Hello and welcome to the sixth installment of The Chat, an article which sees an interview with a member of the Bootleggers community and seeks out their opinions and views on the hot topics of the time. This weeks chat features Boss of Jailbreak Paradise, MrPatjuh and sees us get his view on all things relative such as shooting, the future of the round and the safety of crews.
We kicked off our time with MrPatjuh by asking what he thought about the blatant slow of pace shown in the game in recent weeks. Is this due to the round being, as claimed by many, dead? Or perhaps more of a game-wide reflection as more people quit, retire or just leave? My own opinions of this round being 'dead' can be found in Issue sixty-two of the Buzz. But what did MrPatjuh think? He told us, "In my opinion it's both. It's isn't rare that during a round more and more people leave, but before in previous rounds, there would always be enough players left and that isn't the case now is a sign of the game slowly dying." Going on to say, "So yea, I think this round is almost dead, but also the game as a whole is slowly dying." Cries for action to be taken and updates to made to combat the continued subsidence of user levels in the game are there for all to see, but are they falling on deaf ears? BSF2000 barely communicates with the users of the game, but for the occasional two thousand character article he places in the Buzz or a misleading profile update. Yet we still wait in disillusioned hope that we may suddenly see some sort of turn around. Perhaps it may be a better idea to, instead of moaning about something we don't have, enjoying the game for what it gives us and given then opportunity, take it by the scruff of the neck and see where we end up!
However, as I have always said, what is criticism without proposal for improvement? It is nothing. We asked MrPatjuh what, given the opportunity, he would do to improve things around here. He told us, "That's extremely hard to say, but I think changes are needed. Achievements and blackjack are nice, but I think the blackjack update will not keep people here or force people to come back. Achievements might help with it though. Those are a proven instrument to get people more involved in the game. Give them a goal. And I think the announced crew update will really help. When it has more benefits to be in a crew I think the general game play would change more." As has been the case in so many interviews, the interviewee along with many of the communities members, appears to be waiting the indefinite amount of time for proposed updates that we see no sign of materializing any time soon. This is of course not to say they won't at some point. But when is anybodies guess!
We moved on from the often repetitive subject of updates to focus on crews and the kill system. Our first question on these subjects for MrPatjuh concerned the kill system and whether the games already stringent realism is compromised further by a single user being able to, where organised, kill for example one hundred and fifty account in the space of a few minutes. MrPatjuh appeared to empathize with both sides of the argument regarding this, as he said, "The killing system? Well, it isn't realistic that you can kill 150 people in 5 minutes, but I can see why people don't want it changed. This game is about killing so it shouldn't be to hard either." This addresses the risk that changes to the kill system entail, as making mass shootings more difficult could see the killing pendulum swing too far in the other direction. MrPatjuh went on to say, "But I'd like to see what would happen if it changed to limited kills per set ammount of time. If you want to wipe a crew then you might need several people to do that. I think that would be nice for a change. But I understand it might not be realistic." This is an update which has been called for previously on Forums. The idea of needing to co-operate and work in tandem with others to achieve larger scale killings is one which has gathered support and momentum when previously debated.
Next on our agenda was shootings. The week previous saw the wipe (all be it momentary) of The Sacred Empire from the Statistics, an impressive shooting which not only saw the Boss and above but lower ranks killed off in what is commonly referred to as an 'old-school' wipe. The shooting however went unclaimed, but was not without speculation as to whom was behind it. Was this a sign that certain groups who strive for dominance are now turning their attention to Statistics based crews? This following the wipe of Padrinos Palace previously. The common factor of course between these crews is that they are in possession of Bullet Factories, which despite being an often undervalued and increasingly un-talked of asset, are a key part of many crews success in this round. But how does MrPatjuh feel the shootings reflect on what could be a further swerve in the dynamic of the round? He responded saying, "If that are the goals some people have I think that's completely fair. Personally, I wouldn't get to much out of shooting a crew without a reason. But the point that people will shoot crews without a reason makes sure no crew is safe. Even if you play peaceful there is still a chance you'll get shot." So perhaps a message for crews to stay on their toes, but whatever you read into the shootings of late, speculation as to who may be next seems futile with the majority of action streaming from the underground, which seems an increasingly safe place to be with the lack of Asura culls of late!
We concluded our interview with MrPatjuh by asking where he felt the future of the round lies. The answer was far from optimistic of inspiring in all honesty, as he said, "I think this round will be mostly waiting for the big updates such as the crew update. Untill that nothing really will chance as it is now. Maybe some more people will leave and it will get more even more inactive, but as long as there is a full jail in Illinois I'm happy." Well, whatever you choose as your venture for what indefinite amount of time may remain in this round, is seems the element of uncertainty will play it's part more than ever, as the community as a collective are surprised week on week by the sparing shootings that occur. Who might be next? Who knows.
