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


The New Face of Bootleggers Paratus
In this little article of mine, I would just like to discuss a little about how Bootleggers has changed during these past few years. If anyone has any comments about any of my statements, I would be pleased if you could Bootmail them to me and I will try to publish your point of view in my next article.

As the popularity of Bootleggers seems to be a never ending story, the new faces as well as new features make the game and its environment change. I still remember my start, my first account on the Game. Like so many others, I tried to keep a low profile and of course, survive. Posting in the Game Forum was not like it is today. Back then the so called ''Forum whores'' did not exist. Simply because people were to terrified of saying the wrong thing and offending someone, which would lead to their account being killed. The thing that ruled the game was not money, or points. But a simple word called respect. You showed someone respect, and if you were lucky enough you received it back. And help within the game was not hard to receive. If you asked for advice or help, you got an honest and helpful answer from 99% of the players, as everyone realized the fact that everyone is a beginner at one point. Today when someone asks for help or advice, the first 5 posts in the topic are always rude or mocking.

This day in age, respect is hard to find, as players seem to be over occupied with having crazy amounts of money, banking it on a daily basis, simply wanting more. But for what? We see so much money in the game, yet hardly any action. What good is money, if you do not use it, and one day you find your account or money holder dead, being left with nothing? And the old values seem to have disappeared completely as respect is hardly given or offered.

This brings me to the crews of Bootleggers. In the past, the crews that were on the Statistics page were there not because there was no threats, but because they were strong enough to fight their attackers. And I am not saying that we do not see this happening today, because we do. What I am saying is the true essence of crews has vanished. We do see crew wars to today, but not in the true meaning. Normally we see underground crews vs. official crews. In the past it was official crews vs. official crew with the motto: ''May the stronger and more skilled survive''. Recruitment policies were also much stricter in the past then they are now. Insiders are players of the New Era and did not exist in the past as there was simply no need for them. If there was a threat, you knew it was not something that would leave a few casualties. It would mean that your crew was going to drop and there was hardly anything you could do to prevent it.

I do realize that by writing all of this, I must come off as a player that does not like the new face off Bootleggers, but trust me, I do. We must all realize that times change, and along with the times, people that play the game change as well and therefore the attitude in the game. All we can do is adapt and enjoy.