Sunday, December 24th, 2006
Issue: 2   Editor: Nobody


God Save our Crew Boss TheSnake
Ever wondered what it would be like to be a Crew Boss? To be involved in running a Crew? Nearly every player on Bootleggers dreams of seeing on their profile, "Boss Of:" instead of "Crew:" but not many of them stop to think of the responsibilities of being in charge of that many people. There are a lot of things to be considered. Aim: to discover the perks and pitfalls of running a crew.

First and foremost, you have to be available and online regularly. Crew members may depend on you for queries, ideas and problems. You might have abuse flying at you in the game forum and you might have 50 applicants from friends of friends, already in your crew, to join. That is, assuming your crew is at least half respected. Even if your rules are set out clearly in the Crew Forum there are members who will break them and even if on your Crew profile it says in large, size 10, "NOT RECRUITING;" you will still get people asking to join.

There will come a time in every crew's lifespan when a member is shot. You will have to coordinate the aftermath. Shoot the killer? Shoot the killer's crew? Allow the shot player back in? Well, this largely depends on why he or she was shot - but that's for you to work out, as being a crew boss, you are in charge. You can't go to anybody else for advice or to rely on, they rely on you.

What about when YOU get shot? There will be uproar in the Crew Forum when your Underboss or High Council will restore calm whilst you start up again. Dilemma: do you keep with your original name and risk getting shot by a low-life n00b who has a grudge against you for not allowing him into your crew? Do you start completely again with a name that won't be recognized? -- in which case people will pretty soon realize who you are but will give you the time to gain some rank which, contrary to popular belief, does somewhat represent power.

So to money, for as every past crew boss will tell you, managing crew funds is vitally important. Paying the crew tax is the initial and most urgent need - on top of whatever you paid for the crew in the first place. Then there's stocking members with guns and protection for when war breaks out, coping with Casinos and Bullet Factories - their profits and their dangers - and crew pictures.

The best way to give you a flavor of what it's like personally to be in charge of a crew would be to ask people who are currently there. Missfit was asked the best and worst things of being a crew boss. Stating rather confidently, Missfit stated, "The best thing about being a crew boss, especially for a crew like TDA, is the amazing comradery and how everyone comes to attention at a moments notice! The worst is dealing with those people who don't quite fit in and trying to mend them into good members, then having to let them go when things don't work out. It is frustrating to say the least."

It's a rewarding business but requires a lot of hard work, skill, patience and negotiation and as the statistics will show, many crews try yet fail to get off the ground. To all you hopefuls out there; every single crew has started from the bottom and worked their way up - they were nothing great when they started. The best bet would be to join a crew and to work hard for it and eventually you will get recognized and work your way up.