Sunday, November 28th, 2010
Issue: 57   Editor: NVIDIAldarion


Farewell Sean! NVIDIAldarion
This week, Sean stepped down from his position as Help Desk Operator (HDO) and his position as Buzz editor, as he had decided to quit playing Bootleggers. Sean, who had been HDO for over a year and Buzz editor since Mika’s promotion to mod, gave us an interview in which he told us why he decided to quit the game.

His sudden departure made most of us wonder about the reason he left. He told us, “I decided to leave for a number of factors. There is not one exact reason I chose to leave, it was more about lots of things adding up. I wasn't happy with some administrative decisions that have been made lately, I wasn't happy with the way in which the community has been acting (as a whole), I had some personal issues with players and, really, there was just nothing keeping me there anymore.” Since there seemed to be a number of reasons that added up to his final decision to leave, we asked him whether it could have been avoided if certain things would have been different. Sean said, “Well sure. Plenty of things could have happened in order to make it not happen but it was kinda beyond anyone's control. I don't think the staff should have stepped up to fill the shoes of Nyxxie and Trav, because if they hadn't, BSF would finally have to pull himself out of the hole he's dug himself into, instead of having us pick up the pieces. That was a major factor.”

Sean promoted to HDO on the fourth of November, last year. Since he had been HDO for over a year, we asked him whether he had enjoyed the job. Sean said, “Overall, I’d say yes. I enjoyed giving something back to the community. That’s all I’ve ever really been about. however, by the time I was a few months in, it was more about trying to get into a position where BSF would take on the ideas I could present to him on behalf of the community. That’s all I really wanted to do. It came to light that BSF simply won't listen when Nyx and Trav stepped down, though, and it was at that point that I had to come to terms with the fact that BSF probably wouldn't listen to me either.” He also told us that the HDO position wasn’t what he had expected it to be, “I, much like a lot of the new HDOs, was underwhelmed. I mean, I expected more. I thought more was going on behind the scenes that really was. I answered maybe one ticket a day if I was lucky. honestly, I don't really know why anyone would want to be a HDO (especially now), but I guess people need to see for themselves that it really isn't all it's cracked up to be.”

Sean was promoted to Buzz editor when Mika join the Elite Guard. Compared to his HDO position he only spent a short amount of time in this position, be he told us it was absolutely worth it, “oh yeah, I enjoyed that. I really did like doing the buzz, because I was given so much freedom to really give the community what they wanted. I was allowed to publish pretty much anything and I used that to my advantage to give people something to read on a Sunday that they actually wanted to read.”

We asked him whether he would miss anything of the current Bootleggers now that he quit all of a sudden. His answer made clear that we are not to expect him back anytime soon, “I’ll miss the old times when I had a lot of active friends to tear up the forums with me, but right now, I just look back at the game with bitterness.” He continued about his return, “maybe in the future, but the game would need to drastically turn around, which, honestly, I don't think it will. I think it's all downhill from here.” So it seems he won’t be back anytime soon. We asked Sean what had to be changed in order for him to change his mind and return to Bootleggers. He said, “BSF's entire attitude lol. New features, increased concern for what the community wants. But BSF has never been that way and I doubt he ever will. His levels of incompetence still amaze me. His game (and therefore his profits) would do SOOO much better, if he just invested himself in the game a little bit more.”

To end the interview we asked Sean about his best Bootleggers experience in all the years he’d been playing. He said, “Best moment's a hard one. It was really funny when da kicked everyone out of a crew and left me as the boss and everyone thought I did it. But really, the best times were before I got HDO when I had lots of friends still playing.” Having read his interview you may not consider his departure as completely surprising any more. Clearly, Sean did not enjoy Bootleggers as much as he used to do back in the days. Apart from that, he still gave it a hundred percent, both as HDO and as Buzz editor, and for that, we should be thankful. Thanks, Sean, for the effort you put into the game, into the Buzz. You will be missed!