Sunday, March 13th, 2011
Issue: 72   Editor: TheAldarionArmy


Behind The Name- Writer Edition PoisonedTomato


Below are the responses of the current Buzz team, some writers have not been asked as they were featured in last week’s Staff Edition and we didn’t think you’d want to hear from them twice. Those writers are Aldarion and Lew. Marlon is also not featured in this section as the questions were not sent to him in time, if he would like to be featured then he will be in next week’s edition! Enjoy!



Name: KingSpaff

What is your real name and age?
Matt , 21

Where do you live?
England

How long have you played Bootleggers?
I have recently come back after a long break from the game this winter i think it was about November. I did start playing in round 1 or 2 while i was studying in high school

Why did you start playing Bootleggers?
Friends in school introduced me to it.

How did you come up with your current username?
It was a random name, first one that came into my head.

How do you feel about the current state of the game?
I feel that the economy is starting to settle down. Everyone seems to be as poor as everyone else.

Are there any features or improvements you would like to see?
I feel there are a lot of fantastic ideas I have read recently and a lot of good ideas to ponder. I have a few I would like to see implemented into crews.

What do you think about the call for some players for a reset? Do you think this would be a good idea?
There is nothing a reset would change. The game is prospering and people have a chance to get a foothold in the game now.

How long have you been writing for the Buzz?
Around 2 hours, i can't wait to start.

What do you think is the best and worst part of the job?
I have no idea what to expect but everyone has been very welcoming to me.


If you were in charge, what one thing would you change about the Buzz?
Nothing at the moment.

Do you like the Buzz? Any ideas for it or constructive criticisms?
The Buzz is fantastic, I would love to see a message sent to players with the weekly flash in it. To entice people to read and enjoy.



Name: MissVanish aka Vanish

What is your real name and age?
Alexandra, age 21

Where do you live?
Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

How long have you played Bootleggers?
I joined BL in 2005. In 2009 I had a little BL-pause, but started again since this round.

Why did you start playing Bootleggers?
Because a friend of me talked me into it. She couldn't stop talking about BL, and wanted me to check it out too. So, I did.

How did you come up with your current username?
Well, I just got killed as Schrokkie, and had no inspiration for a new username. (I didn't want to do 'SchrokkieV1' or something like that, I wanted to be original. Suddenly, there was a commercial on the TV about some washing-product, called Vanish. I thought it was a cool name.

How do you feel about the current state of the game?
Well, I can't say I feel very good about it. There are not so many players anymore, and that's too bad. It just gets way more fun when more players play BL. But I'm sure that time will return. Maybe it's a good thing to experience the game with a low amount of players, just to compare. If you don't experience it, you will never know the difference.

Are there any features or improvements you would like to see?
Yes actually. The thing that bothers me the most, are the missions. They haven't changed since I first joined BL. That's a little sad, imo. There is so much you could get out of that feature...
Also, the casinos should be less expensive to pick up. How can players gamble when no one has the money to pick it up? It would make the game just way more fun.

What do you think about the call for some players for a reset? Do you think this would be a good idea?
No, please no. Why should there be a reset? I think this is a great challenge for all the diehard BL-players, to get the game back on its feet. This is a maffia-game, and everything that has happened can be explained as maffia-like. A reset will not change anything. In fact the game has been resetted manually. except for TOF that is on the crew-stats.

How long have you been writing for the Buzz?
Since November 2010

What do you think is the best and worst part of the job?
Best part is the feeling after a new Buzz appears. The feeling that I have contributed to the Buzz, to help spreading the events that have happened during the week.. It's a great feeling.
The worst part is that I can no longer participate with the Buzz-games/questions. But it's not that big a deal. I love making Buzzles and articles. I haven't felt any feeling of regret yet, the Buzz rulez!

If you were in charge, what one thing would you change about the Buzz?
Nothing really.. I would maybe change the layout? Because the buzz has almost always had the same layout, maybe it is time for another one. But that's just a detail, I don't think there is anything in the Buzz that needs major changes.

Do you like the Buzz? Any ideas for it or constructive criticisms?
Of course I like the Buzz. Like it? I love it!



Name: PoisonedTomato aka Poison

What is your real name and age?
James, 18

Where do you live?
Essex, England

How long have you played Bootleggers?
Properly since 2004 (with a break in the middle) but I did play a little before then.

Why did you start playing Bootleggers?
I honestly can’t remember, I’ve never played with anyone I know in real life so I guess I must have come across it online!

How did you come up with your current username?
Well, with the exception of for the Buzz Social experiment my names have always features Poison or Poisoned (In some language or another). I chose ‘Tomato’ this time because when I started this account I was pretty sunburnt- from skiing of all things!

How do you feel about the current state of the game?
The game has seen better days, and that is an under exaggeration. However, I think that players can’t purely rely on staff to create updates and save the game. In order to make this game as good as it could be players need to play the game again, not just chat on the forums; people are doing this more and more now and it’s great to see.

Are there any features or improvements you would like to see?
There are so many new ideas that could be implemented in my opinion, I wrote about a few of my ideas in a column called ‘What Would I Do?’ a few issues back and I won’t bore you all with that again. However, the main improvement I would like to see is improvement in communication between the players and the staff, it’s so simple to do but BSF seems to refuse point blank to do this.

What do you think about the call for some players for a reset? Do you think this would be a good idea?
Yes and no. I think that it may give the game a bit more time and give everyone a chance to play again but I think this would only be temporary and updates need to be made before a reset.

How long have you been writing for the Buzz?
I first started writing for the Buzz on the 10th August 2010, so nearly seven months, also I did have a gap of a month or two in the middle

What do you think is the best and worst part of the job?
Best part is getting a response from players in my opinion, it’s nice to know people read it.
The worst part is when an article I put out turns out to be completely wrong (as has happened more than once) or there is simply no response and I’ve wasted my time.


If you were in charge, what one thing would you change about the Buzz?
Honestly, nothing. My main focus would be getting more writers involved so that it isn’t such a pressure on writers and that is exactly what is being done.

Do you like the Buzz? Any ideas for it or constructive criticisms?
I love the Buzz, I think it is helping to keep the struggling community on it’s feet- Aldarion and every member of the current team are doing everything they can (and I hope succeeding) in making sure every release is as good as it ever has been.
I think people in general don’t realise how much hard work goes into every release of the Buzz, I feel like I do a lot of work but I know every writer contributes as much if not more to every issue then I do.



Note- We’re always looking for ways to improve the Buzz and particularly the weekly articles we write. If you have any ideas on how to improve this or any other articles then get in touch with Aldarion or Poison or comment in this topic!