2003-01-15 - 11:23 p.m.

Diaryland Survivor 4 finale

This round of Diaryland Survivor, which started at the beginning of last October, finished just a few days ago. Congratulations to the final winner, Angeline_is. I was a little surprised at her two-to-one victory margin over the other finalist, Trendy Matt. I thought the surprising revelation in his final immunity challenge was going to put him in the winner's circle. Shows what I know! Good thing I'm not a bookie.

The thing I enjoy most about Diaryland Survivor is the effect it has on some of the better writers who compete. Most people enter the contest in the spirit of fun, but at a certain point they discover that they don't want to be voted off, and they put their heads down and start to write seriously. Sometimes they produce their best work this way.

More than that, sometimes the contest actually changes the contestants' lives. I think that Trendy Matt might be an example of that, and there are some others I could think of.

My own experience wasn't quite so sanguine. I was still in the first few months of my diary, and up to that point I'd had nothing but incredibly positive experiences with it. I got played and double dealt right before the final round of two, and for some reason this sort of took the wind out of my sails, at least as far as my diary writing went. Well, everyone who writes a diary for the long term has periods like that, and perhaps I was due for one anyhow.

The full story of that first DL Survivor is here and here.

When all is said and done, I think that Diaryland Survivor is a fun thing and a valuable experience, and it should continue. It's very much up in the air, but right now it looks like the next round may be an "all-star" round. There have been 52 players since the first contest - how will they decide who gets to play? Oh, how the fur will fly!