Jim over Christian in a heartbeat. Christian is the schemer, and he needs to be gone.

GRRRRRR. Stupid voting.

I love this show but the vote this week really pissed me off. Last week everyone told Christian that he was done if he went up again but now it looks like alliances have formed and that sucks. I didn’t even expect the vote to be close but I had it going in the complete opposite direction. I know they all didn’t see what happened with Bonnie but I agree with everything you said Irishman. I just feel like I’m a crazy person because I really don’t know what Christian brings to the table here.

Anyway, the challenge this week was pretty cool and I am enjoying the story. It’s a lot of fun and it definitely helps that the Paladins are so into the action. Next week looks like it should be a good one. Voting aside, I am really enjoying this show.

[Quimby]

Christian seems useless and they made a big mistake.

[Irishman]

Apparently he “knows how to do things” and helps the others during the training sessions.

But somehow when it comes time to perform, he’s got issues.

Now I’ll give him a pass on the first week. That was the team challenge firing the scorpion over the wall. The girl was in the tower directing traffic, and the other guy was aiming by her instructions. Christian’s job was retrieving arrows, which he did. And the elimination challenge was archery on rotating targets, which he did pretty well. He also used the strategy of “pick someone to eliminate”, so there was that.

But week two was horse riding, and weapons on horseback. So apparently he’s good with archery, but can’t ride a horse worth a flip? Couldn’t spear, either. And then the elimination was to prep and mount horseshoes, and he bungled that - forgot his apron and gloves?

This week, he cleared the lock of tar fairly quickly, but dropped and lost his key. Just totally bonkers. And the elimination involved operating the grinder, which he ran backwards?

Dude sucks balls, but somehow is gaming the others to think he’s good at things. Must be a jedi mind trick.

I guess to be charitable, maybe he just collapses under pressure.

[BeepKillBeep]

According to his bio, he participates in renaissance fairs by demonstrating swordsmanship, so I’ll assume he does have some skills. I think he does crack under pressure. My evidence… episodes 1,2 & 3.