I thought it was fascinating. An excellent peek into these scenarios, so long as you are aware of the game and rules in place.
The "inventions" and techniques were worth seeing, but the real interest is obviously the people, the various personalities and how they cope in this environment. I'd love to hear the views of some of the people here on this. If you haven't seen it then you can get it easily through torrents.
Keep in mind it is very much American, with all the downsides that entails. Overcome that though and there's something worthwhile.
Season 1 was an incredibly optimistic and forgiving scenario. They had a dream team, an enclosed workshop, materials, tools, low levels of competition, traders, etc.
What was interesting was seeing that even in this scenario this dream team was tearing apart and self-destructive at times. There were a few times that they could have easily had themselves killed through neglect or foolish arguments. If this was a true life or death scenario then many of the things they did would have been unacceptable.
Season 2 was quite a change. Instead of the dream team we have a random mish mash. Instead of the great spot we have an open and vulnerable dump. Constant bandits and mobs, etc. I notice that they rarely if ever learned from their mistakes. Security was constantly left on the back burner and they were frequently punished for it with raids. They squandered resources. They miss out on other resources, sometimes even through laziness. I felt the directors were trying to use carrot and stick to get them to learn, but this group was simply destined to die on their own. The only redeeming element was the Tick. That guy could have survived on this own though and found a better group when it suited him. The in fighting and retarded behaviour is disheartening, but they are Americans, I suppose.
Oh and I still think season 2 was still optimistic and forgiving. They could easily have been dead in the first couple of episodes and the shambles they got themselves into pre-Tick only highlighted this.