This is probably the best OOC thread I have seen in a while. 

If there is anyone else that would react like this, Please come forward so I can target my PP's on you.

This is where you are wrong:

"Johnny, you are a total dweeb, just because you are highly ranked with a family doesn't make you any different to everyone else."

In the mafia, rank means you ARE different from everyone else. This isn't an egalitarian society.

In the mafia, rank means you ARE different from everyone else. This isn't an egalitarian society.

Rank is cheap nowadays, for the most part anyway. I know brain dead Dons and highly intelligent, hardworking Wise Guys. Go figure.

People aren't promoted based on intelligence Wargasm. That concept would mean this place had a ton of Wise Guys unfortunately.

However I don't really believe the rank is any cheaper now than it  has been for many many years. Very few make people work hard to obtain Made Man, this is mostly because that so many people expect to be given the promotion once they reach the minimum time.

As far as the topic at hand goes; it was a pathetic reaction to being pickpocketed. I can understand the point about respect, but the Made Man should have put the complaint to his boss and left it at that.

People aren't promoted based on intelligence Wargasm. That concept would mean this place had a ton of Wise Guys unfortunately.

However I don't really believe the rank is any cheaper now than it  has been for many many years. Very few make people work hard to obtain Made Man, this is mostly because that so many people expect to be given the promotion once they reach the minimum time.

As far as the topic at hand goes; it was a pathetic reaction to being pickpocketed. I can understand the point about respect, but the Made Man should have put the complaint to his boss and left it at that.

Perhaps me using the intelligence as a vocal point about rank was a bad choice. I purely meant that I see Wise Guys who are a better all round player, than I do with some of the Don characters.

I have to disagree with you with regards to the ranks NOT being cheaper. I look around and see standards slipping in all four corners of our world, and I see promotions as being one of the items on the downward slide. Sure, back in the day some people got cheap promotions, but on the most part, people worked hard for their ranks. Nowadays, I see cheap promotions, very cheap promotions. Sure, we do see some families that offer some kind of requirement, but normally it ascertains to amounts that have been donated (there are exceptions).

God Father Cantona had a great promotional system in place where a fellow Made Man had to vouch for a Wise Guy and state their reasons why, all whilst under the scrutiny of Cantona. A system that I thought was so great that I adopted it for myself.

I guess there is not right or wrong answer, just peoples opinions.

The system Cantona had in place has been used many times, the last time I recall it being used was by Gwarble, but then it could easily be used by others since and I simply wasn't a part of their family. This is the biggest issue we have when deciding whether rank is cheap or not, no-one knows what people go through unless you are part of that family, so its hard to simply say all ranks are cheap. (I know that wasn't what you said, but its too hard to define which people got the rank easy and which people didn't)

I remember almost 12 years ago a family member of mine was obtaining the rank of Made Man purely because he donated a lot. Hell, that member even even ended up going Bold based on nothing more than his donations.

Thats why I said its not any cheaper now, its simply always been cheap. It has always only been a few amongst the many when it came to proper leaders that made you earn it. The difference now I guess is that there are more leaders and so it becomes more of an issue when it remains still so few that make you work hard for it.

And for the record, having been in West Side of Chicago I will admit that is the hardest I've worked for my button in an extremely long time.

The system Cantona had in place has been used many times, the last time I recall it being used was by Gwarble, but then it could easily be used by others since and I simply wasn't a part of their family. This is the biggest issue we have when deciding whether rank is cheap or not, no-one knows what people go through unless you are part of that family, so its hard to simply say all ranks are cheap. (I know that wasn't what you said, but its too hard to define which people got the rank easy and which people didn't)

I remember almost 12 years ago a family member of mine was obtaining the rank of Made Man purely because he donated a lot. Hell, that member even even ended up going Bold based on nothing more than his donations.

Thats why I said its not any cheaper now, its simply always been cheap. It has always only been a few amongst the many when it came to proper leaders that made you earn it. The difference now I guess is that there are more leaders and so it becomes more of an issue when it remains still so few that make you work hard for it.

And for the record, having been in West Side of Chicago I will admit that is the hardest I've worked for my button in an extremely long time.

Perhaps my words weren't very clear, I never meant to insinuate that Cantona made this promotional system, I merely meant that in recent times he adopted this system.  I understand and agree with what you say about only seeing part of the promotion systems, as I said, there is no right and wrong, just peoples opinions that consist on what they have been told, and what they experience.

I guess it again comes down to my experiences from back in the day, but for the most part, all the important families that I worked for (I can't remember all of them), I had to work hard for my promotions. Nowadays, I have been in a few crews where I throw a bit of cash, say nothing to the family leader and hey presto, a Made badge below my name.

I have to agree with you, West Side was the hardest I have had to work for my promotion in a long time. I feel sorry for you, your crew leader must have been a right stick in the mud.

i remember striphe used to have the made men and above vote on if someone should be promoted or not when we were in Las Vegas.

I'm just going to jump in here for a moment.

The kid worked hard for his rank. He earned his button. He did far more than any others I have seen. No one is given a button under me.

Don't insult the kid for that specific reason.

Have fun all.

Always take the opportunity to mug if you are not PP friendly. It is your right and no one can take it away from you without risks.

If you are PP friendly, well then suck it up.

Its an agreed risk that PPers take on when they PP people. Its the way it is.  If someone loses money because of it then maybe they should have thought about that before they did it.

I'm just going to jump in here for a moment.

The kid worked hard for his rank. He earned his button. He did far more than any others I have seen. No one is given a button under me.

Don't insult the kid for that specific reason.

Have fun all.

Who mentioned anything about his rank? The conversation went off on a tangent. His name was never mentioned, nor was any inclination towards his name and rank.

To say that rank is cheaper nowadays is ridiculous. Yes, it's easier to achieve rank than in the past, but that's due to the way the game is coded now. Remember time minimums? 30 days for Boss? 45 for Consig? 60 for Don?

Iif you want to go back 10 years, nobody ever had their button withheld. If you were eligible, you generally got it.  These days, some crew leaders will make you jump through hoops before they click that button, which is ironic, since if anything is cheaper these days, it's the bold suit. No street presence required and about 1 CL for every 20 players (guesstimate).

I remember the days when no one got Made generally Don, as only the crewleaders were made and above pre-v-day with a few exceptions under The_eternal, Izzycreamcheese and some days i would be happy to have those days back.  I remember even on here at stages my promotions never came easy Salvatore Riina, the inactive Gato, Evsie and i could continue.  I won't lie some crews over the years on here and org have been happy to give people an easy promotion others not so much.  Sometimes can find a pattern on easy made's and shorter lifespan