What exactly went wrong in 2013 that resulted in this dominating situation and the terrible amount of activity which we are facing at this moment? It is time to point your fingers! Who to blame?! Can we blame the Elite Guard? The Moderators in specific? The one and only BSF2000? Maybe the dominating crews just played extremely well and the mentality of the most players is just pathetic. It is a many sided story, because every group has a different look at the game. Let’s try to find out what exactly went wrong!
It is not a secret that various players are cheating (or cheated) on Bootleggers. This cheating results in a fancy wealth, which eventually results in more power. The question is, how is it possible that some players are getting away with this? Are the Moderators slacking and not doing a good job? Maybe they do not have the right tools to catch the cheaters. I believe it is something else; the current rules. What if you are able to cheat, but you can make sure that your earned wealth does not disappear when you get banned? It is a fact that this happened during the current round and it is also a fact that is still happens. With the current rules this won’t change. A shame, because the Elite Guard are aware of it. To be more precisely, this is already happening quite a few years. Is it realistic to blame the Elite Guard for not changing the rules to make such actions impossible? Yes, that is definitely realistic. For the record, that does not mean that changing these rules is an easy job. It is extremely hard, because there are so many things involved by changing those rules. Not an easy job, however as a member of the Elite Guard, you have a certain responsibility.
What about the impact of this cheating? Did this cheating really resulted in a significant amount of power? It is hard to proof, since I do not have any facts, but I believe it did. Which honest player would face an alliance which is cheating? It is not very motivating, which results in the so called, wrong Bootleggers mentality. I have different feelings towards this term. We play Bootleggers because we seem to have fun. If you do not want to stock bullets, but prefer to compete in a Bust Party; who are we to complain about that? It is your right to do whatever you want with your account. On the other hand, Bootleggers is a mafia game. Being killed is part of the game. It has been proven various times that domination is possible. If you are a player who does not understand that and does try to face domination, I believe you do not have the right to complain about it. I believe you cannot complain of the dominating situation if you never tried to stop it.
So, what about the players who did fight and tried to stop this situation? They obviously failed, myself included. Why? The current dominating crews were playing together the entire round. Their alliance consisted of a big amount of players. One part was underground and the other part were crews on the statistics. The group of players against domination decreased, as they were players who did not want to play underground. Those players were constantly being killed, which demotivated them to fight back. They preferred to be in a Crew, together with their friends. That specific crew feature had no added value this round. The only purpose of a crew spot was the crew bank regarding crew bullets. The dominating crews had more money, which resulted in more power. Speaking of money; the current role of it is a very big concern. If you are not playing at the start of a round and you do not have the right friends, you have no chance of making any change in a round. A 3% interest rate is dangerous and the start of a dominating situation.
What exactly went wrong in 2013 that resulted in this dominating situation and the terrible amount of activity which we are facing at this moment? Wrong rules, wrong features and a wrong mentality? The rules are not concrete enough, because cheating is still possible. With wrong features, such as the crew feature and the role of the federal bank, players were constantly being killed by underground shooters. Eventually the Bootleggers mentality was born and only a small group of players wanted to fight back against the current dominating crews. Who to blame? The Elite Guard for not updating the rules on time. The cheaters, because they simply should not cheat. The Bootleggers community for losing their will to fight against an enemy.
