Sunday, August 15th, 2010
Issue: 41   Editor: HowlingMadMika


The Syndicate Retire PoisonBullet

Friday the 13th turned out to be unlucky for some with The Syndicate deciding it was their time to retire from Bootleggers, but being who they are they refused to go quietly, taking a torrent of players down with them.

The Syndicate unleashed a ferocious attack, seemingly aimed at no one in particular, across Bootleggers to commemorate their retirement from Bootleggers. The Buzz asked the poster of the game forum retirement topic; ex-boss now known as Old how they had picked their targets. He told us, “They were just active Godfathers when we decided on the list,” adding, “Obviously some ranked in between.” We then went on to ask about the motivation behind the attacks, The Syndicate have always liked to be a crew that was very much underground, so why not just vanish, we thought. Old told us, “We bothered because it wouldn't be fair to the people that have dedicated so much time to our group not to have some fun before we go.” This clearly showed to us that The Syndicate still had the bullets and willingness to cause trouble in the game, so we asked Old why they needed to go at all. “There are very few of the original members left, not to bring down our current membership of course but it is time for a change. A significant proportion of us have realised that the Bootleggers stage of our life is done. We accomplished pretty much everything there is to do on the game. Although it is still fun, it is hard to deny that this game is on the way out,” he told us.

The Syndicate here echoing the thoughts of some of the more vocal players of the game, that Bootleggers is on it’s way out. We pressed him for more detail, he said, “People talk a lot about how active players are diminishing, but it’s not the active players that matter it's the real players, the ones that call the shots. And these have been dropping like flies over recent years. In essence the novelty of BL has worn off.” Rather a damning indictment from a crew that has been around and showing off since four, but of course this could just be a more theatrical, exciting answer from a crew who rather enjoy making a splash.

However, the response from players in their game forum topic was anything but friendly, with very few wishing good luck of any kind on the crew members and a lot more taking it as an opportunity to slate the crew with comments like, “You are only good in one thing. Hiding under a rock..” Nevertheless, overwhelmingly, the main insult being thrown at The Syndicate was accusations of being duping cheaters, and they didn’t help themselves with comments such as, “Having an old BL wiki article describing us as the crew that ‘invented duping to win.’” The Buzz decided to ask old what Old thought of these accusations, and wondered if now that the crew was retiring they would have no reason to lie. The only mysterious reply we could get from him was, “We were just the group that was one stage ahead” and when pressed he resorted to quoting Goodfellas; “We don't rat on our friends”.

So The Syndicate gone, a chance for a new underground crew to take prominence perhaps.. But what am I even talking about, The Syndicate do not exist!