Hello fellow mafioso,

I come out here this afternoon to bring a few topics of conversation to the table, After listening to some of the Gods recent announcements for our world, and then the bickering of some in IRC Avenue in regards to them.

Now then... I'm not here to explain why the changes are for the betterment of our world, nor am I here to trash them. They did actually get me thinking about some of our other codes of conduct we have here.

During listening to some peoples reasoning to be against the change to the killing of young inexperienced gangsters I saw many comments regarding their first venture into this life of crime.

"My grandfather was killed just 48 hours into his life, But that cut throat culture is what made me come back..."

This went on for awhile, with multiple people giving examples of how it improved their children's lives by learning why their fathers were killed.

I wont be getting into if this sort of thing is driving newer mafioso from our world so shortly after joining, That is not the point of this speech. My great great great .... (ten years of great greats) Grandfather was killed in exactly the same, And it was that very cut throat culture that made his kin return, Its sort of what is keeping myself here even.

I understand completely that it is counter productive when it comes to the new young petty thieves and gangsters that we are dipping into our pockets just to have them show up and then killing them straight off.

So in all, I'm all for this change. Hopefully alot more of the mafioso who would have died actually get picked up by a family and remain to make something of themselves...

It still got me thinking tho, The mafioso who have stuck around... Do we not like the cut-throat ness now?

Have we slowly seen it die out? Back in the day, MIA's used to be "stolen" Now we have the new addition of a stopwatch to let us know the precise moment to strike the MIA you have paid for...

With the Crew leaders giving the "10 minute Rule" on MIA's... are we catering for the lazy? The cut throat attitude on MIA's was slowly drained out compared to the times they was introduced to our world.

This to me is a much larger issue then killing off young inexperienced gangsters.

"This will create a publicly available IA.
It will auto-turn to gangster and be killable anywhere from 0-5 minutes from now.
You will be given the name and location.
Despite this, there is no guarantee that you will get this kill.
In other words - this thing will auto turn gangster very shortly, fly to the target, check the start time, and get ready to pounce."

Before arguing with the gods about killing young mafioso so you can be cut throat, Maybe you should look towards your leaders about making them statements actually true. If you spawn an MIA, Ponce on it, Dont let it sit for a couple of minutes then go crying to your leader because your a lazy hitter.

I would love to hear peoples views, Hopefully some of the leaders views even on the "10 minute rule" and the recent change to shooting young mafioso, I know there are a few of you that are dying to get out here and have your say, So here you are, The floor is yours.

Django lights a cigarette and heads to the bench beside the road to take a nice front row seat and listen to the fellow mobsters.

Master Pain aproaches the fellow mobster...
Well, i do belive that if there were no rules our would would look like another worlds (OOC: another mob games that are a pain in the ass that are based in killing eachother) so, i understand what are you saying but i belive that having strict rules are the best for our would.

I for one, am not a fan of the recent changes by the Gods. I believe that we hold too many hands sometimes for the peoples without on world. A person should be responsible for the contracts that they take on. You want that target, you sit on it until its the zero hour and its time for their death. But alas, not everyone sees it my way. Ive learned to work within the rules that have been established, its just what we have to do

DrKingSchultz walks over and pats his old friend Django on the back, and grabs a seat next to him.

Dear Django my boy. Normally I would wonder what you're doing running off without me again, but, in this case, you've brought a very valid, and very good point back to the attention of these nice people here.

What exactly is the point of having a nice little warning, such as "There is no guarantee you will get this kill", if that is a false statement? You're essentially promised the kill! You have the initial 0-5 minutes of invisibility, a timer to help you not forget, and then (and it's been this way for quite awhile now) you have the additional, (Additional! mind you!) 10 minutes where no one else can touch it. That is 15 minutes total, promised to something that you have a new shiny timer for, and yet "there is no guarantee"? I beg to differ. If you fail to act in 15 minutes, then, well, what does that say about you? Hell, for that matter, if you fail to act in 5, I think maybe it's time for someone to go back to shooting school!

I say that, to say this, when is anyone ever given a 15 minute head start? Or even a 5 minute head start? When it's someone's time to go, it's their time. There is no 10 minutes where no one else can touch him. Alas, enough ranting from the wee thug.

Django you have come to the streets with a topic that has been bouncing around in my head for a while. Firstly in terms in what the gods have implemented recently I am all for it. Some people need a little more time to get accustomed to the way we work and the way to find a family. Yes to most it is easy but not everyone works the same way.

In terms of being less cut throat I couldn't agree more, slowly but surely we are becoming less mafia and more like everyday life. As you have said taking out a contract we have 10 minutes after they turn to take the shot before someone else can pounce. We have time to go to the bar order a drink, drink said drink, have a chat with someone, buy some ammo for the shot your about to take, take the shot with still 30 seconds to spare. My thinking is if you have forgot about that contract for a minute then that's your own tough luck. We now have someone pop up on our shoulder to tell us when the contract has turned.

Pickpocketing and mugging is another one, we have rules that govern pickpocketing instead of us being able to say 'today I don't want to be pickpocketed so if anyone does I will mug them'. At the moment we have to wear tags on our suits just so everyone is clear on where we stand on the issue, or like a tag I have found "Let's pretend we're mafiosi and see where that takes us. (hint: my response will be rank or family related" which I think sums it up nicely.

Finally recently we have seen our life expectancy dramatically increase with a few people reaching the milestone of 365 days. Is this a direct impact of us being less cut throat?

All I keep thinking here is 'kid gloves'.

