Nearly one in three adults in the UK use ‘smartphones’ according to a report by the country’s telecoms regulator Ofcom. If you consider that the likelihood is that that the percentage of Bootleggers users utilising these devices is much higher than this, and that the biggest smartphone area of growth identified by Ofcom’s report was gaming (with an increase of 23% between April 2010 and April 2011), it could come as a surprise that BSF2000 has seemingly decided to opt for a format best viewed on the ‘traditional’ desktop PC or laptop.
Ever increasingly, more and more Game Forum topics are appearing calling for a Bootleggers ‘app’ to be launched for Android, iOS and Blackberry mobile users. With an apparent majority in favour of the game advancing onto mobiles, could now be the time for Bootleggers to go mobile?
The current options available to our lone administrator seem to be:
Create a Bootleggers ‘app’ for Android, iOS and/or Blackberry.
Create a mobile friendly version of Bootleggers.
Keep the game as it is, with no mobile version available.
Up to now, Bootleggers has remained solely desktop and this could be with good reason. The Family Accounts rule, where users have limitations on their interactions with anyone that has recently shares the same IP address, and mobile use often causing shared IP addresses with users on the same network causing some to have Family Account lists with tens of other users on, moderators have to be more vigilant than ever.
We spoke to Mika to get a moderator’s point of view. “In my opinion a mobile version of Bootleggers, or an app, would be an addition, given the fact that some features don't work on mobile phones right now. Of course you always have the concern of potential abuse. However, I feel that you already have that problem right now. A mobile version of the game will make it more user friendly, and that is a good thing.”
So it seems that Mika is in favour of Bootleggers becoming more accessible for our mobile users, but what are the benefits and drawbacks for each of our options?
Should a Bootleggers ‘App’ be available?
The first issue with developing an application is that it will be a time consuming effort for BSF2000 to code, especially when Android and iOS both use different coding languages. It would be costly to hire someone to make an application, and would this actually be a worthwhile investment? Possibly, as it could bring in a large number of new players, but possibly not due to Apple’s notoriously strict screening of applications which may mean that it may not make it to their ‘App Store’.
Another issue with an application is that whenever an update is made to the game, the main site and all versions of the app will have to be coded accordingly, meaning any update will take substantially longer to implement.
W0utR, who doesn’t normally shy away from sharing his strong opinions on the Game Forum said, “If BSF would to get a native app, it would require him to do it both for iOS and Android, meaning he would have to use 2 different languages in order to make it work properly. This means that BL would use 3 different language to make 1 version, meaning that if he changes something he would have to change it 3 times. Not to mention he would have to submit his update to Apple, which takes at least 4 days. A mobile friendly version would solve this all, and as said before, give somebody enough money and you'll have this in a week.”
The drawbacks of an application seem to greatly outweigh the benefits.
Should a ’Mobile Friendly Version’ of Bootleggers be available?
A mobile friendly Bootleggers, optimised for viewing on a smartphone, shouldn’t be too difficult to create. It does not have the potential to bring in as many new players as an application would, but it would greatly improve the experience of playing Bootleggers, even if greatly simplified, possibly such as our design below.
What a mobile Bootleggers could look like.
So even if this version had limitedfunctionality, it could be useful for players that are away from their computers for a short period of time. Of course, shared IPs may be an issue, but players that access the normal site using a mobile network already have this issue. Finding a WiFi hotspot to use Bootleggers Mobile could help with this.
A familiar face for regular Buzz readers, Afty, says “In my opinion, it's difficult to make the entire site compatible with mobile phones. However, you could make a mobile version of the site, not to be a standalone version, for players to use when they cannot be on a computer. It could include messaging, crimes, GTA, gym, organised crimes, federal bank etc. It wouldn't have to cover every aspect of the game. It would just be a lite mobile version, so that if players HAVE to use mobile phones, they can. But it means that encouragement is still towards computer users.”
It looks like the majority agree that this could be the way forward for Bootleggers.
Should Bootleggers stay as it is?
It can be near impossible for BSF2000 to please every Bootleggers player, with some claiming that he should concentrate on the current bugs and new feature updates, rather than spending time on a mobile Bootleggers, when the main site can be accessed and almost fully utilised on a smartphone.
Not everyone can agree on what would be best for our game, but we can be sure that we will see similar Game Forum threads suggesting an app or similar in the future.
