Russian Roulette, it's a funny thing really. You see six high ranked players, all sat down in a seat expecting to win, but why would anyone want to risk their life on the outcome of a game? You work hard for your position, committing crimes day in and day out, ranking and banking. It doesn't seem worth it when you're having to sign up for a new account, and start of as scum again. This will make it much harder again to find higher ranked people who actually want to help you out and do an organized crime with you. So, what makes a Boss, Godfather or higher rank want to risk it all and join a Russian Roulette game? Some may say it's because there is a prize reward of 1,000 points. This is good if you actually win, but for the other unfortunate five players, it means starting from the very beginning. To find out what actually motivates these players in to joining, we took to the forums to ask a handful of players. TheWridgees said he had played five to ten Russian Roulettes in the past, but never had a winning streak. When asked why he kept applying, he said he has never cared for the rank he was at the time, and the last time he played he was legendary godfather and clicked in reflex, without thinking. GsDYura was another player who had had around ten attempts at winning a game of Russian Roulette, and had only won twice. He said it was the thrill of the gamble which edged him on to joining the game, which was the same response I got from Chrysippus. Chrysippus said he wouldn't be joining any more though, due to the huge risk involved. Whilst searching out players with past Russian Roulette involvement, we were contacted by IceCream_N_Sprinkles. He said "Mika once proposed a Russian Roulette just for me when I was Don in which I got to make a few of my own rules upon agreeing to join it." Mika's post read "Ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to inform you that Lisa_Anne has agreed on joining the next russian roulette! The prize pot will be 1,100 points for the winner plus a surprise to all that join to be received on their new account (or the current account if you are the winner)." The prize for all the people who took part, was cash. The higher their rank was, the higher the prize available for them. This was a good idea, and it would be interesting to see this kind of thing happening again in the future. It may be a lot more interesting for people to join.
Last week we witnessed the appearance of two Russian Roulettes, hosted by BSF2000 and Aldarion. For the tenth year anniversary of Bootleggers, it was inevitable that a Russian Roulette would take place, but two? BSF2000 hosted the first round with the usual prize of 1,000 points to the winner, and a promotion to Don rank. Six seats were up for grabs and these were very quickly filled by Daltonnnnn, EvilDead, DevilMayCry, Makbos2, SimarF, and Liliana6. BSF2000 placed the bullet in the chamber and spun it. Liliana6 was the first player to drop, where $416,364 was released amongst five people. Next, DevilMayCry caught a bullet with his head, netting five players $220,318 in winnings. The third player to hit the deck was EvilDead. His death earnt seven players $225,785 in cash. Getting closer and closer to their last moments, SimarF, Daltonnnnn and Makbos2 must have been shaking to say the least. BSF2000 opened the voting again, whilst he reloaded his gun and spun the chamber. Boom! The last thing to go through Simar's brain was probably the bullet, but eleven players had a share of $1,292,322 going through their bank accounts. With only two players left, it seemed BSF2000 and the other Elite Guard were all wanting Daltonnnnn to catch the bullet. Not sure what he did in a previous life but sure enough destiny hit hard, right between the eyes as he fell to the floor, but not before twenty people helped themselves to the $2,435,157 shared pot. Makbos2 was safe and now a Don rank with 1,000 points tucked nicely in to his back pocket, yet only thirteen people thought he would win netting them $1,925,892. A total of $6,515,838 was placed in the Russian Roulette game.
With players demanding another Russian Roulette, BSF2000 announced that Aldarion will be hosting one but would not disclose when. This forced many players to keep hitting that refresh button, including myself (iCypha). I hit that refresh key for 20 minutes until Aldarion announced his game. I quickly hit join to later check the prize...$10,000. This became a massive hit amongst the players, yet it seemed the only players actually taking it seriously and didn't see the funny side were the six dead men walking, Protein, iCypha, SmurfStick, Exgwbl6, Wink and Spalding. As Aldarion spun the chamber, the banter in the Game Forum regarding the prize seem to hold up the game taking place, which meant the nerves were building up for us six. Unfortunately, Protein hit the deck first, sharing $107,759 amongst four players. The gun was reloaded, the fear building up, players offering to donate more money, which meant the pot increased to $11,000. The jokes continued, a couple more donations came in, and the pot stood at $15,000. It seems the Elite Guard do have a sense of humour. We still didn't find this funny at all. Tasting lead for $15,000 is not something any of us wanted to admit to. Bang! iCypha was pronounced dead at the scene. Five people walking away with a share of $435,711. Wink was to follow shortly after with a pot of $239,555 on her head for five lucky players. The jokes continued, the banter flying around the forum, but for Spalding he wasn't going to be hearing anything other than the rattling noise of the bullet that bounced around his skull. The sound wasn't so unbearable for five players who shared $193,122. Next, Smurf wasn't so lucky either. A massive $5,848,200 was shared out amongst eleven players, leaving Exgwbl6 to walk away with the Don title and a nice 1,000 points to play with.
In June 2008 (Round 5), the first Russian Roulette as a feature was hosted by BSF2000 as a test. Back then, the reward was just 30 points with it being a feature test, compared to today's 1,000 points and a rank promotion. The 6 test players were 5litre, GrandTheftWalrus, SnoopFeatDre, Shaggerty, SimplySky and Pappa. The second game of Russian Roulette was announced the following Saturday when the real prize of 1,000 points was introduced. The full story can be read in issue 80 of The Buzz from Round 5. November 2008 saw VooDooDoll host a Russian Roulette but with a twist. The same 1,000 points were offered as a prize for the winner, but for every player killed, VooDooDoll transferred $25,000,000 of her own cash to the new player's accounts. Should this be brought back? Do you think BSF2000 would ever add a new runner-up prize to the game? How about a first, second and third place? People may be more determined to get a seat knowing there is more of a chance to win something. Only BSF2000 could answer that question, and until he is available to give such interviews, we will just leave that though out there. This current round has seen 48 Russian Roulette games being hosted, but mid-way through the new system was introdcued at the end of December 2012, so unfortunatly full statistics cannot be provided, but the 27 games which have been hosted on the new system, shows Mika currently holds the most Russian Roulette games hosted with fourteen, and BSF2000 only hosting two. So, who runs the best Russian Roulette games? We took to the public and asked for the public's vote in a 24 hour poll, and many players preferred the games run by the previous moderator Andy but from the currently Elite Guard the winner was clearly BSF2000 followed very closely by Mika, Sky and Aldarion. So, what actually makes a good Russian Roulette game? We caught up with GsDYura, a player who has sat in the hot seat before. GsDYura said it was mostly up to the host, if they can bring it with a bit of humor maybe and most importantly, keep their full attention to it and not go and take a shower or something, also the time of day is important as more people are around to talk about it in the topic, make bets and predictions all make the whole thing seem more special. Phrosty said that it all depends who is sat in the seats and how much people get messed with. He recalls the game Aldarion hosted with the $10,000 reward, glad he found it fun, it wasn't from where I was sat. Joking aside, the higher the ranks in the game, the more fun it seems to be watching it.
OK, it seems that a game of Russian Roulette is best hosted by BSF2000 himself with a nice prize such as 1,000 points and a rank to Don. It also seems that times have definitely changed in Bootleggers, where the players don't actually care too much for their rank, with the possible chance to take 1,000 points from the game, it's well worth the risk. It's true what they say, money motivates us all, however you look at it.
