First things first a quick update on what I'm working on. Both Mika and I have alluded to a new feature that will look as if Organized Crimes and Bootlegging had a baby. I'm happy to report that the meat of this is done and being tested by the Elite Guard. Over the coming days I'll finish it off, give it a polish and submit it for further testing amongst the EG and the Help Desk Operators. Once the bugs have been ironed out and it's been tested to death that will be released along with a redesign of another page. Nothing groundbreaking but the game needs modernizing and that's what I'm here to do.
I'd like to remind everyone that I think of myself as working for you. You're my audience, and if there's something you don't like about the game you need to let me know, via the Help Desk or by starting a discussion about it in the Game Forum. If it's something I can change on my own I'll probably do it right away. If it's something bigger than me then I'll bring it to the attention of Mika and Aldarion and we'll talk about what can be done, if anything. If it's something bigger than the three of us, we'll save it for when we eventually manage to talk to the higher-ups again, which should hopefully be soon.
Enough bloviating. I asked you in the Game Forum what you wanted to know, and I hope I've given you the answers you wanted. If I didn't, I'll probably be doing this again next month so keep your eyes on the forum for another topic.
In bold you will find the question, in italics you will find my response. So simple even I can follow the logic.
Mr_President: Maybe the shift of players mindsets over time on BL? Instead of trying to dominate properties and form dominant crews who try amd top the previous ones, people would rather just go for the bust record... Look at JP or whatever they are now, could easily be a dominant crew by their ranks, but they'd rather bust instead of bootlegg. It's certainly undeniable that there is more of a focus on the peaceful actions now but that's not necessarily a bad thing. As part of a crew's quest to be the best busters on the stats they might want to wipe their nearest rivals. I agree though that we ought to encourage some of the more aggressive actions. That is in part why the States page now shows which Crew is the most dominant, and once the Crew update is rolled out we'll see a bunch more reasons for people to try harder to dominate
virelS: Whats the future holding for Bootleggers, how do you intend to get the community bigger and more active? 2Lazy2DoCrimes: I want to know the view of the Elite Guard of what, according to them, BL is all about? The big picture, where do they wish to go with BL? How are they intenting to get there? As the plan stands now, the pending updates are released, Crew and Kill updates are released, and then work starts on a mobile site. I'm going to be pushing BSF to look into rolling this into an app which can be advertised in app stores for free and offer people unique advantages like push notifications. Combined with the steps already being taken, such as the search engine optimization, more reason for people to share things on Facebook, and a referral system that rewards activity.
ItsAlmostOver: Why does the highest rank (N.Don) can only carry 75 crates of booze, yet the Gymnasium for strength goes up to 40 (Which, technically, should allow him to carry 80 booze) Whats the the points of the extra strength he has to work on? TheWridgeous: Why does the agility levels go up to 40, while a level higher than 15 is useless. This is strange because strength and stamina still have use when they reach maximum. I wasn't included in the discussion when the gymnasium was dreamt up, but when the figures were originally worked out guns and protection required much greater levels than they do now. I can't speak with any real authority on this but my only conclusion can be that the intention was that to posses the best gun or protection one would require maxed out levels. Evidently that changed somewhere along the line. You're right though, it is weird that N Don's are capped at 75. It's something I'll take a look at. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future each gym feat plays a greater role in more and more parts of the game.
quit_and_nuts: Sky, just write an article about your typical day on bootleggers. What are all the tasks you do during the day for Bootleggers? Well I'm quite lazy. Typically the first thing I do when I wake up, and I mean the first thing, is log in to BL and take a cursory look at the important things. The EG crew forum, the High Rollers Forum, the Buzz Forum, the Game Forum, my mailbox, the Issue Tracker. I don't pay much attention to the Help Desk unless I'm asked to by one of my esteemed colleagues. If there's nothing urgent, such as a bug or flaw that needs to be fixed, I reply to whatever needs to be replied to, log off and get ready for the day. If it's a work day I'm usually not back online until about 6PM my time, at which time I start the process over again. If it's not a work day I try to be online for as long as I'm at my laptop. If I've got something I'm working on I'll either be working on it or mulling on it and trying to decide whether or not I hate what I've done and whether I should start over. And that's about it. I'm a terrible Moderator really.
Anim: Why was moxie, one of the most notorious cheaters on BL ever, removed from the Ban on Sight list. What caused this? He was even playing while being on BoS. As I'm sure you may have guessed, I can't comment on the Ban-on-Sight list nor the names on the list, previously or currently. However I can comment on the process, and will say that to be removed from the BoS list one must first appeal to BSF and Riserva whom will make a decision entirely between themselves. If they decide to allow the appeal the user in question is placed on probation. Violation of even a minor rule will result in the user being placed right back on the BoS list..
