Each week we at the Buzz interview two random players of Bootleggers. This week we decided to interview ourselves. Ourselves?! That's bloody right, let's gooooo!
Constans
Hello there, writer of the week! Please introduce yourself to the one and only Bootleggers community! Hello there, my names Benjamin, I'm 19 and will be 20 next weekend, not to be confused with the little fat kid who did the youtube stunt, I work full time as a retail manager.
I'm looking forward to your next video Ben! Anyway, what exactly is a retail manager?! Basically I run the Menswear department in the store I work in, one of the biggest fashion retail chains in the UK at this moment in time. It covers everything from stock management, staff planning, floor layout and more!
You're almost 20 years old. Aren't you very young to lead such a store?! I'm the youngest manager in my region, but I'm only a Department Manager, there's Floor Managers, Assistant Managers and Store Managers above me! I've been with the company for 2 and a bit years to work my way up though.
Sounds good! Do you study (or did you study) anything or are you more a person who'd likes to work? I did my A-Levels but never took them on to university. My A-Levels were in Law, Psychology, Biology and Sports Studies, and I did a little flutter of gym instructing which I have some certificates for too. But studies don't interest me anymore, money is the motivation!
It's pretty risky to start working so fast. You have to work till you're old and gray, why start so early? It's fine, I've got a baby face. Well, I suppose I just wanted to make my own way in life, got a flat of my own (rented of course) and stuff like that, always been one who'd rather get stuck in than sit in a classroom.
If you had to choose a study, what would you pick? Law, hands down. Criminal law to be specific, but at A-level Law was always my favourite class especially studying case law.
That's pretty different than a retail manager?! My job is a passion I found by chance I suppose, whereas law has always been a keen interest from a fairly young age.
Seems legit. Time for some extremely interesting Bootleggers related questions. You're part of the Buzz Team. Why did you join the Buzz?! I've played Bootleggers for years and years, since I was about 12 (if I remember correctly), and I felt like I wanted to put some time into the game that has given me a lot of fun times over the years, so I joined the Buzz! I've been a writer on and off since round 5.
Nice! What's your opinion of the current state of the game? It was better when you started playing?! The game has changed, whether that be for better or worse I suppose largely depends on the style of play you adopt as an individual. As it is, the game favours those who put the effort in, which in my opinion is good. However, it does create more of a gulf between the strongest and weakest. I don't think the days of Round 2/3/4 will ever be recaptured, but with a little care shown by the owners I think we could definitely see a game improvement not least in the active user base, creating more diversity and opportunity for change.
What about the amount of players. Too low? Yes, we have obviously seen a lot of players leave the game and this is not in balance with the amount of new players the game is attracting. We are told Bootleggers has been search engine optimised, however this, in my opinion, isn't much help in terms of generating decent number of new players. We need more advertising through other sites and social media networks.
How would you advertise if you were BSF2000? How can you attract players to follow Bootleggers on Twitter and Facebook? I think the best way of advertising the game is through the players who currently play. Imagine, every player tells 10 friends about the game. Now, the law of averages says that not all 10 will sign up, not all of those who sign up will stay, but say 1 in 10 does. You then recycle the process, and they tell their friends. He has a few options. Now, I don't claim to be an expert in this field so my ideas may be basic and perhaps not great, but it's just an idea. I would start by offering an incentive for referring people to the game, and not some shitty reward, something actually decent. Following this, I would focus on fancy advertising animated images and perhaps a youtube campaign. Neither of these things need to be expensive, the youtube aspect could of course be free. Start a youtube channel which could attract attention, used by say, Mods, HDOs and Buzz. It could include games, competitions, news and more. Subscribers breed subscribers so this could result in free advertisement. Other advertisement space needs to be smartly sourced to target the audience which the game plays best to. So in my opinion, the 14-25 age group. Study the sites most commonly used by these individuals and source effective advertisement space with some of the money which we plow into the game. Simple.
Fair enough! What's your opinion of the Elite Guard? I honestly don't think there is much more they could do than what they are doing. Sky is working hard as we can all see, as are Mika and Aldarion. As for Riserva, if he contributes in the way Sky depicts in his interview in last weeks Buzz, then fair enough. I don't think this excuses gross inactivity and he might want to consider his position should this become super-extended beyond what it is. BSF is of course BSF, I am disgusted at times and pleasantly surprised at others. Not much has changed over the years in terms of his performance. Let's wait and see how the proposed updates come along this round though, and then maybe he can win back some support should they see a resurgence in the game.
Understandable. Why would someone join the Buzz?! Well, the Buzz is actually a lot of fun. It gives you the chance to put something back into the game as well. Further to this, you get to meet a massively diverse group of people through the stories and interviews you cover.
I totally agree! Ready for some random foolish questions? Lion King or Tarzan? Lion King! AHHH SIBENYAAA!
Justin Bieber or Gemma Atkinson? Gemma Atkinson of course. Also I hope Justin Bieber is serious that he won't be touring the UK away, means I can put my Barret .50cal back into storage.
Roflcopters united! Favourite song? At this moment in time, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Jimmy Iovine (ft. Ab-Soul)
Fair enough. If you had to demote on Moderator, who would you demote? Riserva, back down to standard Moderator, as I think from a player perspective he does not undertake enough 'Senior' duties.
