Sunday, March 7th, 2010
Issue: 18   Editor: Mika


COLUMN: Bootleggers: Back to the Original? Mika
Prior to the reset, a thread by BSF2000 provided everyone with more information regarding the event. What must have been thousands of e-mails were sent out to everyone who had, at some point, registered an account on Bootleggers to make sure as many players as possible would be aware of the reset and would consider creating an account once the process had been completed. For those of you who no longer recall what the e-mail or the information said, it can be found here: http://www.bootleggers.us/round6/. The content of both the page and the e-mail, which were pretty much, if not entirely, the same, made it clear that Bootleggers would return to its roots, round six would, for the first time in Bootleggers history, carry a name: Bootleggers Round Six: The Original. However, has it returned to how it was when it all began?

The main concept of round six was focused around respect and players taking care of their own problems, instead of using the staff, mainly the Elite Guard, to take care of their problems for them by requesting a ban for whoever they had a problem with. While this concept itself is fine and actually seems to be quite effective, at least in my eyes; there is, I think, more to it. When I started playing the game and was a newbie who thought Hitman was a high rank, yes, I have been there, I was intimidated by the mere appearance of some of the players and would think twice before making a foolish comment on the forums or sending them a useless message. Basically I would do my best not to step on anyone's toes in fear of losing my account. Granted, a lot has changed since then, mainly I have changed as I have gotten the hang of the game, or so I would like to think. This of course makes for a different view on matters, but it also got me to think if, maybe, the entire attitude of the community has changed when it comes to wanting and demanding respect.

When I think of the round in which I started playing, I remember players who actually had a lot of bullets and would not hesitate to shoot anyone who had pissed them off. Players who acted like a total fool in the forums risked being unlucky enough to be shot repetitively until they would either stop signing up or stopped their behavior. Respect was something players had earned and also something some of them demanded, some with right, others... well, I should not get into that. This was also the case for crews, members and non-members alike were to behave, otherwise they would be shot. Killing a crewmember usually resulted in your own death, whereas now the killer has a pretty good chance of getting away. Bootleggers today seems to be more lenient when it comes to allowing what other players do, the kind of display of force the round somewhat is not present, at least, not much.

Nevertheless, one should consider that, compared to the earlier days, it is in fact much harder to gain money now. We no longer get five percent, but three percent interest over whatever is in our bank accounts, OC vaults no longer contain high amounts of money and in addition to all these drops in payouts, the prices of weapons and protection have gone up or stayed the same. Furthermore, having over hundred million in your bank account is no longer realistic either. All in all, if we compare now to back then, the economy is much more stable, which is a pro. However, I cannot help but wonder if maybe it has gone too far. Why does every new round have to last longer than the other and why does it have to be harder to earn money every time a new round starts? To keep old players interested, maybe. But earning money was quite hard previous round, at least for me. It certainly was not as hard as it is now, but it was not easy either. The economy was under control and did not look like it would be getting out of hand anytime soon, so why attempt to control it and slow it down even more in this round?

I feel that by slowing the money making process down, it becomes much harder for players to fully utilize the game and grab a weapon to shoot, which is something I was hoping for in this round, given the promise of 'Round Six: The Original'. While I do agree that the economy should not get out of hand, I can still recall the scenario of points being way too expensive, I do feel that it is being overdone in this round. If the aim truly was action and shootings then it should be easier for players to acquire the resources they need to shoot, and one way of doing that is by either lowering the prices of equipment or by making it less difficult to earn money. If Bootleggers truly wants to return to 'The Original' then maybe it would be wise to make earning money look a wee bit more like it did in the earlier rounds because with money, the action and killing sprees could very well make a return, and is that not what the intention of the round was?