There is a big difference between first starting for fun and fire starting in order to save one's life.

For fun I encourage people to play with all kinds of methods of starting fires (in appropriate places ... not in your parents' basement!!!).

I've worked with Scouts to expose them to all sorts of techniques, including use of a battery & steel wool, a magnifying glass, a sparker, .... and to use of several kinds of fire starting materials (tinder).

Unfortunately I have never used fire by friction. Not that I don't want to, but just haven't yet.

The sparker worked well IF the appropriate tinder is available. The battery/steel wool worked OK, but he had to be quick and a tad lucky to get it going. The magnifying glass was easily the most difficult since it had to be a good magnifying glass, the sun had to be bright in the sky, the boy had to hold it just right, and the tinder had to be just right.

For a survival kit my goal is to set myself up so fire starting is as easy - and as sure a thing - as possible, since the conditions are most likely not going to be optimal. Doug Ritter even recommends that we avoid two-handed methods where possible - makes sense since injury could limit use of hands.

For my survival gear I want proven and easy fire starting methods. I would prefer to use some kind of lighter, rather than a sparker. I certainly want to bring several back up devices - just to be safe. Since lighters can malfunction, I bring a sparker along - even though it is not nearly as easy to use as a lighter. The sparkers are simply and unlikely to malfunction.

Oh, I bring along some REI waterproof matches too, but I really have no plan/interest in using them. They are the backup to the backup.

For tinder, I tend to carry commercial stuff as a backup, and then Vaseline-coated cotton balls as my primary stuff, along with a few uncoated cotton balls to be safe.