Stow_General9: When will you remove Busting, Uno and all those shit (I know Uno is fun but fuck it)? I would like to see more shooting and competitive behaviour from players. More competition = less chance of domination from any one crews. Busting + Uno = More lazy players (lazy in terms of shooting or planning shootings) and less competition. I know it's not really a serious question but come guys, this game is turning to shit now. If I have to remove busting and Uno, do I also remove casinos? Jail games? The Buzz? These things aren't here to help you shoot your least favourite Crew, nor to distract you from doing it, they're here to give you something else to do while you're waiting. These things enrich the overall game experience. Without them really what's the point of being here? In the same way that anyone who plays BL just to bust or play Uno may as well just be playing Farmville, anyone who plays just to dominate and shoot may as well be playing Halo.
DTOXOLUSII: I think myself and loads of other people would be very interested in hearing numbers in regards to cheating. How many dupes are founds, how much money has been taken from the game when you banned a scripter. How much money was taken from the game when you guys started banning so called banker accounts? Here's what I can give you:
Bans placed under the category of dupe: 1,077
Approx money possessed by users banned for "Exploiting scripts/bugs": $7,089,159,127
Approx money possessed by users banned for being a suspected holder: $3,399,573,010
Stow_General9: What are the chances of an update being released that will force crews to be more competitive instead of being idle crews (by idle I mean just busting and shit like that)? We need more shooting from crews rather that from just a few handful crews. A crew spot should mean something. After much discussion between BSF2000, Riserva, Mika, Aldarion and myself we have a plan for a new Crew system and Kill system that will dramatically change the dynamic of the game and will massively increase the value of a Crew spot, and make it far more important than it currently is that members of each spot are active.
Sniff_My_Moo: I'd like to know who is on the BOS list, how many names etc... I can't tell you who's on it but I can tell you we have 23 users, with a further 8 on probation. These span many rounds and many reasons, such as scripting, duping, advertising, hacking and attacking the servers.
Minius: How are Help Desk Operators chosen? If we feel the Help Desk is understaffed we start to look around for names we've seen as being especially helpful in the forums. Inevitably each of us will suggest a name and the rest of us will research into the user and weigh in with our opinions and impressions of the person. We also consider how well they cater to any timezones which are underserved. It's not always a Buzz writer. It's not always someone really active in the forum. Sometimes it's an active buster, or a strong Crew leader.
Oren: Why do people change when they get power? Do you feel you have changed the past years? I don't think I've changed that much, but then I don't really have power. Any I do have is largely symbolic. The way the current team works we enforce a rule of majority on ourselves. If we don't agree as a majority we don't do it at all. For every one change we'd made we've discussed and decided against five. If I've changed in anyway it's that I've closed off my mailbox. When I was promoted I decided I'd never use the Busy status, I'd always be accessible. But shortly after being given access to the code I found I couldn't spare the time to engage in banter with players at random at all hours. Waking up with 12 new messages gets tedious after a few days. I apologise that I'm a little out of touch in that regard but I hope my forum activity and the activity of my green and yellow colleagues makes up for it. Each of them makes sure I see what I need to see and reply to what I need to reply to.
BloodyRed: I'd like you to consider a feature update myself and others suggested before, that is to have an option in bust comps to set cash per bust and automatically distribute the pot among winners, regards. This is something I've tried in a half-arsed way and then given up on because I hadn't made the interface friendly enough. I will try again because it's something people want and it's something that ought to be easy to do. For anyone but me, that is.
Alan89: I would like to know if ranking with max stats will still give you gym rewards? That bug was changed around a week ago, so now that if you've maxed out a gym aspect then it won't be included as a reward, and if you maxed out all gym aspects then you won't get any levels at all.
FuckleDeeFuckleDoo: What's your honest opinion on the future of BL? Is there a legitimate chance that it could make a comeback after new features, or is it too late to save it from BSF's absence and poor decision making on previous updates? Will BSF's attitude going forward make or break this game, or could it overcome his continued non-involvement? I think there is a reasonable chance that the Crew and Kill update, and a well timed reset, could bring back some of the former players as well as make the game feel fresh and require a player-wide change in mindset and method of play.
Hippy: I wonder what your view (Sky) is about the hostility against "friendly crews/people"... We do no harm, which seems to offend a lot of people. What do you think about this situation? Would we offend less people if we do shoot? To me that's the complete opposite of logics... What to you think? You aren't a new breed. For as long as Bootleggers has existed there has been different player types, be they shooters, busters, forum whores. What we're experiencing now is a mass-departing of shooters as they all go underground and become far less active in the forums. That leaves the visible impression that the game is populated exclusively by passive people, when in actuality it's just that they are the only ones we see actively. There's no point being hostile toward the "friendly" players. Instead we need to try and drag shooters into the open.
