Sunday, March 4th, 2007
Issue: 13   Editor: iAir


Player Etiquette and Habits, Part I Broken
Old school. A term that is shot left, right and center around the forums and on player profiles on an almost daily basis. What exactly does this term mean though? Why do people use it? Does it mean anything? Let’s have a look at some facts and opinions and get to the bottom of this.

Let’s start with what the term actually means. An ‘Old School’ player often refers to a player who has been playing Bootleggers for a considerable amount of time, maybe a couple of resets or the few players who claim to have played since the game began. According to teenagekicks, an Old School player is ” a player who knows how to gain and deal respect to others.” So, in simple terms, if you have played Bootleggers for a while and have a good, solid group of friends you could be called an Old School Player.

So with the meaning out of the way, I decided to find out the killer question, does the term ‘Old School’ actually mean anything? Or is it just a term thrown around by has-been players? I went onto the Game Forum to Find out, armed with the questions ” Does being an 'old school' player mean anything once the game has been reset?”, ” Why do people refer to themselves as an old school player?” and ” What makes an 'old school' player better than another player who hasn't been playing for long?” Based on the answers I received, things don’t look too good for our Old Schoolers.

ZilutionX was one of the first to provide an answer when he said ” Old school players are mostly players who taken a few crews out lonely, but a reset or 2 ago there where many exploits so it wasn't that hard to take out a crew.”The opinions given by the general Bootleggers public were along the same lines. This was shown when Cheese4Free said the following.

“Old school players think they're great they were around when exploits were at an all time high, and massacres were waged everyday, and they strive off this.
But today, they are nothing, they've died over the resets. There are maybe a few "old school" players, who have power nowadays, but the list is miniscule.
Old school is nothing when you live in the future.”

So in general, there isn’t much of a positive view of so-called ‘Old School’ players. There were, however some opinions on ‘Old School’ players were more neutral and balanced. MactabilisOffa and NoodleTwat each said that an Old School player has more respect than a newer player and, according to kayagroove seem to have ”An inate responsibility to prolong the life of the game and help it grow.”

So, what’s the overall verdict on ‘Old School’ players? It seems today that people have a negative view of players who claim to be ‘Old School’. The term today seems to be thought of as a player who was successful in the past but only has a fraction, or none of their power today. While there are past players out there who have the ability to do some damage and are quite wealthy, it may be a good idea to stay away from the words ‘Old School’ or people may not take you as seriously.

Happy Gaming!