Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Issue: 28   Editor: HowlingMadMika


COLUMN: Time for a Third? HowlingMadMika
“Thanks to the excellent points sales this round, I am confident that we will find another great coder, which were the original intentions.” I am sure some, if not most, will remember these words in one form or another. They were written down by BSF2000 when he responded to the situation that had occurred around Sabin and his resignation. While I am not interested in sparking up that debate, I did need the quote from that thread for this column, as I agree with what BSF2000 wrote: a new coder would not be a bad thing for the game.

Since Sabin and BSF2000 went separate ways, no new coder has been hired, at least, not for as far as the players are able to tell. Nevertheless, if one looks at the current state of the game, appointing a new Administrator who can code would not seem like such a bad idea. Whereas the players are always ranking up, earning money, dying, getting shot, and starting back up, the game right now seems like somewhat of an opposite. Contrary to the players, who are in a constant state of flux, the game seems to have come to a complete standstill. The main reason for that, in my eyes, is the fact that there is only one Administrator with the skills to code the game: BSF2000. This automatically leaves all tasks lined up for him only. Seeing he is also the owner of the game who has other responsibilities as well, this can cause for the work to slow down.

In order to prevent misunderstandings, I do not doubt BSF2000 his ability to code or to do the maintenance that is needed to keep the game up and running. However, what I do believe is that the fact that he has to verify points, as well as attend to other duties that being the game owner entails, slows down the coding aspect of his job. Therefore, introducing a third Administrator to the Elite Guard to take care of coding would speed up this process and result in faster bug fixes, and possibly faster feature alterations or introductions as well, depending on what the outlined duties for said new Administrator would be. This does not mean that BSF2000 should stop coding completely, on the contrary. Work would simply be done faster when a new Administrator were to be hired, and I am sure that is something the players, myself included, would appreciate.

The 'Known Bugs' thread on the Game Forum has had the same content for quite a while now. Some bugs were addressed, however lately none of them have been fixed. Of course this does warrant the claim they have not been looked into, for the players have know way to verify whether or not such a claim would be valid. Nevertheless, it does bring me to my second point, which is lack of communication from the Administrators to the players regarding their plans for feature introductions or alterations. I am aware that this has never been Bootleggers policy. However, this round has seen several changes to the game already, maybe it is time to change this policy as well.

I can understand why the policy is the way it is. After all, promises lead to expectations, they create the pressure to work and the expectation that the work will be finished within a decent amount of time. The expectations may not be met and cause flaming or unhappy players. Nevertheless, when the new Roulette was introduced, BSF2000 has proven that it is in fact quite possible to work with letting the players know what is going on and meeting their expectations at the same time. Of course new updates regarding the Roulette were said to be pending, but are yet to be introduced. This, however, only proves the point that maybe a new Administrator should be hired to help BSF2000 take care of coding business. Moreover, it also shows that improved communication would be welcome, as there may have been valid reasons for not introducing any new alterations yet. Fact is, however, that we do not know because we have not been told.

Of course the Administrators would not have to tell everything in detail. That would spoil the surprise and maybe even create expectations that are too high and thus can never be met. What would be acceptable and welcome, however, would be a simple announcement from time to time, stating that the Administrator in case is working on improving the Roulette page for instance. Or that there is work in process regarding an overhaul of crews. No details would have to be given out. This way, the players know what is happening, which will make them feel more involved and would not create the idea that the game is at a standstill. How this is to be done can be decided by the Administrator who makes the announcement. An option could be to introduce new features on a 'beta page' for players to test several new pages. No money would be gained, but the players would still be able to already experience (part of) the new feature. It could also be done by interacting with players and simply stating what one is up to during the conversations, or it could be done in the form of a forum thread or a Buzz article. Apart from the 'beta page' which would have to be a joint decision, keeping the players up to date could be done the way the Administrator feels most comfortable with or thinks is the best.

A new Administrator to speed up the process and to take some weight of BSF2000 his shoulders. Weight which he maybe is able to carry, but that would be much less of a burden if it were to be shared with a second person. Faster coding and thus results, combined with more and improved communication with the players so that they know what is going on. In my eyes that would improve the game environment and the general atmosphere. Apart from that, it is also something that the game needs. There have always been three Administrators or more for as long as I can recall, it could very well be time to restore that amount.