What is your real name and age? My name is Matthew Spicer. Only my parents call me Matthew. Most mates call me Spicer.
Where do you live? I live on the border of East London and Essex in a place called Romford.
How long do you play Bootleggers? Started playing in 2004. Then stopped for a while in 2005. Came back for half a round around 2008/09. Then came back perfectly in time for the start of this round.
Why did you start playing? Bloke at school found the website. Then literally all the boys in my year started playing.
Who are your Bootleggers friends? Most of my old friends don't play now, including no RL friends playing either. But since coming back this round I've formed friendships with players Architect, Eredin, TrevorPhilips, FrankCostello to name a few. Oh and obviously Claartje, but that's cause we go way back (Don't tell Imi, he'll kill me )
What is your favorite Bootleggers crew? Erm it has to be my first. The one that got me going. It changed names a few times but the people started the same. It was called The H.I.L.L Family. Run by Imi and Clarrtje and some others. Later on it changed around bit and was called The Sicilian Mafia. I was head recruiter for them, that was nice.
How did you come up with your current username? Erm well my surname is Spicer so that's the 'Spicy' bit sorted. The 'D' literally came from nowhere I probably just thought it was cool. Now all I think of when I see my name is that I'm saying I've got a spicey dick. But oh well.
How do you feel about you recent promotion to co-editor of the Buzz? Yeah. Excited. Trevor/JonSnow (hate the new name ) said he need bit of help cause of RL getting hectic and he asked if I wanted to take it. Luckily for me I took the job the day one of the biggest shootings I've ever seen happen took place. Thanks guy
Why did you apply to become a Bootleggers Buzz Writer? I don't really know if I'm honest. It said they were looking for people. I think it was a mix of wanting to write about coming back as an old player but the game looking completely different and also I wanted to use it as a way of getting back into the depths of BL and making mates again.
What are your goals on Bootleggers? Goals? Erm, at the moment staying alive. Stuff went down earlier in the week before the big wiping started that I somehow dodged but I don't think I've dodged it completely yet. After that just keep doing what I'm doing. I want to find a good home in a crew. I've jumped around bit so far but I want to get settled someone decent. Also I want the Buzz to get it's reputation back that it had when I was younger. But to do so we desperately need more writers.
Fish or Chicken? Chicken. Jerk. All day.
JonSnow
What is your real name and age? Adam, 25
Where do you live? My job takes me all over the North of England, but Yorkshire is my home when I'm not mobile!
How long do you play Bootleggers? I've been around on and off during various phases since Round 5, but this is my first 'full time', really dedicated round.
Why did you start playing? Friends of mine from another game told me about Bootleggers, so I eventually checked it out myself!
Who are your Bootleggers friends? Pretty much anyone in the Buzz Team and the guys in TV!
What is your favorite Bootleggers crew? Has to be The Vanguard, not just because I am there, but also because of their part in the recent massacre on here!
Honorable mentions also have to go to TSE and DV, as I know a few guys in there. And TCO because again they have some good people!
How did you come up with your current username? I've used the name 'Jon Snow' for a while, I first used it three years ago when registering for a Futsal tournament (as I was serving a county FA suspension at the time!) on the recommendation of a teammate who had read the books.
Then Game of Thrones came out on TV and I just had to resurrect the name! Jon Snow as a character is just badass.
What do you feel about your current job at the Buzz? It's a good gig, and something I definitely enjoy doing. I think what catches Editors by surprise, and perhaps what goes unseen, is just how much work goes into keeping the Buzz going! It can easily become a second job and consume you if you don't have the right team, fortunately I do!
Why did you apply to become a Bootleggers Buzz Writer? I honestly just fancied writing creatively about a couple of in-game events, so I came in as a writer. Then Tortuga stepped down as Editor and KeyserSoze nearly ran us under! All of sudden I was in a position where I had to do something to save the Buzz, so I volunteered to Mika to be a 'temporary' Editor while things get sorted. I think that has now become more permanent!
What are your goals on Bootleggers? Beat my highest ever rank (which was R. Don on my last account), accrue wealth, and continue calling things as I see them!
Starks or Lannisters? As a Northerner I'm a Stark person!
FrankCostello
What is your real name and age? Hey, my name is Aman and I am 20.
Where do you live? I live in a town just outside of Toronto, Canada.
How long have you played Bootleggers? Jeez, long than I'd care to admit. I got my start back years and years ago, when I was like 9 although I was far too focused on my Neopets guild at the time and I think I got reintroduced again when I was 11 but I was more interested in running a Runescape empire at the time... so I guess I never really started playing really seriously until I was 15.
