Sunday, February 18th, 2007
Issue: 11   Editor: iAir


Sweetie: Bigger, Longer and Uncut! TheSnake
Read all about it! 2007’s first Legendary Don right here! We quiz Sweetie on her OC team, her job as HDO, her baby and why she drinks coffee! And more!
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TheSnake: Can I ask a few questions for the Buzz?
Sweetie: Oh sorry, was just outside.
TheSnake: No problem.
Sweetie: Ask away!
TheSnake: OK.
TheSnake: First I want to get a little background info. How long have you been playing?
Sweetie: I know it’s been over 2 years; it was just after a reset when I started. It was before the L. Don Rank was brought into the game – not sure of the date.
TheSnake: About the same time as me, then! And you've been a HDO for how long in that time?
Sweetie: I was made a HDO this reset, November 25th I was made HDO.
TheSnake: Sure thing.
TheSnake: So to be the first Legendary Don this reset, you must've been pretty busy with the various ranking functions. How many crimes, GTAs and OCs had you done when you ranked?
Sweetie: Failed and successful, or just my successful ones?
TheSnake: Successful.
Sweetie: 220 successful OCs, Crimes 12,500, GTAs 3085. Since reset I have always used a timer (no, not a cheat or auto refresher, no scripting, I wouldn't know a script if it hit me in the face!).
TheSnake: Ha-ha – and you've been doing 2 OCs regularly every day, in a fixed team?
Sweetie: Yeah, a fixed OC team, always with the highest ranks, except our driver was usually missing, so we used whoever we could find. Usually our OCs got later so some Sunday nights we would skip our second OC so we could get back on track for doing 2 at decent times, one before I had to get kids to school and one before bed.
TheSnake: Sounds like a good system, I used to do the same thing last round. I'm guessing Browneyes is in your team as she was the second L. Don. Who else?
Sweetie: Yeah, Browneyes and Silverblade. We also had a member from our crew, Corrado, but he was always the one MIA! We had his home phone number so we could bug him to get on if he wasn't on, but more often than not it was at a bad time like when he was in school. Then we would use someone from the crew or make a Classifieds topic. It was always hard getting a driver because we give the driver 10% and no-one likes that, but it’s because our WE buys 4 Thompsons and he gets 60% for that so he doesn't lose anything.
TheSnake: And you still managed to get 220 OCs even when searching for a driver?
Sweetie: Yes, we would start looking 10 minutes before the OC, just depended on who was leading. I would look within crew, but if Browneyes was leading she would just scout her MSN.
TheSnake: It obviously worked well or we wouldn't be here today! Now, many people will look at your statistics and claim that you have no life, that you spend far too much time and effort all for an internet game. What would you say to them?
Sweetie: Well most of my stats were from earlier in the game, since around December. I haven't been on all that much; I recently had a baby so she takes a lot of my time. Before having her I had a lot of time, not working, kids in school so that’s when I played the most this reset. All in all I’ve probably played the least in my whole crew, it’s what I do with my time on BL that has helped, using a timer was my biggest help. I listened to the buzz go off then I would know it was crime time. Ranking from Don to R. Don was mainly all OCs as I was too tired and uncomfortable to be at a computer. So, I mainly came on for OCs. I had just ranked to R. Don before going to the hospital to have my baby. About two weeks after my baby was born was when I started to have more time to myself. So that’s when I started playing again. To the people who think people have no life because they succeed on a game like this, it’s all jealousy, and people will always complain even if it took a year for an L. Don to appear people would say “OMG you have no life”, that’s just the immaturity that comes with the game.
TheSnake: Congratulations on the baby! Boy or girl?
Sweetie: Also, the stats came before I was made HDO, since being an HDO I haven’t been able to actually play.
Sweetie: Thanks, a beautiful girl.
TheSnake: What's her name?
Sweetie: Isabelle.
TheSnake: Lovely.
TheSnake: You mentioned that since being an HDO you haven't had time to play properly. What are your responsibilities as HDO?
Sweetie: Help tickets come first, then forums, Making sure all the topics in the GF are actually game related, so you’ve gotta read basically every topic, not just the title. But for me I get more BMs with questions than I see Help Desk tickets. With the amount of HDOs lately it’s impossible to even get a Help Desk ticket, so I don't mind answering through BMs. Before last night there were times when people would spam the Help Desk, so that takes time to go through. There’s an issue with Classifieds whereby we have to delete each topic when we do a forum clean, we can't just click the magic button for it to be clean. It has gotten up past 300 pages so now us HDOs make a point to clean the Classifieds when we are on, so it wont get up that high in pages anymore.
TheSnake: Sounds like a hard job! Do you find it more rewarding than being an ordinary player?
Sweetie: I do, when I first started playing BL, I was so lost but people helped me along the way and I've always appreciated it. I've always wanted to help the new players because of how lost I was. I never had handouts with money but I had advice from players on how to make money and how to rank etc., so when I learnt the game, I made it a point to help new people. Back when I first started playing there wasn't as many dupes as we have seen for a year or so, so it was safe to message a new player and ask if they need help (not with money but with knowledge). Not that I would message every new player, but I would watch the forums for new people posting asking for advice and then I would help them that way. So I think being an HDO is more rewarding for me. I love the game but I've played my share and happier helping others rather than just myself.
TheSnake: Very noble of you!
Sweetie: Thank you.
TheSnake: I’m trying to think of another question people will be interested in!
Sweetie: Take your time, I'll be back in 2 minutes – gotta grab a coffee refill.
TheSnake: OK. Speaking of coffee, I'm sure it helped you stay awake for those late-night OCs! What's the latest you had to stay up in order to get an OC done?
Sweetie: 12:30AM, or somewhere around there – if the OCs got later we would skip.
Sweetie: That time was OK for me because that would be a time when the baby would wake up! lol
TheSnake: Ha-ha! Better than me. I've done 3AM before I think, but then I'm only 16 and I'm not responsible for anybody.
Sweetie: Some nights I stay up ‘til 3 but not for BL, that would just be because of the baby.
TheSnake: OK, a final question. What do you think was the hardest rank? And the easiest (beyond Boss)?
Sweetie: Hardest rank was Don to R. Don – well, not hard I guess, but longest. The easiest was R. Don to L. Don.
Sweetie: I had more time for BL before R. Don so that could be it too.
TheSnake: Are you OK with all of this being published?
Sweetie: Yup I’m OK with it.
TheSnake: Cool. Thanks for your time!
Sweetie: You're welcome.