Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Issue: 69   Editor: NyxxiPoo


Essay about Bootleggers WantedMovie
Bootleggers is, one can not deny, losing players, losing more then they gain.
What would be the reasons of it? How can it be solved? Will it be solved?
Lets look at the game play first, since thats the fundamental of the game, obviously. Without a good game play there is no good game, right?
So yeah, game play...what game play.. *raises eyebrow*

One can make it easily to the top by just banking and by only OCing twice a day.
Just...when you make it to a high rank, you run the chance of getting shot, same goes for being N.Rich. So, would it be worth it? Though, being shot because of high rank or high wealth has been decreased lately as far as I know. One of the causes would be the changes which has been implemented regarding the State/Nation Dons.

Secondly, they changed 'Find Player' made it a bit harder to find the new high ranks who arose after the 'Great Massacre of High Ranks'. The other, which I suspect to be the main reason, is that most high ranks have already been shot, thus decreasing the amount of the State/Nation Dons, subsequently resulting in less shooting sprees in the same time frame. Same goes likewise for shooting rich people, though that hasn't lessened as much as shooting high ranks. Its now harder to search for rich people. Before it was fairly easy, thanks to the former 'Find Player' option, which resulted in the BL economy crash.

Quite similar to when the world wide stocks crashed in 1929, there where they back then, ran like hell to the banks to get their money from the bank.
On BL the point prices raised insanely high, its all the effect of the market, question of supply and demand, to keep it in economic terms. Anyway, continuing. One does not has to do car thefts/crimes/arm wrestling/bust etc to reach the top, the somewhat shorter time to achieve higher ranks is imo, insignificant.
They are just will satisfy a players mind, that they are actually doing something. Though, once again, one does not need to do them. OCing twice a day will get you your Ldon rank, the other things just make it a bit faster, but since Ldon takes long anyway, with or without crimes, you most likely can cope with the extra time needed. So, crimes can just be left for what they are, and I think most players do. Its unbalanced, still..

Next point in the gameplay are the crews, an elemental part of the Bootlegger community. First of I'd like to state that Bootleggers is nothing without the community. The forums and interaction play a huge part. Ofcourse, there are some who can play without it, without interacting with the rest of the Bootlegger community, but those are just the exceptions which confirm the rule. So crews. Crews are like the society's musical preferance, you either chose that or that, or you like them all, or enjoy all. They are a part of players image/reputation, when one is in a crew, one is associated with that crew, obviously. Before the State Don change, crews were just graveyards, they fell as often as rain fell from the skies. Some people quit over it, as they and their crew got shot repeatedly by State/Nation Dons, they obviously did not like the new feature.
There are always people who quit over new things, it can't be helped. To ensure BLs future however, it needs to attract more players then it loses, that should be simple math.

Even though being in a crew is a guaranty to get shot eventually, there still are a lot of people who would want to join any crew they can get in.
This just proves crews are a big part of the game. Those people might wonder why there are no new crews added then. What they do not understand then, is that adding new crews will most likely not result them being in a crew either. Its about trust. Which brings us to the next point. Why is trust so important to get in crews and also,in general. Because alot of people get insided by people who they trusted, they got 'backstabbed' by someone they consider a friend.
No-one in a crew wants that, hence why trust is important and thus hard to earn, in most cases. Most new players will therefor have a hard time to get in a crew, and be part of something, they are being denied access to an important part of BL. Only thing they can do is crimes/busts etc, to satisfy theirselves. Or just log out after their OC. whoring the OTF is no option for most of them, since they are new. If they try, chances are they will get flamed by established whores, and they'll burn. So, eventually they'll get bored of crimes/busts, or of doing nothing, and they'll log out. Some individuals will make it, some..

Now to the part which some consider 'playing the game', shooting. Some are lucky enough to have enough funds to afford the steadily increasing point and bullet prices. Most aren't. Ofcourse they can buy cheap bullets at the Admins owned Bullet Factories, but don't kid yourself, shooting requires alot of time. One has to rank to a good rank to shoot, buy enough bullets for the kills, train their guns to a good level, and all that is very hard to do by only buying bullets at the Admins BFs. If one is lucky enough, they can get 400 bullets per hour from a 'state owned' BF, where one needs 20-30k bullets for a good kill. Usually one can only get 200 bullets at those BFs. Lets do the math, 20-30k needed, 200 per hour, say 6 hours per day, so it will take 17-25 days to get enough bullets for 1 kill.
Also dont forget, on top of that, one needs to rank to a good rank. Suppose they make that, who to kill?? If one has a personal target, then its simple, but it earns you no respect, reputation. Not many, if not, none, will care about one kill someone made. So, you can shoot a casino/BF holder, gives you a bit rep/attention, but guess what? All effort will be wasted, when you pick up for whatever you shot, people will scream rape, murder and DIRRRTY! You will never get the thing sold. On top of that, the next day people will forget your kill.
Argh, so just shoot a whole crew then. Sure, that will draw the attention, but thats practically impossible when buying at the State Owned BFs.Luckily there are others who can buy at the BFs with expensive bullets, not many but there are. They liven up the game, from time to time.. So, one can blame the lack of action due to the unevenly spread cash amongst the players, those same people will suggest to make OCs more worth etc etc. What they forget though, is that this will just increase the point/bullet prices, it will just be the same, if not, worse.

The solution would be to bring more bullets in the game, via another way then the BFs. Par example, missions (but those are just 1 time bullets, so no real solution), or a new sort of crimes, which provides bullets. Ofcourse this might increase the use of dupes..or not..?

what brings us to one of the most discussed issues, dupes. Many will agree the use of dupes has decreased, not exterminated however. Most current crew shootings involve dupes, at both sides, one can say they are a part of BL. BL what it is now, would not be what it is without them. Sure, duping is cheating and against the rules above all. But again, its a part of the game. Most 'shooters' are dupes, acquire(d) their cash by using dupes. And those shooters are the only thing what stops Bootleggers simply being a slimming game without regular action.
Sad, but true..

Suppose doing crimes, busts etc somehow will enable you to get bullets.
Think about it. And think again. People will actually do crimes etc, since it will pay off. It will lower or even stop the inflation, point prices and bullet prices dont need to rise so high. Buying at BFs will just be a fast way to get bullets for the rich. However, now the poor will have a chance too to get bullets, by being active, doing crimes. It means starting players will have a bigger chance getting in new crews, or take a crew themselves by working together. The dupe argument is totally irrelevant, one would have not enough time to maintain several accounts, besides even if they had, they could just work on their one account. Ofcourse it won't get rid of dupes, but it will be less worth to dupe. In short, the new, and the old poor active players will gain more influence over the rich and the dupers, while those latter two, lose nothing, they will just lose a bit less control. It gives the new and not so rich players actually a chance to do something significant, something which is important to keep playing Bootleggers, and will attract people to play. Thats what we want, not..?

So far the trend in Bootleggers is that some new features are introduced, and more people quit over it then it gains more players, one could blame the lack of advertisement on the latter. But even more people quit because they are bored of the game, they can't do anything, its nearly impossible for them to get their name out. New players are having a too hard time to get started, and even then, chances are they will get nowhere anyway. In short, the gameplay needs to be changed, not by adding something new, but by trying something different, something what is my eyes logical.

If they want Bootleggers to continue, that is, if..