Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Issue: 9   Editor: Mika


Behind The Position AceAdam
Whilst sitting at my desk in the Buzz head office based in Michigan, pondering on what to write for my next article, XVI strolled in to work wearing his Bullet Proof Vest equipped with his Thompson as per usual. He sat down at his desk and told me that he met a player called IssuI last night whilst he was in Louisiana helping a friend. I’m guessing it involved a crime as he pulled into the car park this morning in a Duesenberg. However, I’m not asking him what happened; I’d prefer not to get involved in his business.

I’ve heard of IssuI, but all I knew of him was that he is a co-boss and recruiter for the notorious crew Smoke and Mirrors, one of the biggest and most powerful crews out there with a long history of gang warfare and organized crimes. They also own one of the busiest train stations in the country, New York. Another thing I knew was that IssuI was going down to Louisiana to visit the casinos to have a chance to earn some extra cash. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to meet him and find out more about his position in the crew. I left a note on my desk for Nyxxie and Mika letting them know that I’m out for the day getting information for an article. I grabbed the keys to my Beauford, obviously not as good as XVI’s but at least I bought it legitimately, and put on my Bullet Proof Vest equipped with my Dragunov, just in case of any trouble, and headed out the door to find IssuI!

I decided to drive to Michigan train station and get the express train to Louisiana as I didn’t feel up to driving 1,168 miles which would take about 20 hours. I got to the train station which is owned by Ombra Di Lucifer. I got out, paid for the train and jumped on. After about two hours, I arrived in New Orleans, the biggest city of Louisiana, also home to the casinos of the state. Luckily, I noticed IssuI getting out of his Beauford, clearly showing the Smoke And Mirrors symbol and walking towards the casino, so I quickly followed him in and sat next to him at the Keno section. After me losing around $15,000 and him winning about $45,000, I told him who I was and why I was here. He did look at me in a weird way, most likely wondering why I followed him all the way from Michigan. I suggested we go to a bar I noticed outside, called the JDM bar, to discuss his position. He agreed and we ended up sitting with a couple of beers at the table in the corner out of sight from rival crew members.

My first question was asking him to give a brief explanation on what his position his consists of. He said, “When we need a recruitment drive I’ll advertise in the Game Forum, once that’s posted up then the Barrel starts to glow pretty constantly (I still prefer the spinning one by the way). I send out an Application Form to those that request one and wait for it to be returned. All of Applications are submitted to an outside forum which Smoke and Mirrors have access to. Each one has its own poll and discussion thread. I follow the progress in there, bump them up if needed, find out any further information that may be required etc. Then based upon the votes and discussion I make a decision and send the relevant notification to the candidate.” Next, I asked him about the negative aspects of his position, if any. He told me, “Yes of course, I am often the bearer of bad tidings! To be fair, I actually don’t mind that, if I did there would be no point in taking on the role of Recruiter. It’s not really a negative aspect but I do find that I can’t do as many crimes as I used to because the job is fairly time consuming. The biggest thing I dislike about the role is that generally people are applying to our crew because they really want to become a member. They have one shot to impress us so I do find it annoying when someone doesn’t take the time to fill out our form correctly. Some people just don’t seem to realise that they are judged by what they put on that form. If it comes back 1 minute after I sent it to them it’s not likely to be saying anything good!"

I saw that our bottles of beer were empty, so I hinted at IssuI to get another round in, seeing as he won big on the Keno tonight. When he got back, I asked him whether he had any advice for any other recruiters or recruiters-to-be that would be reading the Buzz. He said, “Basically make sure that you only start a recruitment drive via the Game Forum when you know you’re going to have the time to put in. Pretty much every time you log in to your account you will have an inbox full of messages for you to deal with. Also, be methodical, work through the applicants in the order you receive them and make notes somewhere for reference. Make sure you respond to every applicant.” I wondered whether he found it hard to decline applicants on joining Smoke and Mirrors. He replied with, “No I don’t, as long as you show respect I usually find most people that get declined appreciate the fact that they aren’t left hanging. Every applicant to Smoke and Mirrors gets a reply whether good or bad news. Surprisingly I have made some good friends from our declined list, being declined by us doesn’t mean we’re telling them they’re no good at all, in fact we do turn away some good players; not everyone is suited to our style of game play.” My final question to IssuI was regarding what gives him the motivation to do his job, in other words, what does he really enjoy about his role? “After the recruiting campaign is the part that I like the best. If you have a successful campaign it’s great to see the new recruits settling in to crew life and forging new relationships. That’s when you can tell if you’ve made good choices. As for motivation, it is simply wanting the best for the crew.” He said.

So with the conversation over, I let him get back to his duties in Louisiana and I jumped back on the express train from Louisiana and headed back to Michigan. Whilst sitting on the train, I was thinking about what IssuI told me about the role of a recruiter and learnt that a lot more work goes into it than many of us actually see. It's not an easy job where you just say yes or no, it goes through a lot of stages before the crew boss or council reach a final answer. In summary, if anyone does plan to attempt to take up the role of a recruiter, be ready to do a lot of behind the scenes work, and, going by what IssuI said, you will not be able to do as many crimes as you may like due to the work load equipped with your role. As the train pulled into Michigan, I packed my stuff, walked towards my car and drove to the Buzz office. After finishing writing the first draft of my article, I left it on Nyxxie's desk and then went straight back to my place to catch some sleep. Very busy day.

Thanks for reading,
AceAdam.