Sunday, December 27th, 2009
Issue: 8   Editor: Mika


The Ugly Truth Deuce
To my readers, I would like to apologize for not writing this piece last week. This wasn’t meant to be an every week article. It’s the holidays and I had a lot going on outside of the game, while nothing on the game really caught my eye. You’ll see that I have taken my act to the freelance section. Like many of you, I’m getting tired of the bullshit propaganda machine that is the Bootleggers Buzz. I’m not pro-staff and I’m not one for being told how to write. I do things my way or I don’t do them at all. Let’s get started shall we?

BSF vs. Sabin, round 1! If this isn’t exciting, I don’t know what is. The head of the game comes out and writes a novel explaining that he fired Sabin because after years of hard work, Sabin took a week to focus on his real job and personal life as opposed to helping get the game ready for a reset. If BSF can share his opinion in the game forum, then I feel that I should be able to share my “opposing thoughts” right here. Sabin was called out for basically being lazy and a declining performance over the past few months. Really BSF? That’s like the pot calling the kettle black. As one of the many players that have been around here since pretty much the first day, I can attest to the fact that we see and hear from you about as much as I see my biological father. To those sitting here going, “huh?” that means only on a rare special occasion or when he wants our money.

Let’s get back to that issue of poor performance... Without Sabin, along with a few others, there would be no Bootleggers. I understand that it’s your game and you call the shots, but you have also spent a few years taking piggyback rides from the staff, showing your face from time to time and one can only assume you are making a nice bit of profit off of it. We thank you for all of the hard work in the beginning BSF, but where have you been since? Where is the occasional hello or thank you in one of the forums? It wouldn’t hurt to interact with us, the people that keep this game going and put money in your pockets. That doesn’t happen though. It appears as if you got the game going, then just use others to keep it going, bring new ideas to the table and be good little worker bees. When something goes wrong, you appear, make a quick fix and ride off into the night as if you’re the lone ranger.

You’ve done a lot of work BSF, more then I’m sure we will ever see or know about. The thing is, making that thread was anything but professional and not really needed. You just spent more time in the game forum then you have over the last five years combined. To be honest, I would expect more from someone in the highest position in the game. You are quick to call out Sabin for his resentment towards the staff but let’s think about this. He’s been pretty quiet this round and barely noticeable. Along comes one of your moderators making a comic insinuating that he is full of shit about his resignation and government job. Mind you, this is a moderator who is known for being a bitch and taking it upon herself to attack players. May have been done in good fun, may not have. You wouldn’t expect Sabin to get a little bit bitter towards this staff member or others over that? If it was really no big deal why is the comic gone already?

At the end of the day Sabin is a human just like the rest of us. He has flaws like the rest of us and he shows emotion like most of us. You admit that you found bugs or exploits in three features that Sabin worked on. The thing is, Sabin was attempting to work on the game, add new features, expand current features and generate some remote interest back in this game. While all of this was going on, where were you? What exactly have you been doing to keep this game afloat? With coding you can always expect to have a few bugs to work out from time to time. It’s trial and error. I find it pretty impressive that there have been so few over the last couple of years with the amount of change taking place in this game. Look back at the early days. The game was nothing but bugs and exploits through the early years. Before Sabin’s time I might add. Back when you were MORE INVOLVED BSF.

But let’s be honest here. Sabin’s time has come and gone. There is no changing that. When you look at the current staff of this game, for the most part you see “yes” men and women. By that I mean it’s a team that is comprised of people who will sit back and be robots. Sit around and say yes BSF to anything that is asked. Well, with the exception of Andy of course. I can’t include him because he hasn’t been seen in almost a month. Can we expect to see his resignation letter next? He doesn’t appear to be fulfilling the duties he signed on for which to me can be considered as “declining performance.” Maybe that’s just my opinion though.

Truth be told, you’ve said what you had to say and I’ve said what I have to say. Now it’s time to turn your focus back to the game. A little bit more involvement on your part would be nice. A little more interaction with us “players” would also be appreciated. You stated that Bootleggers will continue to strive forward. Like many others, I will be waiting to see this game strive, something it hasn’t done it what, four or five years? My parents taught me one important thing in life. There are two types of people in this world, those who say and those who do. You’ve shown us all that you are the type who can say, but can you do? I guess only time will tell.

This open letter, ladies and gentlemen, is the ugly truth.