Wrapping them in cotton wool. I'm definitely for the cut-throat style, something happened to one of a bloodline that triggered his/her next of kin to follow in their footsteps. Made them want revenge or for their blood to try again but get into a family. Maybe their kin had already made friends, but was just too slow on the uptake, the hitters in the past were ruthless, rather than spoon-fed kills so 24 hours was the maximum you would stay alive if you didn't sort yourself out pronto into a family. This created more interaction between players personally, trying to make a friend or two to stay alive. Many bloodlines fell short first time around, but still it didn't deter their kin returning to this life of crime. If someone did manage to get into a family first time around, they'd quickly realise how lucky they were when they saw gangster drop the instant they were 24 hours old.

A sense of always having to look over your shoulder fits in well with a line in a well known motto around these shores... 'The action is yours. The reaction is not.'

Is this not what new mobsters trying their hand at this life should be feeling when stepping off the boat?

In my opinion this place has been moulded into a world where a lot of mobsters have lethargic atittudes (I'm guilty of this too) towards our way of life because everything is laid on a plate for them. They don't need to be as pro-active and show their true worth quite as much which creates this lazy attitude circling in the winds.

Before I wander too far off subject... I have a train to catch Queens, NY to offload this special package.

Being the first one of my bloodline to return here from the old country for many generations I have not the up to date knowledge of how things work these days but I reckon I can't go wrong by assuming no one can shoot at anyone unless they have been handed down from God. I have however been lucky enough to be able to read the journals of many of my ancestors and debates like this have been going on for longer than many of us care to remember. 

*finds an old soapbox wit the letters TID scratched in the side*

The thing is, do you want this man? This man who wanders aimlessly around the streets without asking any questions, making any contacts or listening to any conversations. Plus having ignored for 48hrs his guardian angel 'tutorial' this man still wanders aimlessly among connected men, robbing on peoples turf and trying to pick pockets. Is this the kind of gangster you want carrying your family name?

I guess when you see crew members who have been asleep for 2months staying alive and sponsered its not the quality that counts but the quantity these days. I've read journals where hitsquads prowled the family for 'sleepers' People who signed the family covenant and agreed to execution for unauthorised absense.

Anyway, enough of me. I hope you get the leaders to get involved but I'm not sure some of them would want to waste their 7th post on something that actually matters.

NO!

God forbid they waste their 7th post!

I am someone who felt that this change by the gods to restrict the shooting of young mobsters was slightly unnecessary and maybe a bit of a knee jerk reaction. As I recall, my coffee shop alter ego made almost the same statement you have quoted, Django. However, as I have now had some time to think about it, I believe that I could have been the one having a knee jerk reaction. I reacted to a change brought about by the Gods as I felt this reduces the cut-throat attitude that seemed to define MafiaReturns for so long. However, the truth is, in my opinion at least, it is the members of this world who have reduced that attitude here. So, maybe my irritation was justified but it was definitely misdirected.

We have gotten lethargic, most of us. Well, not in the conventional sense. Most of us are still clicking away at a much more furious pace than we used to. What we have neglected is the other side of things. The Streets, The Business District and so on and so forth. This is why we, in a period of unprecedented growth, where I believe we have more people beyond the one year mark than the rest of the times put together we have a extremely quiet Streets. Yes, I do understand that people get more excited during conflict and decide to make numerous speeches then but seriously? Have we all gotten so used and so content with just running around with 60 units of drugs to upkeep the hundreds of bodyguards following most of us around or racing to get a kill that we have forgotten one of the basic pillars of this society? The Streets.

Of course, an argument can be made that the cut-throat ness has evolved from being just a rabid need to kill to a much more delicate dance of politics. That our community has grown above the need to demonstrate it's edge by just killing a no-name gangster to a level where ambition to be top dog outweighs all. That we have evolved from being mindless hammers who hope to win a battle by brute force to rapiers who strike at the required time with the required force and the required bloodlust. Nothing more, nothing less.( I am not sure if this is true.Just playing devils advocate here)

Well, that's my two cents...

Elijah then takes a seat next to Django and DrKingSchutlz to watch what happens next and contemplates smoking a cigarette, himself

Good to see at least one other person who can see and smell the absolute death of these streets.

With Districts coming into full swing, Why O'Why are we still enforcing the ridiculous 10 minute rule on MIA's?

In Chicago it takes a full 25 minutes to check every area, but we are still allowing people a full 10 minutes to be lazy?

Where is the backbone to make this change?... Or do we really enjoy being lazy useless hitters?

Just Sayin'

In fact, when that rule was first implemented, I believe it was twenty minutes. I think it was TheDean who changed it to ten minutes for New York, and again the rest of the cities followed suit.

But to my point above, if you think it's a rule that could stand to be revisted in these changing times why not make it a conversation of it's own?

Hello Mr Leper,

The reason I didnt re-create a brand new topic is because of how my great gran poppy's topic was ignored completely by the leaders of its time, I hope re-bringing it up will allow more people too give their thoughts and opinions of it.

Although this man Django is no longer with us, It doesnt mean other people cannot give their opinions on it. I genuinely hope that a leader of our current times steps forward and has a word or two about it. Twas entirely forgotten about previously by leaders.

Regardless of the topics age, You have already agree'd that its a good topic, And in my opinion one the leaders should and need to be thinking about.

The world slowly changes, and sometimes how we govern ourselves should too.

Oh I know full well that City hall didnt make this rule, I believe my gran father pointed that out...

If anything you can see when taking on a contract that the Gods believe we should be pouncing on all and every kill... If your a hitter, act like one.

Joesph gets nostalgic of the good ole days of hitting.