I was thinking about writing this in the style of all of my other articles. In the way in which I tell a story and still get the juicy bits of information needed out. But this wouldn’t feel right if I explained it like that, like I walked down the street of our office to see it had burnt down. Or (and this one is more along the right tracks) I walked into the office to see my desk cleared without even a goodbye card from the staff. I couldn’t do it like that. I felt that would have cheapened it. So instead it’s this.
Now the reason I wrote like that, with all the stories and details. Was because, being dyslexic, it simply made it easier for me to write the length of articles that are needed for the Buzz to be a worthwhile and interesting read.
At the time of my application TrevorPhilips (later to go on to be known as Sam) was in charge and just by coincidence we shared a similar writing style. I was in.
The first few weeks were slow. I couldn’t get into my groove. Then I took the article interviewing all 7 of the highest ranked Don's at the time, that was the first time I wrote with a story in mind. I used to write a paragraph or two on the underground as I headed into work to stop me from falling asleep on the train. This then progressed into writing more and then maybe taking on and second, or even third article each week. I enjoyed it.
Sam then got in contact with me about helping him out with being Editor. After messages back and forth, I agreed. Little did I know that Sam was actually thinking of quitting the Buzz for reasons that would later come out to be that he was going UG as a shooter for The Syndicate. But that’s off topic. Anyway, after joining as Editor, Sam told he was quitting in about two weeks, I had to quickly get my head around what the job of an Editor actually was.
I would like to point out here that everything I know/knew about being an Editor was told to me by a handful of people, none of which were members of staff/EG. That’s not a bitchy little cheap shot. That’s the truth.
With the two weeks drawing closer, I somewhere found myself in contact with SevenVirtues. With his incredible help I managed to keep the Buzz going, for a moment. We found it hard as a writing team to really gel together and get some structure. Some writers didn’t write, some writers couldn’t write, some writer’s loved writing but only about very select topics that very rarely happened.
We had hit a wall. We lacked communication. The Buzz forum (yep, he have one of those) became a ghost town, with no one replying to any topics about publications or weekly events. This knocked us as a team and it knocked me as an Editor.
I’m not trying to make excuses. There aren’t any to make. Sure I started a new job and some other personal things changed. Sure I kept getting wiped with my crew The Vanguard. And sure I had lost my spark to write. But none of these excuse the fact that I went off the radar. I simply didn’t log on. SevenVirtues and I spoke a few times about what might needed to be changed for the Buzz to get back on its feet but nothing grew. Until a few days ago.
I came on BL to see some changes. I was no longer Buzz Editor. The Buzz no longer had a team. It was in a "blog form" now. I also had a message waiting for me, from Mika. Explaining what had happened. How the EG had made the decision to get rid of the whole team, without warning, and make a change to something that (with the great help from others) I had tried to bring back from the brink. There was no question of whether I still want to be involved. There was no plan to get it back to a paper. They simply made a cut, and I wasn’t in it.
Now you could take this as bitchy, like an ex girlfriend that can’t let go. But I wanted to do this more so that the other writers (if they felt the same as me) had a voice. Also so the community, however small, who actually read the Buzz and enjoyed what we had done with it didn’t think I had just upped and left without saying goodbye.
The Buzz is only as good as the community it writes for. Some writers joined to write, others joined to have a blue name on users online. I feel we never had a big enough team, when you look back to years ago and the teams then were 15 members. But the play style of Bootleggers has changed somewhat. It is more common for players to go UG therefore they can’t be a writer, no matter how good they are. But I still feel the way this was handled by the members of EG was incredibly unprofessional.
Has it tarred my thoughts on BL? Yes, slightly. Has it stopped me from wanting to be involved with the Buzz? Yes. Has it made me lose interest in an already, sadly, dying game? Yes.
But, was the way it was handle a surprise to me? No, and that is the real problem here. It’s not the Buzz. It’s not the crew formats. It’s not the unneeded and unnecessary updates. It’s the core of it all. Now I don’t know enough about it to talk on it. I can only know what I know and read what I read. But for Round 10 to not be the last round of BL, then Kyle has to make some changes to the structure. First of all he probably has to look at himself. Then to his team. Then look at what his people are asking of him. If he doesn’t then the 13th year of BL could be its most unlucky, and last. How poetic.
Anyway, this is SpicyD signing off one last time. It’s been a pleasure, never a chore. Please keep sending in good writing for the Buzz to continue. And as ever, have a good day.
