"How do you keep doing it", I ask myself everyday. "With so much to do in real life how do I find the time to successfully run a crew and stay active in this game whilst there always seems to be some kind of issue regarding Bootleggers". To be honest it's the fact that this game has a feature that isn't described in the ToS that keeps dragging you back. I constantly go through this pretty much everyday. To explain to you what I mean I got to take u back in time approximately one year, five months and one week in time to when I first joined Bootleggers. Well, rather should I say when I rejoined from a previously playing this game in 2006.
It all started back when I was in college. A friend of mine had shown me this cool online text based mafia game that resembled another that I used to play based around the same prohibition era of the 1920's. I was really addicted to that game that my younger brother had once shown me so I decided to give this one a try. Within the first few days of playing it I can honestly say it was a lot more refreshing than the other game I played. Under the name of TonyMontana, I had come across players that were a lot more friendly and even to the extent that when I asked a player for some money to help me play the game he in fact did send me a couple of thousands. Maybe due to the fact he was a billionaire or just his generosity I couldn't really tell. It was also around that time that college exams were approaching so sadly within a week I decided to stop playing.
Now let's teleport through a worm hole in time to march 27th 2011. I had been doing an over night revision session with a few friends at university revising for a human physiology and anatomy exam when we decided to take a break. Following my usual route of unwinding during this deserve break I decided to do what I normally do and find an online game to play. Was I looking for a really time consuming game like bootleggers? Not in the slightest. I firstly looked through a search engine which we all recognise very well as google for gangster games to play (Dont ask why but I just felt like playing something in that genre). Google then came up with several mafia based games to play when out sheer luck and intervention I was struck, yes struck but this thought was one that I couldn't really grasp. "What was the name of that game I played in college", I thought over and over again. I dug deep in my thoughts and several minutes passed when it struck me again. I had the name. Out of great anticipation I went on to the page and registered an account, Stow_General, only for my break to be over. A few weeks had passed and the thought of this game had totally disappeared from all the corners of my conscious mind when out of nowhere, I had received an email. "Bootleggers misses you", the email read. Feeling like a kid who had just found a sweet that they had lost I jumped at this opportunity to log back in and play this game.
Now came the task of actually playing this game. "How do I approach this", I questioned myself. I did what had worked for me in the past and decided to ask a few crew bosses for money and see who responds. I firstly asked the boss of Pee Wee playhouse (who at that time were banned) but no response had been received. I went on to ask several other crews before embarking on a response. The message tone had came up and what appears to be a flashing crate. "Finally a response", I said to myself in relief. Thursday, the boss of The Revival had given me a reply. Until now I can't remember what was said but several messages were thrown back and forth. She'd given me money to OC and that's where my journey really started. I continued speaking to her pretty much everyday and received a response almost immediately each I sent her a bootmail. She acted almost as a help desk operator. Why did she do this? Only she can tell you that. To be honest, at the time I didn't even realise such a feature was present nor did she tell me to go and create a ticket but rather guided me through the game until I got to my Boss rank. That was when devastation occurred. I've seen it happen several times before to others but never believed my time would come.
I logged on one night to see a message I thought I would never see. "You have been killed". Anger, frustration, annoyance. Three of many emoticons I had felt at the time. Chasing down the culprit I managed to find the slimy worm who did it. CharlieSheen. I then spoke with Thursday to explain what had happened and a response was something I didn't expect. She had just sent me 50,000 to rise back up. After several months of ranking up and joining another crew I got the call I was waiting for. I had been accepted into the The Revival. I jumped at that opportunity. After all I deserved it. Many months of getting to know the crew whilst using their crew pics to stay alive, I felt like I was already one of them and once I got that invite, I have never looked back.
A few months down the line and my future in Bootleggers seemed bright. I introduced my brothers and cousins to the game but like all of us, there comes a time we must leave. I Left and came back numerous times but I have always managed to come back due to the basic fact that I had made so many friends in that crew. What people tend to forget through all their whining is that this game is a social media site in its own right. Sure a few features don't work and yes it's correct to say that they are really important features but one main feature works really well. The feature that allows us to interact with our friends and that everyone is why I keep playing, am so active and will continue to do so. As long as I have friends here, I will continue to be here and be active.
