Every day there are new players. Every day there are new questions and every day same questions are asked over 20 times! These questions are primarily the job of the Help Desk Operators, more commonly known as HDOs, to answer and give best advice to each player. For over a month in this round, altrozero held this role by himself, being the only user capable of having a yellow name on the users online page. Well now he has two new companions and they are Poison and FlyingDeathSquirrel!
Both these players got promoted late on Sunday 4th March 2012, just before The Buzz was released, hence why the article on Poison’s promotion is in this issue! Most people might think twice about asking “poison” for help as it is a substance, that when absorbed, causes injury or death! Pretty high price for some help, but as Bootleggers isn’t real life (shock, horror!) we’re all pretty safe around this person!
For those who don’t know Poison, here is a brief summary. Poison started playing Bootleggers in 2004 and has been on and off ever since, up until now he’s been very active. Poison ran an underground crew long ago called The Thompson Brothers, which eventually hit the statistics page. He also once shot all bullet factory owners and ended up owning every single one himself for a brief while. Since then, Poison has stuck around and writes for The Buzz often. We asked Poison how he was asked to join the Bootleggers staff and becoming a HDO. He stated, “I was asked by a combination of Riserva and Mika. I was talking to them both about trying to get the Buzz published that Sunday when suddenly they both BM me saying that there were two articles missing from the Buzz and that it was 'unlike me not to be on the ball'. As FlyingDeathSquirell had already been promoted I soon twigged this was one of them, but couldn't for the life of me figure out the other.
Riserva eventually put me out of my misery, explaining the other missing article was about me becoming a HDO.”
It only took Poison a mere 30 seconds to decide on whether to accept or reject the offer. It was an easy decision for him as he enjoys helping out players and this will give him more of an opportunity to do so, as well as making the game a bit more fun for himself! Now that Poison is a HDO he personally hopes he can create that metaphorical bridge over the gap between the players and the staff of Bootleggers. He’s stated that he has spent over seven years as a normal player so he can understand the frustrations of most of the community. The only down side is that now the forum pages look weird with the “delete” and “mute” buttons at his disposal! I asked Poison whether he posted on the forums in a specific way, as if to get noticed by the staff members, but Poison insisted that it was just all natural for himself and players who know him from beforehand can vouch for this.
The Buzz then spoke to Riserva, the head moderator, to try and find out his reason of choosing Poison over all the other players to become a HDO. Unfortunately, he stated that if he told me he’d have to kill me. I like Poison, but I wouldn’t die for the guy! Riserva stated that he and the other moderators had been looking for potential HDO’s since the start of round 7 after BSF2000 gave them permission to scout. He stated that they went through A LOT of potential applicants before narrowing it down to the lucky two which we now know as Poison and FlyingDeathSquirrel!
We also managed to get hold of Sky whilst he had a few minutes free from his ever so busy schedule! Sky stated that some nights he would go to sleep with no outstanding Help Desk tickets but in the morning he could be facing 50+ questions waiting to be answered! Sky also stated that altrozero was starting to feel very lonely and wanted some new yellow friends, so the Elite Guard went on the hunt! Also, with the substantial increase in players, one HDO just simply wasn't enough. I asked Sky why he decided to choose Poison. He stated, “I think he's a great choice. He's been consistently helpful in the forums as well as contributing greatly to the Buzz and the BootCast. I look forward to coming up with new names for him when he dies.” That’s another unique part to the job that isn’t usually as plainly obvious as everything else. HDOs do, for some strange reason, have a higher death rate than most other players! So Poison will need help with future names for himself! All suggestions can be posted below for him!
Unfortunately, as is common with Bootleggers. Not every single player in the community is happy about this. Why ever not? I hear you ask. Surely there can’t be anything wrong with another staff member to help out the general community with day to day questions and queries? Well I chose a random person to speak to and this person goes by the name of Username, better known as DerangedAngel and when asked for his opinion on Poison being promoted, his reply was, “It should have been me to be chosen as HDO! Also it's great we have another sanctimonious player who thinks they know the game again, they make great target practice.” But we hope Poison doesn't take this to heart! As a lesson we have learnt on Bootleggers is that They'll hate you if you're pretty. They'll hate you if you're not. They'll hate you for what you lack and they'll hate you for what you got." Yes, The Buzz writers do love a bit of poetry!
All of The Buzz wishes both HDOs the best of luck with their new roles and hope they do the game well! Could there be more HDO promotions? Who knows? But be sure not to ask to be one, that will almost certainly take you off the potential list!
