IN YOUR VASTE - Issue 16

EDITOR'S NOTE

Right, this paper will be swaying to OOC a little more today. As you can see I didn't rage quit when my player character died yesterday and came back as an editor to focus on my RP goals like the boxing. Whilst doing the paper, I did hear about a couple of hits made and wanted to know whether people were saying this to say this or whether an actual hit list is something players would like to see and would like a neutral person to hold the cash etc? Let me know your thoughts.

Would you like to see more gambling? I obviously cannot be a bookie for the fights I'm organising (well I can but y'all would accuse me of cheating and I cba with that) but I can run other events like real life sports and number running? Obviously I need to make some money before I can start these.

How about a shadow broker of sorts who buys and sells those statements you receive from the old man and the priest?

Anyway I'll need some feedback so I look forward to your comments/feedback/suggestions. I'm happy to do nothing extra if no one is interested in this.

IN MEMORIAM: INCOGNITO

Today we say goodbye to our lead reporter Incognito. Incognito was born in Las Vegas and travelled the country mostly keeping himself to himself. He was astonished himself to find himself promoted to Street Boss and made it clear to all his rivals that he was peaceful and would happily give up the position to avoid bloodshed. He made a few associates within most families and leveraged these relationships to keep out of the war.

It is understood that this murder was undertaken by DevonDebonair in a hot sanctioned by Chicago street boss Wex. It is understood there's an offer on the streets of 10 godfather favours for the heads of any member of Wex' family taken and our new chief reporter Meyer Lansky is prepared to match these offer too. RIP Incognito.

OPINION: BLOODLINING DEBATE CONTINUES

Conversations and heated debate have continued in OOC, grievances and on discord about what is bloodlining and what is and isn't. The underlying crux of the matter is in the style of the game that people play. Historically the user base was large and therefore allowed for people to fall back in with the same families and friendship groups and forget about who did what because a new enemy would continuously show up. But now we have a user base so small that we probably know everyone who plays if we can be bothered. The game has become a first person shooter too with the end goal being to kill the enemy instead of rising through the ranks and making godfather. I believe some of the fault for this lies with the Admin, in most games there's a purpose to it and when making godfather was a process that would take years we knew that was the end goal. Now, making god father is a relatively easy process and we have reams and reams of them in the hall of fame. Now the goal appears to be to dominate the game and make sure you and your friends group is in the ascendency and when you talk to people about their preference to shoot anything that moves they will swiftly tell you that this is Mafia.org not friends.org.

What a completely absurd statement! Do you honestly think all the mafia do is run around shooting? They'd have all been dead already and the police would shut them down so swiftly they would make no money. The real purpose of the mafia is to make money. They tend to only go to war over money, they make peace over money and they keep the peace so they can make money. Blood is just bad for business and that's what the mafia is, it's a business.

I can't put the blame solely at admins fault though. The game has largely been influenced and run by the players and I believe the current landscape is mostly dictated by our weak leaders. Now many of you will probably take offence by my usage of the word weak so I'll take a moment to explain myself. I don't mean weak as in you're scared or you won't kill people, I mean weak as in you're scared of peace. You're scared of peace because you're worried that your enemies will use this time to strengthen themselves and then go after you again. All you know is the fear and I suspect you have this because that is what you would do yourselves if you were in power. Leaders of the past used their strength to make a peaceful America where all could prosper with a heavier leaning on the role play and less on the fighting. There were always people to kill, the trigger happy were always taken out, usually by the killers family in a bid to keep peace with the family of the wronged. Money was exchanged to compensate the wronged and peace was enjoyed. During this time, the streets were thriving often with 3 pages of street threads and people "bumping" threads to keep them on the first place (thank god bumping eventually got banned). The issue is everyone forgets that this is a Role Play game. Where is the Role Play? How many of your characters have a story that's told through conversation in the street? What do you do? How much cross family relationships do you have? When have you ever considered a sit down to end the bad blood?

I am going to say hats off to Fenton for attempting peace recently but unfortunately the whole user base is so paranoid that they suspect that this is just a ploy to consolidate power and go again... And in all honesty it probably is, but with all the whinging that's happened of late, I suspect that none of you enjoy this game much when you're getting battered by the other team and I'm wondering when you'll decide to do something different? Maybe give peace a chance and try role play and see if you like it? If you can't do that how about joining the other families and seeing if you can potentially end the eternal hatred you have for the other side. With the amount of grievances I'm hearing about I can't even say you guys even respect one another for doing what you do to each other. It's just I'm on top so I will bully the others or I'm at the bottom so I will whine about it. Be the change you want to see in the world.

As a side note, I want to make special mention to Bumpy Johnson, who has offered Stone a route to the end of the bloodshed by offering him a place in his family. I believe more of this should happen, I find it astonishing when a war happens between made families that the winning family will go after all the people below made when they're relatively harmless to them instead of offering them a home. The war is won there's no need for genocide.

PRIZE FIGHTERS WANTED

Team Money (Talks) is looking for fighters for the next boxing match. They're considering hosting this in New York but will consider any location if a family are willing to offer a venue and protection (including paying off the cops). The event has been a relative success so far and promised to bring in new custom to the city including more foot traffic to the local bars and restaurants. Please contact Meyer Lansky for more information.

THE HITLIST: AS IT STANDS

Fenton - $1m
Stone - $1m
Wex - 10-20 godfather favours
Any member of Wex' family - 10-20 godfather favours.