Sunday, February 6th, 2011
Issue: 67   Editor: Aldarionosaurus


COLUMN: Live or Die vanish
In life, there are two main options : Live or Die. That is not any different here in Bootworld. You either struggle to live and rank, or you get shot by the ones that are more powerful. The only difference here is : you get a second chance. And a third. You can try as much as you want.
With the current situation of the game, that choice becomes more and more visible. It’s so black and white now :either you join the dark side, or you die in random shooting sprees. And, if you get killed and start a new account, it’s just a matter of time before you get killed again, unless you surrender to the big crews, and join... their protective child-crews!

These protection-crews are so IN nowadays. Every crew has one (look at LAPD or North Korea) and if you don’t have one, you should definitely get yourself one (like the brand-new New Horizon). They all claim to be ‘the only crew that provides protection from the shooting-lists’. Of course they do, and in order to keep yourself protected, you have to pay crew taxes every week.

When I think about that, I wonder: “If I were a scum.. how the bleep should I be able to gather that amount of money, every week again? I get refused to oc with higher ranks because that has a big chance of ruining the oc, the crimes don’t pay a lot, I have nothing to sell,.. And no crew tax = dead by the gun, which means I can start over again and again.” Or, as a scum, you can say : “Nah, I don’t join the protection-crew YET, because I can’t afford it financially. Let me rank just a little higher on my own, so it will be easier to collect money for the taxes when I do join a protection-crew.” Well, here is a problem, because once you rank higher, you become more and more a threat to the big crews, which results in you getting a nice spot on the shooter’s lists.

But, put yourself in the shoes of the dominator. So, you’re the top crew now, you are the most powerful. In the beginning, this feels so exciting, but after some time, things get boring. Which is normal, what could happen? You are the most powerful crew in the whole game, no one can hurt you!” Wow, in my head it seemed all way cooler, being on top..” So you start to think : how can I make this game more interesting for me, without losing my position? How about... shooting a huge amount of players that, if they worked together, could be able to kill me?

* shooting happens *

This makes you even more powerful, because all what’s left, are the low ranks. And you have achieved the status of : Feared. Everyone fears you now, because you can kill whomever you want, whenever you want. This is the perfect opportunity to exploit the situation : People fear you -> you make a new crew that offers protection, and you gain a lot of money from it. It’s like a win-win situation.

Well, it’s not win-win for everyone, like I said before. What about the low ranks that cannot afford this protection? It’s like a vicious circle, there is no escape to getting killed eventually. Or is there?

The amount of players online has dropped significantly the last weeks, even months. When I see that, the first thing that comes to my mind is : “ Waw, a lot of players are really tired of playing this game.” But when I think again, it sounds more like : “ Waw, I think there are some clever players here. If you can’t survive because of the all-watching eye of the big crews, it’s best to stay hidden underground.” And, as a matter of fact, it actually is not such a bad idea to stay UG. In my opinion, that is the only way to rank and prepare for a revenge-attack, and you don’t draw the attention on the radar. Or you can try to backstab them, by joining a protection-crew, rank high enough, and when reached a reasonable rank, shoot ‘em all. But, this is in theory not possible, due to the high taxes that have to be paid every week, which means you cannot spend your money on other things like guns, shooting range and bullets. So, yeah, staying UG is pretty much the only option.

I don’t know how this game will evolve. Some people are happy with the protection they get, but at a high cost. Other people are tired of being killed, and quit the game. And only a few people have the guts to go UG and resist. But will those people fade away, or will they overcome? This challenge is one of the greatest I have seen on BL. Challenges are there to be completed, so in my opinion this game is far from over. But the choice is all in the players hands.

Will this game live, or die?