Unclaimed or noneffective shootings seem to be becoming a common recurrence within Bootleggers. The most notable recent unclaimed wipe being that of The Sacred Empire, carried out by the user bakingaprettycake but not affiliated directly with any one crew. Many would of course question who has the resources, motivation and interest to take out a crew such as The Sacred Empire and find themselves with only one potential culprit in hand. But then, why would such an impressive wipe go unclaimed? It's all to do with the political way in which every crew on the game operates. Whether they make it public or not, it is the case that the majority of crews bear ties to other groups, whether these be power-hungry dominance seeking crews such as The Family and Asura or less powerful but tactically precise groups such as Most Wanted.
Crews often create deals with these groups, where possible involving properties (mainly Bullet Factories) as a bargaining chip, in order to create a mutually beneficial arrangement which will see the prolonged survival of all parties concerned and the success of those who seek it. The round so far is littered with such partnerships, many of which not lie in tatters unrecognizable to most. This is largely due to the fact that if the weaker of the two negotiating sides does not conform to the needs or demands of the dominant and usually underground sides part of the deal, they find themselves left high and dry by the departing group and in some cases even shot or wiped.
Now, this brings us on to our original point, as to what therefore results in a group perpetrating a shooting but then not laying claim to it? In my opinion there are a few possible reasons for this. The first is that they simply do not care to throw themselves into the limelight and prefer to maintain an element of mystery to their work. The second and usually all more common reason however, is one of strategy. When you target a crew or collection of players for a wipe, there are two possible motivations and they are as follows; you have a personal gripe with the person(s) or the second reason is that the targeted person(s) pose a threat to you as the shooter(s). If your reason for shooting is that the target is a threat, and you are an underground crew for example, with Statistics based ties that many users are aware of, you would not wish to bring more scrutiny upon this Statistics based arm of your operations.
Why? Well the Statistics side of many underground operations are vital, when used correctly. They provide a safe haven within which your shooters can rank with little speculation as to their motives. They provide effective pots into which your bullet streams flow and are then distributed from, sometimes at short notice, another useful factor. Some egotistical Bosses of such operations become so besotted with appeasing the more powerful aspect which controls their (in terms of the bigger picture) small operation that they come running, diving and somersaulting at the beck and call of such groups.
It is all part of the politics of the game. As much as this is a game, in a previous interview I conducted with AbuRagheb he stated, and I think rightly so, that we see a lot of real life characteristics conveyed through the way we play the game. I believe this is also the case in terms of crews, particularly those who strive for dominance. In a political sense (now I am from England, Great Britain so forgive me if this does not make 100% sense to you) you have many parties who fight for seats in the House of Commons. There are a few vastly dominant parties, and then perhaps twenty to thirty fringe parties which split the rest of the vote among the democracy. This can be said for Bootleggers in terms of the front running crews. There are perhaps three or four crews a round which have the careful strategic planning, the motivation, the longevity and the commitment to strive for either dominance or to be the most dominant force in the game (it should be noted, these are two very different things). There are also the fringe crews which either plod along doing their own thing, waiting for a miracle or alternatively they can try and brush shoulders with the big crews and hope to either become part of them or form some sort of coalition.
This is not to say that a smaller party cannot benefit through rubbing shoulders with those of power. The Phoenix Rebellion may be taken as a prime example of this. It would be silly to suggest that they have not engaged in activity which would constitute an alliance with a more powerful entity in earlier stages of this round and perhaps now still. Now this crew has a known history with Event Horizon, a crew which when seen on the Statistics is often as one of the most powerful crews on it. However given how this round has progressed, if you were to ask the question of who is more powerful at this point, Event Horizon or The Phoenix Rebellion, you may see a shift in votes from where we stood at an early point in the round. This being said, it is difficult to gauge the current standing of Event Horizon while they preside in the shadows.
However as can be seen of the coalition, if you can still call it that, which currently governs Great Britain, the smaller party which tried to rub shoulders with the more powerful has now been swallowed and lies in such a disrespected tattered state that they may as well start over. This is largely due to promises that have been broken by the more powerful half of this alliance, which this being said, couldn't of come to power had it not been for the smaller fish playing its part. An uncanny reflection in a way of what we see on Bootleggers. Smaller fringe crews attempt to hit the big time all to often by siding with the power groups. They are sold a bunch of broken promises and then left at the roadside to die, such is the naivety of the people leading these groups, sometimes in a more disrespected state than which they first set out from. Yet people continue to buddy up with the power guys. Why is this? Think about it.
