So, we hear about the State and Nation Dons, the Help Desk Operators, the Moderators, Crew Bosses and various other positions within the game, but what about those players who people seem to forget, the Pic Makers? If you think about it, Bootleggers would be pretty boring when it came to browsing people's profiles and one less money making avenue to walk down within the game. Let's take a look at what it takes to be a pic maker, the benefits, and why people choose to use their time designing pics for people to show off their profiles. Being an ex-pic maker myself, I use to enjoy using my spare time to design graphics for people to display, but since the competition has improved, I no longer try to compete with some of the more professional designers out there.
We conducted a survey of a handful of players, to find out whom they see as being the best Pic Maker on Bootleggers, and two names kept cropping up, TheWridgees and NoxBorz, so we caught up with these two players to ask them what it's like being a pro pic maker and find out a bit more about the 'forgotten roles'.
First, I caught up with a Dutch Pic Maker by the name of TheWridgees, real name Mitch who is 19, currently living in Johannesburg, South Africa. When asking TheWridgees what he thinks makes his work stand out from everyone else, he commented "Personally I think that the only thing that makes me different from most other picture makers, is that I don't do it for the money, nor the reputation. I do it because I like to make pictures, and enjoy trying out new techniques. As you can see, almost none of the pictures I make have my name in it and I gave away more pics than I sold. You can also read the part about picmaking on my profile."
TheWridgees first started out using Paint Shop Pro, and didn't enjoy it as much, until he tried Photoshop a couple of years later and had some positive feedback on his designs to continue to grow and improve from there.
Although he doesn't normally charge for his designs, he said the most he has ever earnt from a single design is around $5,000,000 but this was more of a donation than a charge for his service.
Does it help to have any graphic design experience in real life to be a pic maker within Bootleggers? It doesn't, but it also doesn't hurt to have some. TheWridgees said he used his designs to help him with his study but this was mainly to help him improve on his Photoshop skills. A couple of rounds back, there use to be a lot of very talented Pic Makers, and many have retired, so I asked if he plans on continue to design for the future. "I'm not too sure. In a very short time I will be moving to my new home, which has no internet as far as I know, so then it would be difficult for me to do so." As he doesn't charge for his designs, and it being more for fun and a learning experience, he doesn't have any competition, in his own words, "Obviously it is nice to see the things you designed on other profiles, but I wouldn't be bummed if they used other designs."
Most people see a design, and they will often question the price they pay for it, but people are paying for the designer's time, not the design itself. I asked TheWridgees how much time he spends on an image, and he said that it really depends. He never thinks of what he is going to make when he starts the design, if he likes it at the end, he keeps it, if not, just starts over again so the time can vary. And finally, more and more players are having Widescreens on their profiles, so I asked TheWridgees which he prefers, simple tag design, or a widescreen. "Widescreen for sure. Not sure why, but I just prefer to do them." he replied.
Our second interview is with Dawood from Jordan, also known as NoxBorz. NoxBorz has been playing since 2006 and is 19 years old. I asked him what he thinks makes him one of the best PicMakers on Bootleggers, and he replied "I guess the quality and the style that I can deliver, plus I work really quick on my pictures". NoxBorz is a 3D Artist in real life, so when he started playing Bootleggers, he decided to give it a shot at PicMaking and the money just started to roll in. It seems the going rate for a very good design, especially a widescreen is around $5,000,000 as this is also what he earnt as a prize for designing the best Widescreen a while back. Not bad to say he spends less than an hour on each design. He plans on continue making graphics for online players as like many other players within the community, he needs to fund his gambling addiction somehow. It doesn't matter what profession you're good at, we all have competition, and when asked who he feels his biggest competition is, he was quick to point out Flaton and Ghyslayne_ would be the top two. and finally, when asked if he prefers simple Tags or Widescreens, the obvious choice wins, Widescreens.
It seems if you want to make big money in Bootleggers, and you have a passion for graphic design, Picture making is the way to go. I know from my own experience you can earn anywhere from $10,000 to $5,000,000 per design and if you're quick and producing quality work, its easy money. There are other professional Pic Makers on Bootleggers, just seems the game forgets about them most of the time, when in fact, they make up a lot of Bootleggers and its appearance.
