‘Twas a morning of hustle and bustle when I realised Bootleggers had undergone yet another round change. Now personally, I had never played Bootleggers before (I have previously had an account, but was not particularly bothered about playing the game, so you can imagine my surprise when I logged in a few weeks ago and found out I was still alive – on an account from 2012!), and when I did, I was greeted by a series of challenges. Not the missions, as you might think – it was in reality, the sheer effort required to rank up and familiarise myself with the game. I am no stranger to mafia games, having played them since 2006, but I had never met with a game as detailed and logically laid out as Bootleggers.
But I’m getting ahead of myself – allow me to introduce myself. I am Anonymous, yes, Anonymous (cue ze jokes). I am 19 years of age, and I have been playing mafia games for almost 8 years now. I name myself according to each account name I create, with only one fixed variable – the username “Anonymous” to help identify myself. I enjoy a great many number of things, most of which are sports, computer games and I am a prolific film buff – my favourite movie being “Annapolis”. I am also an avid history buff – I absolutely love the topic. But I’m starting to bore you – let’s get on with the article!
I signed up on Sunday 6th April, utterly oblivious to what I was about to experience. As aforementioned, I have a lot of experience with mafia games – most, if not all of them possessing an addictive segment, however along with that came a sense of dullness, which resulted in a slight “eh, there could be more to this” attitude. I apprehensively expected this of Bootleggers as well when I signed up. Well allow me to say, I have never been more wrong in my life.
I joined BL with some friends, helping me decide to stick around after I decidedly failed on almost everything I attempted. It took me over 63 tries for a successful Auto Burglary, and don’t even get me started on my attempts with the missions. I spent over 30 hours searching for PietroGrazia – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. However, I was determined to do well, and after a while I was reasonably rich, being among the first set of people to reach a certain wealth level, and started investing in Gold, certain the price would rise. Organised Crimes were also hard for me to do – I started well and steadily did better and better until lo and behold – I failed for no reason. Three times! You can bet your house that I was not a very happy bunny – no I was not.
And boy, did it. On the first day, gold prices began at a fluctuating $200 (It would dip to $160-$170 and then rise to $230, and then fall again). By the second day, the prices had risen to around $300-$350. By the third day, the prices were $450-$600. And so on, steadily increasing as the game progressed. I made it to Thug, and as one needs to finish the first 5 missions to rank to Gangster, I began OCing, or Booze running rather daily. Initially I began OCing with my friends, utilizing every tool we had, from friends of friends, to resources to finding out about crews, killing, the general tone of the game, casino prices – everything we could possibly get, in order to understand the game better.
The community here on BL seems extremely friendly and helpful, with its most appealing aspect the lack of abusive peoples. I have often been described as too serious, but I truly do feel that the BL community has found the balance between borderline offensive humour and dull, monotone topics with satirical, tongue-in-cheek humour. Help is available at every turn (not that I need it mind, I’ve grasped the game and its features fairly quickly), and the diverse forum layout is incredibly well made. I’ve found the “watch” feature on the forum incredibly useful, as well as the Dice Game topics. The Uno topics however, are rather OTT, wouldn’t you say? Hmm, but that’s only my opinion.
I also noticed that ShyGuy was recruiting Buzz writers, and as and I, avid writer myself, decided to apply and upon getting the promotion, found myself surrounded by incredibly nice – and dedicated – buzz writers. I also write poetry and short stories, some of which I may publish in the BLB some time soon!
On the whole, I have kept myself to myself and was absolutely flabbergasted when the kill & gold pages were released – immediately the shootouts for the crews, casinos and vendettas began. People were dying left right and centre, and if I can recall correctly, more than 20 people died on the first day. A remarkable feat, when you consider that there is no bullet calculator!
BL is really quite enjoyable, and I have found myself liking it more and more with each passing day. There are a few drawbacks, such as the few bugs that occur at the moment, but nothing detrimental to the gameplay, and certainly nothing that will persist for more than a few days.
I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read this, and ask that you leave a comment, touching upon how you feel about this article and – most importantly, how I can improve.
