Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Issue: 73   Editor: NyxxieALWAYSRETURNS


Bootleggers - Game or Dating Service? Araya
I am a pretty new player on Bootleggers, registered just a few days ago. I was recruited by a friend of mine, and was told that the start is always the hardest part – starting off with very little money, slowly gaining rank from crimes and working up to joining the first OC, etc. And when it seems like everyone else has hundreds of thousands, without help getting your first 40k is really hard. After that one has to find someone who cares enough to OC with a low rank, for fair percent - so as not to not lose all the cash one has managed to get. To me, it seemed like an endless run.

I was very surprised. My experience was very different from what I had expected. After doing a few crimes, I started hanging around the forums, answering to a few threads. Several people contacted me at once, and one was even so nice that he gave me more than 390k! This was after I had been struggling to make even $1000!

The reason why I have chosen to write this article was because of one issue that quickly became clear to me: Being a girl seems to make a huge difference on bootleggers!

To see if I was not the only person I conducted a survey. The results were not shocking: ALL girls/women asked (6) answered YES – they have all been asked for personal information such as pictures, msn address or even phone number and all agreed with the notion that being female has cause some players to treat them differently. None of the men surveyed has ever felt this way but one answered honestly that he has before asked girls for pictures or contact information.
When asked if she had been asked for pictures or contact information or treated differently because of her gender one surveyed woman said: "Definitely. The weird thing is, I’m 29 and 15 year olds try to hit on me. I don’t understand why, must be little boy's hormones."DeathDaughter, who took the survey, had this to say: “Yep, guys ask me for pictures and or msn contact details. They never get it but I think that some (especially younger) girls might not be as careful about that sort of thing, which worries me a little...”

I totally agree! So girls, be careful: Even though most people are nice, you can never be sure who you are talking to. Never give out personal information to anyone – it is not going to make them more friendly anyways. Do not do something that makes you uncomfortable just for Bootleggers money, it’s really not worth it.

And to those of you who think we (women) are going to share our msn, phone number or picture with you – please, grow up! If we wanted you to know how we look, we would send you the picture without any request from you!

There are very many nice people at bootleggers, but there are also those who seem to think girls are toys. To make it clear: We are not. It is of course nice that people help others in the game, but please don’t do so if you only want a date. Bootleggers is a game, not a dating service.

Thank you to DeathsDaughter for your comments while I was writing the article, and for fixing my English.