Seems legit. Same question for the Help Desk Operators! Himmel, for the simple reason he's clearly the most inactive of the HDOs.
Fair enough. Obsessed by Disney characters? Some of them amuse me haha.
Alrighty Ben! First of all, thanks for being such a dedicated writer. Now, what's behind your name?! Well, recently I have taken to using names from ancient history. Constans was the third youngest son of Constantine The Great and was a Roman Emporer 337-350 along with his two brothers as they split the kingdom when their father died. The story of his fight is very interesting but he was eventually assassinated by the Roman armys general Magnetius because he favoured a barbarian guard, which didn't go down to well. But he went down because of something he believed in, which is admirable in its own right I think!
That's deep, very deep. Anything you'd like to add?! I shall either find a way or make one. Impossible is nothing but the confines of your own imagination.
You're on drugs? Is this still part of the interview?
Now it is! In which case yes I am on drugs, but I do not promote their taking or recreational use, unless medicinal.
ShyGuyIX (interviewed by Constans)
Hey there, you massive twat, would you please introduce yourself for the people of Bootleggers. Hello there you fat cunt. My name is Max, I am 20 years old and I am from the Netherlands. I study Accountancy and at this moment I'm writing my thesis, which is finished in nine weeks. In September I'm going to start a Deloitte as an accountant which means my life will only be more miserable than it already is!
Sounds interesting! (sort of) What will starting this Deloitte involve doing? Accountancy isn't boring, God damnit! Well, as an accountant you have to audit the financial statements of several companies. I'm part of the team which audits relatively medium enterprises (companies with more than 100 million revenue, but no listed companies). Each week I will visit a different company with a different team for a fancy audit!
I see. Has this always been a passion of yours or something you discovered late in life? I was extremely lucky. At high school I had the choice of four directions; technology, healthcare, art or economics. I am extremely clumsy with computers and stuff so technology wasn't an option. I hate blood so healthcare wasn't an option either. I hate most museums, which means economics was the only option left. My brother is an accountant too and he explained that he was working with financial statements of several companies. I'd like to work with numbers, so I picked the study Accountancy. At the second year of my study I discovered that accountancy was way more than some numbers. You have a lot contact with a lot different persons and it's a very various job. Each week you're doing something else!
I see. What's your dream job? Poe, that's a hard question. At the accountancy you have several ''ranks''. The highest rank is called a partner, which earns more than 500,000 euro a year. I don't think that is my dream job. It's pretty normal that when you work as an accountant you leave after several years and start working at a company which is a customer of (in my example) Deloitte. I think my dream job is becoming CFO of such a company.
I see. Okay, what are your other hobbies away from being a boring accountant? Being an awesome accountant?! I used to play Hockey and usually I run a few kilometers a week. I go to the pub nearly every weekend with some friends and I'm a pretty active poker player.
I'm going to fall asleep if we carry on about accountancy. So, on to Bootleggers. Why did you first join the Buzz? Let's ignore that comment. I joined the Buzz, because I'd love to write and Poison, the previous Editor, gave me a chance of joining the Buzz. I used to be a very serious player who was always playing underground and try to kill as many accounts as possible. I decided to do something different, contribute something to the game as a Buzz Writer.
You just haven't got round to the writing bit yet I see?! But seriously, opinion on the current state of the game? One word; delegating. The current state of the game, I already expected that question (clever eh?!). I believe the amount of players is too low and the amount of marketing is pathetic. I believe we really have to get active on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. I also believe several features need to change. I am not a fan of the Federal Bank feature, because it results in laziness and domination. I think Bootleggers would be fantastic without 3% interest a day. Unfortunately I don't think that will happen, which means a different feature needs an update; the killing system. It's extremely unrealistic that one player can kill an entire crew or more than 100 players.
I see. And if you were to be in charge, how would you change things? I would change the 3% interest into 0%. If that's possible, I wouldn't change the Kill System. If it wasn't possible to change the daily interest, I would make sure a player can only shoot 5 players a hour. About the marketing of Bootleggers... Make sure players are following Bootleggers on Twitter and they like the Bootleggers page on Facebook. Such a motivation is pretty hard and I believe a reward is the only option for now.
Okay! I think it is time for some other questions. BSF or Riserva? BSF2000 is awesome.
And you thought I was on drugs. Money and unknown or famous and poor? Famous and poor, but not too famous.
Emma Watson or Rupert Grint? Emma Watson. Eventually they both will be murdered in my basement.
Ginger or strawberry blonde? Strawberry blonde.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why? Good one. I can be quite bossy if things aren't going at the way I want.
I agree! Okay, so finally, Max, my long-term lover and full time sexual chat buddy, what's behind your name? I find that extremely sexual. Well, I used to play Nintendo games, such as Mario Kart and Mario Tennis and I always picked the character named 'ShyGuy'. He has an awesome voice and he's amazing, just like me.
Anything you'd like to add before I let you go play out in the sun? I am extremely happy to have you in the Buzz Team and I'm looking forward to a lot of amazing issues!
