The past ten days we’ve experienced the Summer Madness days brought to you by the Bootleggers staff. When Sky first announced these daily special events we didn’t know what to expect, it could turn out to be anything for all we knew.
The first day came on August 1 and everyone who logged in received a free 7-day timer to remind them of doing crimes, auto burglary and all other stuff. The real event of the day was of course that train station had his timer halved, this day you only needed to wait 45 minutes to hop on the next train instead of the usual one and a half hour.
On August 2, the second day of the Summer Madness, we discovered there were bullets to be found in the trunk of a car. Some people who hadn’t stolen a car in ages decided to use their car theft skills once more for some extra ammunition. Then, the third day the players received more than Sky had expected at first, and in other ways than intended by the staff.
The topic created by Sky clearly stated that you would gain bullets by successfully doing crimes, but the players soon discovered that working out at the gym while being in jail would also gain you bullets, this strongly increased the in game bullet count as more and more people found out the real madness of that particular day. This may or may not have led to the next day being a rest day with no madness to enjoy.
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to recover some booze in every corner of the game as well as receiving additional money when busting someone out of jail. Thursday we enjoyed our gymnasium timers being halved and Friday the crime timers, as well as some additional money when committing a felony. Fridays event stretched onto Saturday when were also rewarded with halved organized time timers.
Where one could have argued that the Summer Madness days weren’t going to be very mad after all, Mika decided to try and change this for the better by organizing Bootleggers first Running Man! It was Thursday when he announced this strange but exciting event and was getting positive feedback all over. We at the Buzz got Mika to sit down and have a talk with us about it.
Has the Running Man been a pre-planned event just like the rest of the Summer Madness days, or was it thought up during these days as a bonus event? The event was thought up by me during the Summer Madness, and I basically used the fact that it was going on as an excuse to host it.
How does it work? Once you are selected to be a Running Man you will be asked to apply to The Running Man crew. When accepted the hunt will begin. Every hour, some states will be declared danger states and if you are in one of those states at the time you will be shot by our hunter, EvanMcCone. If you are lucky you may survive, but he is quite deadly so you will want to avoid being caught. New states are selected by popular vote every two to eight hours. How much time is between each voting round is decided randomly (and based in part on my sleeping schedule). After every round, two more states will be added. This means that we will go from two, to four, six and eventually eight danger states. As said before, if you are found to be in the selected danger states (your location will be determined at a random point in time shortly before, during or after the voting) you will be shot and will, in all likelihood, die. If you survive all the voting rounds and manage to stay safe then you have won the game and are no longer a running man.
How can one become a running man? In order to join you will need to correctly answer a question in a question topic which will be created on the Game Forum. It may be clearly visible or somewhat hidden. The time at which these topics will be created will not be announced, you will have to keep an eye on the forums for them. Players who have correctly answered the question will be added to a dice game, and the winner of the dice game will be selected to play the game. Players who are ranked Thug or above qualify to play the game.
How can other people then use the running man to earn money? you can still earn some money but without risking your account! When participating in this game, the odds are stacked the participant. He is not a running man for nothing. As stated, danger states are selected by public votes. Every time new danger states are to be selected a topic will be created on the game forum, asking the public to vote on what state they feel should become a danger state. Every player is allowed one (1) vote per topic/voting round, and the best part is: your vote is worth cash! If a state in which a competitor is located is selected as a danger state then every player who voted for this state will receive $250,000. When the competitor is killed as a result of this another $100,000 is added to this amount, meaning a grand total of $350,000 just for your vote!
How and why did you come up with The Running Man? I was reading the book/story from Stephen King and thought to myself (just as I did with The Hunger Games): hey, this can be adapted to a BL format and could be fun. The why I cannot really answer. It's the way my brain works, I guess.
Was the sole purpose of this to make a game beat every Russian roulette ever done by Sky? Not at all. The thought to even try that has never even occurred to me.
Or was it yet another successful attempt to kill of an Help Desk Operator? It was not, but the fact that I got to kill one was a nice bonus.
Will this game continue after the Summer Madness days have ended? It will not. If a competitor happens to be alive when the Summer Madness ends the game will of course be concluded, but it is a game that is tied in with the Summer Madness.
Will this be a returning event here on Bootleggers? It might be. After this the focus of the Elite Guard will shift on organizing another Hunger Games around the time the new movie comes out. For as far as wanting to host events goes, that is.
Do you have anything else you might like to add? I hope that everyone is enjoying both the Summer Madness and The Running Man!
Creating such events is a way for the staff to break normal procedure and to have some fun themselves, as well as making sure the community is having fun. Additionally, this does not have to be the end because next month we actually have reason to celebrate something as well: the 10 year anniversary of Bootleggers!
Have you enjoyed the Summer Madness days? Let us know by commenting here! Also, if you have any great ideas about how to celebrate upcoming 10th year anniversary, don't hesitate to share this as well!
