You have been killed. Yes, that’s right. The multitude of hours spent incessantly clicking through those profitable booze runs, striving to join organized crimes and attempting to bust fellow Bootleggers out of jail have culminated in the total cessation of your online persona. This heart sinking moment occurs all too frequently among contemporary Bootleggers’ players. However, the modern Bootlegger is resilient. Once killed, a new account is created without a moment’s hesitation. The young Bootlegger is not deterred and seeks to re-establish his or her self within prohibition era America.
And yet, the Bootlegger suffers. How are our deaths commemorated? Until last week, the creation of a ‘RIP thread’ had been standard procedure in the Game Forum. But wait. The yellow text of the Updates page has provoked an upheaval in the Bootlegger’s social behaviour. The updated stated:
The "Graveyard" has been added to the Campaign section of the menu displaying all users who have died in the past 7 days, and offering people a chance to leave a comment, and more...
Why was this feature added? What value does it bring? How should we use it? I approached the Elite Guard for the answers. Sky remarked that ‘To a certain extent it was to clear the RIP topics out of the Game Forum, which could sometimes be a blight. But to a far greater extent it was to make much more of an event out of someone's death. You can now leave a lasting message to your friend or enemy, and you can see at a glance the true feelings of the community toward that particular player’. The graveyard therefore seems to introduce an interesting new concept to the game. In the eyes of this reporter, it is certainly true that the ‘RIP threads’ have become effective non-threads. There is usually little interaction and the Bootlegger conforms to the standardised social behaviour of posting ‘RIP’. Moreover, during a large shooting spree the Game Forum can be completely spammed with these topics, removing more discussion based threads from public view.
This reporter applauds the feature’s attempt to make a Bootlegger’s death more of an event and to stimulate interaction around it. We can leave comments and also pay a small fee of $5,000 to either pay our respects or harm the grave stone of the deceased. However, it seems that the feature can go further and become better integrated into the wider framework of the game. For instance, if the Bootlegger has an acclaimed reputation, why not provide him or her with shortened timers for the first few days of their new account, and conversely lengthen them for a poor reputation? If he or she has an excellent reputation, increase the speed it takes to verify a witness statement and vice-versa? What do you think of these suggestions? How would you integrate this feature further? Please comment below.
Of course, this reporter could not pass up the chance to further question the Elite Guard regarding other updates. When quizzed on the infamous Achievements and Blackjack features, Sky commented ‘as far as I can tell, BJ and achievements were nearly done several weeks ago. I'm sure BSF2000 has a reason, all I can offer is advice to be patient.’ While with regards to future updates he stated ‘As Mika has discussed we're in the early stages of a feature that'll look like OCs and bootlegging had a baby. That will take some thought, development and serious testing before we see that'. Now, keep an eye out in future Buzz issues for further information!
