Player Strategies

**Season(s):** | Big Brother Instagram 1-onward

A **strategy** is an approach to a game utilized by houseguests within the ***Big Brother Instagram*** house. Houseguests usually explain their strategy and intentions in the Diary Room to give viewers a clear idea where their head is at. The first time a strategy is used is in Big Brother Instagram 1.

## Types of Strategies

### Competition strategies

* **Aggressive** - The aggressive competitive strategy sees the House Guest attempting to win most or even all competitions. These players believe the guarantee of security that comes with these powers are more important than consequently appearing threatening to other houseguests. Aggressive strategists usually employ a leader, gamer, or collaborator social strategy.
* **Passive** - The passive competitive strategy involves intentionally losing most (sometimes all) competitions in attempt to appear as though they are not a threat. Sometimes, housegyests employing the Passive strategy may even throw the competitions that have no effect on the outcome of the game (e.g. luxury and food competitions). A Passive player will typically choose a snake, floater, or collaborator social strategy.
* **Selective** - When utilizing the Selective competitive strategy, a houseguest will only win the competitions he or she deems necessary for staying in the House, and sometimes pivotal competitions that can decide the ultimate fate of the House. The Selective strategist worries about being evicted over appearing threatening, but believes that certain Head of Household or Power of Veto competitions are worth that risk.

### Social strategies

* **Coaster** - Houseguests employing the Coaster social strategy includes players who often have little affect on the game or attach themselves to a stronger player, and ride coattails to the end. These players often have little understanding of the game, and tend to do very poorly in competitions unless one is thrown to them. Unlike Floaters, Coasters typically remain with one alliance throughout the game. These players may "float", in the sense that they do not have any alliances, but they do so without any real strategy. The typical competitive strategy choice for Coasters is Passive.
* **Collaborator** - If selecting the Collaborator social strategy, the houseguest will attempt join an alliance and help that alliance make it as far as possible into the game. They will go along with the alliance Leader's decisions, or the overall alliance's decision in the case of Leader-less groups. The Collaborators goal is to keep their alliance intact, while simultaneously not appearing as a great of a threat as the Leader.
* **Gamer** - When utilizing the Gamer social strategy, the player seeks to present themselves as a "fan of the game", and argues that a House Guest who is not playing the game "well" does not deserve to stay in the house. They promote the eviction of the Floaters and the Snakes so that the Leaders and the Gamers, who they argue ultimately deserve to win the game, can decide the winner without fear of giving the title to the undeserving. Typical Gamer competitive strategy is aggressive or selective.
* **Floater** - The typical Floater social strategy includes consciously joining no alliances or joining many but having true loyalty to none. The Floater's goal is to stay out of the way, and be seen as a non-threat while the Leaders and the Gamers take themselves out of the game. Unlike Coasters, Floaters are purposely attempting to either play multiple sides of the house against each other or remain in the middle of opposing alliances in order to strategically further themselves in the game. The typical competitive strategy choice for Floaters are selective or passive.
* **Leader** - The Leader social strategy has the player create an open (or, rarely, secret) alliance, and use that alliance's power to control the happenings in the house. They are usually big targets for eviction and so rely on the ability of their alliance to win competitions and the fear of reciprocation from alliance members in the case of the Leader's eviction. The Leader's goal is to keep his own alliance (or, in some cases, suballiance) in the house for as long as possible so that their control of the house increases. The Leader will most often select the aggressive competitive strategy, although they sometimes choose the selective competitive strategy.
* **Loudmouth** - The Loudmouth social strategy involves the player threatening all or some of the other houseguests. The Loudmouth's goal is to appear to be unable to get the necessary jury votes to win the $500,000 and/or to make the other houseguests afraid to vote to evict the Loudmouth for fear of becoming a target of the Loudmouth if he or she is not evicted. The Loudmouth usually takes a selective or passive competitive strategy.
* **Snake** - The Snake social strategy primarily involves manipulating the other houseguests. Usually, a player described as a snake is very friendly, but is not open about where their loyalties lie. The Snake's goal is to influence the other House Guests into evicting the player the Snake wants to remove from the game without bring attention to themselves. A Snake will typically select the passive or selective competitive strategy.
* **Under the Radar** - When utilizing the Under the Radar social strategy, the player seeks to lay low in the house, and not make huge waves as a means of getting to the end of the game. These players can simultaneously employ any other strategy, but ensure that all or most of the moves they make in the game go unnoticed by their fellow houseguests. These players typically form strong bonds with their fellow houseguests which in turn makes them appear as less of a threat. An Under the Radar player will typically select the Passive or Selective competitive strategy.