Why did you start playing? Close family friends at the time, known here as XSquall and his brother XCopper(also known as Copper, MrPenis, BlueBalls, etc..) got me into the game.
Who are your Bootleggers friends? I've gotten to know many people over the years, some of them who I would consider friends, some of them still play, some who don't, it'd probably take me a loooooong time to list them all and even if I did, I'd probably miss a few people.
What is your favorite Bootleggers crew? This is a hard one there are many that I do like, I think The Invisibles for one, Boston Mob, Axteze, Padrinos Palace, so mostly crews that I was a member of but I was also a fan of Smoke and Mirror and their games as well.
How did you come up with your current username? Well let me take you back to 2003, MSN was the chatting tool of choice among many, Microsoft's XP was the operating system of choice for many, the Blaster worm was spreading like wildfire, Bush was president, Operation Iraqi Freedom was in full swing, There was a Blackout in north eastern North America, Space Shuttle Colombia crashed, 50 Cent released Get Rich Or Die Trying, him and Aftermath/Shady were engulfed in a war with Ja Rule and Murder Inc, TV wasn't so bad, Radio wasn't so bad, Maddonna and Britney kissed in the VMAs and Blockbuster was still a thing. Back then, I just finished watching The Godfather with some family friends at their house. I suddenly became increasingly interested in the Mafia and began to look up and read everything that I could, this would lead to me getting into organized crime, crime and everything to do with drugs(laws, types, experinces, legal aspects, crews, all of that jazz, I was interested in everything). In my middle school there was a ban on candy during recess and naturally I decided to put all those years of research into that and built up a crew based upon the mob, I also installed a system based upon the 5 families, the commission(which had most sit downs via MSN) and there were several crews independent from us but paying taxes. It was during this time that I began doing the research into several bosses and a few really interested me, one being Frank Costello, he was not all about violence, never really much about being flashy either, he was more about diplomacy and using his connections and other means to get things done, I did tons of research into him, read a few books and and really just began to apply a lot of who he was into my own life, which wasn't hard seeing as he was a lot like myself in many ways. Flash forward now and after years of using random usernames I finally stuck with using FrankCostello.
What do you think about the Buzz? I think it's an excellent source of information for the community and it's also a great platform for people to get their voice out.
Why did you apply to become a Bootleggers Buzz Writer? I was an avid reader for years, I took some creative writing courses both in high school and one in college and I guess you can say my brain's always been good at coming up with creative stories even in elementry school when we had to do class plays in drama class, if we were split in groups I generally always came up with pretty good scripts and even now sometimes I'll just kinda be sitting around and a story idea will pop into my head, heck maybe I should try my hand at writing a movie script or something, haha. Anyways during the beginning of the round I was just randomly writing a short story based on the mob, I wasn't planning to publish it at first but after the whole KeyserSoze fiasco and when Trevor took over to try and bring the Buzz back into it's former glory, I figured heck, why not help out and try my hand at publishing the story I was writing to help out the Buzz, so I went for it and I managed to get the job.
What are your goals on Bootleggers? I can't really say I ever had any goals while playing BL.
Dogs or Cats? Rabbits!
Tortuga
What is your real name and age? I'm Zach and I am 21 years old (birthday on August 8th!).
Where do you live? I live in Ohio in the United States.
How long do you play Bootleggers? I have been playing Bootleggers for probably nine or 10 years. I don't remember exactly when I started, I just remember my middle school friend telling me he found a cool game for us to play.
Why did you start playing? I started playing because a friend's friend was playing it, and he asked us to play with him.
Who are your Bootleggers friends? I have lots of friends! I used to have some real life friends in here, but they're dead now ..
What is your favorite Bootleggers crew? The Vanguard, of course.
How did you come up with your current username? I was watching Breaking Bad and when I saw the turtle come out with Tortuga's head on it, I knew what I had to do. I also just really like turtles. One time at the zoo, I jumped into the turtle exhibit to pick up garbage people had thrown in. Turtles are bros.
What do you think about the Buzz? I think the Buzz is a great way for everyone to keep up with the game's changing landscape.
Why did you apply to become a Bootleggers Buzz Editor? I originally applied because I thought it would be a great use of one of my hobbies, but I soon understood that I did not have the time needed to make a great Buzz like the community deserves.
What are your goals on Bootleggers? My goal is to win a casino table, I've never really gambled much and winning a table would get me that one achievement that I'm still lacking.
