Sunday, July 4th, 2010
Issue: 35   Editor: HowlingMadMika


Social Revolution Altro
Whether or not you agree with the opinion that the game is struggling, and that this is down to a lack of staff player communication, it’s hard to deny that a large percentage of players believe this is the case. In the past week both Nyxxie and 5litre have broken down barriers by increasing their official game interaction. Including changes to the news page and creating an external Bootleggers blog.

About a month ago, 5litre was given the ability to edit the news page. We saw the feature first used in his appeal for Help Desk Operator and Buzz Writer applications. Following this, on Tuesday of the past week we saw the posting of a link to the new official Bootleggers blog and two news items for that day on the news page. The blog was described as having, “behind-the-scenes Bootleggers information.” So far it contains several articles including; an introduction, a topic asking for ideas about the news page and a look at how and why the decision to promote BuzzLew to the role of HDO was taken by 5litre himself. The last article of which, provides an insight in to an area that has been in the past shielded from the public.

The blog and news page acting separately raises a few questions. However Nyxxie in the game forum stated, “hopefully in the future the two will be more integrated.” Shortly after this the link on the news page was made clickable. Nyxxie was kind enough to answer our questions. She said when asked if this was BSF2000 doing, “yes, from what I heard, 5litre asked him to do it.” Adding that “BSF has a list of things that need to be done and those were one of the easy things.”

It also raises the question of how active the feature will be. With twitter being a fast acting outlet for telling users what is currently going on, it has been massively under used. With over a month and sometimes several months in between tweets, can we expect the blog to become inactive as well? We put to her that twitter had fallen dry, she replied, “That was my fault.” A simple misunderstanding of the link setup between Facebook and Twitter had caused the twitter client not to be updated when Facebook was. Facebook has been updated regularly by the staff, and twitter should have followed, a problem which we hope has now been fixed. Referring to the blog she said, “I am determined to not make this dry.” Adding, “I think it is important that we let the players know what we know and I think it will bring a positive aspect to this game in an otherwise tough time.”

Just who will be writing for this blog? You may be wondering. “Every member of the EG [Elite Guard] has access to update the blog, including BSF. They can update it at anytime and are all considered an author of the blog.” As far as the buzz understands it, it will be up to the member of Staff if he or she uses the feature. The blog is a different entity to that of the buzz, and we wondered just how much cross over there would be. Nyxxie replied, “The buzz should be used for in-game information such as shootings, crew spats, etc. The Blog is more of an ‘out of character’ portion of the game, where behind the scenes changes are discussed.” In regards to cross over that would take place, she said, “There are times that behind the scenes information affects in-game and hence will be discussed by both. However, I see the Buzz quoting the Blog more often than the other way around.” We posed the point that with Facebook, the Blog and the game forum it may be the case that three separated community’s discuses the same points with out interacting. “Yes, that is quite possible,” she said, “but discussion will ultimately be on the Game Forum, which all in all, is a plus.”

With such a drastic change in policy, we asked what had promoted the move. “5litre did, 5litre is a new-age administrator with new-age mentality,” Nyxxie told us. She then said, “I think that his mind is in the right place.” We were also told, “I think this is a step in the right direction for sure.” In answer to why, “Our most important goal is [to] bridge that growing gap between players and staff. I have no clue why it has grown and the reasons, but I know it definitely isn’t needed and needs to cease.”

So what can we expect to see from the Blog in the future? “When a new feature comes out, the GF will be used to discuss... and talk about how it is used.” She went on to say, “The blog will be used to do the same, but also get a take on the reasons why it was implemented, why things were changed or why things were removed. It will also discuss things such as how long it took to make, the inspiration behind it (if anyone suggested it in a ticket, we’ll feature their names), etc.”

On a whole players in the game forum appeared to be supportive of the move, and Nyxxie saw it the same way. “Many people have been positive about this and those who haven’t, seem to be at least giving it a chance to change their mind.” What do you think about it? Why not fill out the poll on the blog site located in the right hand side menu under “Monthly Poll”?

The first test will be the first major update, when we will see just what extra information it will give. However, in the mean time enjoy the glimpses into the day to day activities of the staff that many have been craving for.