Sunday, May 4th, 2008
Issue: 72   Editor: Air


State Don Interview MikaVerLeth
The State Dons have been back for quite a while now and some of them have already used their position to cause havoc. However, this also resulted in those State Dons being killed. Now, there are only three of them left. Luckily, the Illinois State Don JoepMeloen and the New York State Don Schmankenv3 were willing to participate in the interview and answer the questions.

State Dons are dieing and Legendary Dons are being shot at as well. Although there are a couple of Legendary Dons now hoping to reach State Don. How did our two State Dons think about reaching the rank they have now? “Well, to be honest, I didn't expect to make it to State Don. When I was about to rank to R.Don, almost every R.Don and L.Don were getting shot,” JoepMeloen said. “I was aiming at the money more, back then. Once I ranked to L.Don I was certain I would reach S.Don some day.” Schmankenv3 replied: “I suppose you can never expect to reach S.Don but the closer you get in rank you start to hold out hope that you’ll get there. I was quite surprised when I did rank as I thought I would have needed to have done more OC’s but it shows the advantage of OCing with Don+ since I started this re-incarnation of myself.”

“I suppose it feels pretty special to have actually reached S.Don seeing as you’re joining an elite few within the game who’ve actually achieved it,” Schmankenv3 commented when asked how it actually felt to be State Don. “I’d play the same way though,” he added, “regardless if there were S.Don’s around or not.” JoepMeloen said, “Well, I know how much damage an S.Don can do, so it's interesting to see S.Dons on the states page again.” He did fear a little abuse of the feature as “a S.Don has incredible powers, that can easily be abused.”

Selecting a state can be quite annoying. Which state to chose? A busy one or a relative quieter one which could mean less chance of getting killed. “I had only 2 states to choose from, and Illinois was the (in my opinion) the best choice,” JoepMeloen said. “I chose NY as I’ve always looked at it as the busiest & best state,” Schmankenv3 commented. “I know that since the OC payouts changed it isn’t quite as popular & giving it more thought I may have chosen a different state,” he added, concluding: “but I’m still more than pleased with my choice.”

“I ranked a few of days after joining my crew,” Schmankenv3 explained. “Main reason I’m in one is because I miss being able to click on the crew forum button whenever I’m crewless.” State Dons can be a big help to crews, with their power and being harder to kill they can mean protection for the crew they're in. On the other hand, they could easily take over as has been seen in the past. “I joined Virtual Reality because I have some friends in there,” JoepMeloen said. “I'm not in here to make myself look cooler or anything.”

Almost everyone that reaches State Dons has a plan or makes one up as he or she goes, how about our two State Dons? “My plans are to help people, mostly friends, and try to make a little fun now and then,” JoepMeloen said. “No, I’m just looking to play the game for what its worth. I’m an honest player & don’t go round killing for the sake of it or trying to bully people because of my rank,” Schmankenv3 said. “As much as people might not believe it (and I’m sure they won't) I don’t have any plans, now or in the future, to go on a killing spree in any aspect.”

“I’m under no impression that being a State Don will last for me. There are always players out there that’ll shoot for no valid reason other than killing a high ranked player,” Schmankenv3 said. “Between now & then I can only carry on as normal & hope that people take me for the player I am and not assume that I’m a massive risk to them,” he concluded.
“What I'd like to add is that most people have similar profiles, orbs, stamps etc. Try some new stuff,” JoepMeloen said, ending his interview.

Two State Dons less to be interviewed and unless someone promotes, there will only be one left for next week. Hopefully we'll have more State Dons by next week, however, only time will tell.