Sunday, December 5th, 2010
Issue: 58   Editor: AldarionIsTheStig


Recent events and dry facts Klutz
In the past weeks the Game Forum and the Buzz were filled with endless discussions and people venting their anger about recent events in Bootleggers, such as BSF2000's supposedly lack of attention for the game, what will become of Bootleggers now that Nyxxie and 5litre resigned, a point buying boycot, and a flood of whining, bickering, name calling, and all too frequent use of the F word. People seem to be losing track of the facts, so allow me to present them to you.

Fact #1: Nobody in this game has the right to demand anything. Being able to play Bootleggers is not a right, it is a privilege. You can't demand new features. You can't demand that a change you don't like is undone. You can't even demand access to Bootleggers. If BSF2000 thinks you're being a pain in the neck, if he doesn't like the curling team you support, if he thinks your breath stinks, or even if he doesn't have any reason whatsoever, he can grant or deny anyone access to Bootleggers. He can even decide to pull the plug on the entire game. If you think I'm wrong here, I challenge you to point out to me where it says you have rights in this game.

Fact #2: Making a new game feature is something you don't do in a couple of hours. It all starts with drafting the concept for the feature, setting out what it has to do, what it should look like, how it affects in-game money/bullets/points, etcetera, and let me remind you that human behaviour is the most unpredictable and unreliable factor in all of this. When the concept is ready, the whole thing has to be coded in a jungle of HTML, PHP, MySQL, Javascript etc., and all of it has to be able to withstand hackers, cheaters, and clueless idiots. The final step is debugging, and I can tell you from experience that debugging is by far the most difficult and time consuming part of the job. All of this put together is hours and hours of work, and for someone with a daytime job and/or a bit of a social life this can mean weeks or even months of work. (Note: "Social life" means "interacting with real people face to face". To some of the readers this concept may be unknown and/or repulsive.)

Fact #3: Spending real money on points gives you points with which one can access some game features, and nothing more. In case you missed the diplomatically worded message here, I'll say it in plain and undiplomatic English: spending money on points does not give you the right to have an attitude like "Hey BSF2000, I spent money on your game so now you will have to do as I tell you."

Fact #4: There seems to be nothing but praise for Nyxxie since she resigned from the position of Moderator, but in the past her actions have been the subject of quite a bit of criticism, and allow me to name a few examples: Choosing sides in fights in the forums. Bans handed out by her being processed by her own boyfriend 5litre. Banning people for nonsense reasons just to slow them down, knowing the appeal process would take weeks. Turning a blind eye to friends of her who weren't playing by the rules. And last but not least: her being generally rude, arrogant, provocative, and unhelpful. In my eyes Nyxxie's performance as a Moderator is at best questionable, she should never have been made a Moderator in the first place seen her involvement with 5litre, and even if her resignation hasn't made Bootleggers a better place, it sure hasn't made it worse either - but that's just my opinion, so feel free to disagree.

Fact #5: If you have an idea for the game or if you think something is profoundly wrong, you can file a Help Desk Ticket. Do keep in mind that you don't own Bootleggers so don't be offended when your idea is rejected. If you don't have any good ideas or alternatives, consider keeping your mouth shut.

Fact #6: If the shortcomings in Bootleggers are too much for your delicate personality to cope with, there is absolutely nothing that prevents you from leaving.

Before you open your mouth again to hurl insults at the Bootleggers staff, ask yourself this question first: "What can I do myself to make this game better?" If you have a good answer to that question, we're on a roll, and if the answer to that is "nothing", then please by all means do nothing and remain silent, because you're not able to help in any other way.