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


Lifting the Veil feat. VooDooDoll. Neverender
October 31st, 2009 marked a momentous time in Bootleggers history; the beginning of Round Six. Everyone started as a Scum with $500. Points were disabled no matter if you had purchased points pending or active from the last round. The staff was said to be less active this time, allowing players to settle issues on their own like a true mobster would. If you dislike someone, you extort them, bribe them, torture them and possibly even murder them if you run out of options and patience. The only problem however is the lack of staff intervention has caused many in the Bootleggers community to blame the shortcomings of the round on them. By not intervening this obviously means that they no longer care, are not worried about upgrading the game or the opinions of the masses, most of which pay hard earned money for points in the game which keep it afloat, right?

If you answered yes then you may want to pay close attention to the opinion of VooDooDoll whom is the first Elite Guard member to be interviewed in this new weekly column, Lifting the Veil. When asked about the lack of Elite Guard interaction with the players she replied, “People misunderstand the whole "less staff interaction" statement. More or less it means deal with your own issues instead of turning to the Elite Guard and expecting us to ban someone because they have hurt your feelings or said something that has offended you.”

This was the perfect response due to the ongoing conversation happening in the Off Topic Forum (OTF) at the time. A player had voiced his opinion that “the Elite Guard doesn’t do sh*t about people who violate the Terms of Service. Instead they just say the easiest, laziest reply which is "solve the problem yourself" I.e A hitlist or kill the user.” While this may be true it is a bit more complex than that according to VooDooDoll. “Be a part of the solution or be a part of the problem,” she said, “Anyone who has played Bootleggers knows how the "off topic" forum can be. It's always been that way.” She even offered advice for those players who feel abused and harassed in the Off Topic Forum, “There are some things that a user can do to avoid the behavior. Ignore. Filter. Don’t encourage.”

Words of wisdom for some, others could see that as a dare almost begging them to please encourage the rambunctious behavior constantly being portrayed in the OTF. The Buzz took special interest in VooDooDoll using the phrase “It’s always been that way.” It comes across like a cop out, as if the Bootleggers community should take the current state of the game with a grain of salt because it happened before this round. It must be okay, it’s the status quo right? Again, if you answered yes, VooDooDoll had some interesting details to add on the state of the game.

“Miracles will not happen over night. Are there things I would change? Sure. The game (and the people who run it) is not without fault. No one is perfect. But that applies to those that play the game too. Things will be adjusted and worked on and improved.” Initially that’s a very optimistic observation but she went on to add, “[Am I] happy in a perfect world? No. Content because I do the best I personally can with what I am given? Yes. The "state of the game" is something the players can or should determine. They aren't happy and they voice their opinions and concerns. We do what we can to listen. Some ideas/concerns we address and fix others we do not.”

The question could easily be posed, why aren’t all ideas and concerns addressed even if they can’t be fixed? VooDooDoll offered a very simple explanation. “In my opinion there are certain things (such as the tools we have at our disposal) that in all honesty should not be public information. If we disclose what we do and how we do it people as always will find another way around the rules.” The rules in some cases are still rather vague or if they’re given a lot of detail are not heavily enforced. Players constantly find their way around the rules and make it more enjoyable for themselves while increasingly miserable for others. This is the main factor that VooDooDoll would like to change.

“I am not sure why someone would want to dedicate any amount of time to operating more than one account. Very time consuming. People have real lives outside of the game and dedicate hard work and time to ranking ONE account and for someone to come along with an account that is often times not detected and take away what someone has worked so hard for with said dupe but is able to continue on with his/her own account isn’t cool. It's always a bummer to see a dishonest person get ahead.”

Who’s to say that the dishonest always get ahead? We have all witnessed many dupers be issued bans on very powerful accounts which lock up their cash and points on said account. It is a proven fact that not all can be caught; after all, the Elite Guard is not privileged enough to have Ash Ketchem as an Admin.

The Buzz would like to thank VooDooDoll for stepping up and being the first installment of Lifting the Veil and she wanted The Buzz to add that she enjoys the “crazy ride” she’s been let on with this game. She has met a lot of players in the community through her time as HDO and Moderator with whom she has become very close.

Tune in next week as we look forward to interviewing Sweetie, one of the more quiet yet more likable moderators of the Elite Guard.