Ten years ago it was just some idea by a bunch of people on an external forum. Who would have guessed it would have become the game it is today. Bootleggers has known some up and downs over the years and still exists today, but should we call this an up, or down?
Maybe this isn’t the time or place to discuss this, so let’s focus on the events of this week. Because this week we’re approaching the date Bootleggers opened its doors for the general public. 27th of September 2003 was the day that the plan of five people sprung to live and a team of four opened the Bootleggers doors. BSF2000 and Dreamnid are perhaps best known for this, but we shouldn’t forget about the efforts of Brightstar and Fixxer, because next to BSF2000, these two were both the original founders and part of the original group who left a similar game to create a one of their own.
In their very first week, something happened which they did not expect; people were joining, and staying. Within the first week they already had a player base of 100 users online. At the time this wasn’t as positive as one would expect, as server bills had to be paid to keep the game online. However, they didn’t want to make Bootleggers a pay for play game. After a few discussions within the staff team and with some of the game’s players, they came up with a feature we now know as ‘points’.
Now, ten years later the game has been through a lot. Where there were once 1000-2000+ users online, this has now decreased to just 200-300 users online. Some may claim that the high amount of users was due to the fact of the many dupers, but let’s not kid yourself by saying the game wasn’t much more crowded back then.
So what has the staff organized to celebrate this wonderful once in a lifetime event?
The first day we were awarded with free bullets while traveling, BSF2000 also ordered a couple of high-speed trains because the timers were reduced a third of the original travelling speed. The second day we got awarded with free money while gambling on war and keno. 2004 was the year these two options got introduced to the community. 2005 was the first year Bootleggers won Game of the Month on MPOGD thanks to players voting. This day you received bullets for doing crimes, stealing cars, and working out. People who remember these votes might also remember that we were awarded bullets for doing so. In 2006 Arm Wrestling had an unfortunate exploit, allowing players to generate large amounts of cash. To honor this since removed feature, you received cash when working out, as well as halved timers at the Gymnasium. 2007 was the year the State and Nation Don rank was introduced, in honor of this introduction, as well as the large amount of Crimes and Organized Crimes required to reach these ranks, Organized Crime timers have been halved and Crimes will earn you addition experience.
We’ve got another week to go before the tenth anniversary of Bootleggers, and I must admit that I personally am very excited about this. In the past a few lucky players have been awarded with for example iPod’s and an Xbox gaming console and I’m wondering if BSF2000 got something like this in store for us on this special day. Let’s hope so!
