Since I've been playing the new MR, since the old version went offline, I've noticed that present day families put very little emphasis on the Made Man position... now I know much of this may be due to the fact that the game play doesn't lend to this position as being of any importance but I always felt like the goal for any player should be to reach the made man position so as to belong to crew and to a family like in the real life mob world. However, I've seen very little distinction between being an associate and between being made. I realize that in real mob life, valued associates are protected by their sponsors, or the guys who vouch for them with the intention of having them one day become made men, but there should still be a DEFINITE distinction between the two. Some examples, if a made guy is not PP friendly and an unmade guy from another, or even the same family, PP's you there should be repercussions other than mugging which cannot be done if the assailant jumps cities immediately... under no circumstances should a made guy be touched by an unmade member for any reason... In previous experiences on former characters I, a captain at the time, was sided against in a dispute against a middle ranking nonmade member... now I have no beef with the people who sided against me as I was a loyal member of the family and respected the boss's decision against all else, so I have no animosity for them, but the question remains... should it have happened? "A wise guys always right... even when he's wrong he's right" -Lefty Ruggiero Im not saying that that is in anyway a fair statement but lets be clear, we're engaged in an RPG that is based around being mobsters, so shouldn't we live by the rules? Maybe I was in the wrong during the dispute but since my profile said MEMBER and his said ASSOCIATE, shouldn't I have been sided with? Or at the very least taxed for my transgressions? As opposed to being whacked?  

Once again id like to reiterate that I have no qualms or beefs with anyone who wronged me, this wasn't meant to be a declaration of revenge or point fingers or anything of that nature. This was simply to pose the question. Am I being a complete asshole or are other people seeing the lack of distinction as well.

This is an RPG, as you said. The emphasis however is on the entire phrase that is in that acronym and so the word "GAME" has to have some weight.

Not everything can be taken as it would be in real life mob situations. Should the associate be protected above the Made Man? Wel, that all depends what the Made Man did really.

There are several crews where Made Man is respected and is treated like it should be, but that doesn't mean that a Made Man can do what he wants and live just because he has his button.

In past families made men have had different levels of power offered upon them for being made.

-sponsorship

-positions within the family only for made+

-votes by made + on who gets made, so the whole family has an input on who is being brought up the ranks.

unfortunately though in many cases i have noticed over the last 6 years i would say(6 years before that was tougher in my opinion) there is little difference for many and are just promoted to keep motivated and add extra defence, or to give a better enjoyment of the game. they have done enough and thats it in many cases.

with myself in my family made man is not handed out like some others, i like the old school way of once your made the only way out is blood or money. I even in the game only hold people that i trust with high regard

too many families i've seen over the years require a post count to be reached and a prowess to be achieved as well as a minimum tribute and what not i disagree with these things being made is something that not everyone will achieve however everyone has a chance to do so all it means is that you build trust,

if i cannot trust you why should you be made? now some people seem to think trust is a null idea in a RPG as you can simply be trusting the character or the player or even both but the thing is once you get made you are held and should be held to a higher regard, yes this is a game but the key aspect is roleplaying, there is alot of people who play roles of people who will never become button men or made men but even those people i will try to feel them out and get them to understand why i am doing this allow them to see the perks of becoming made in said family and city

in all the years of my time playing this i have became a made man + very few times and that was at my own accord whether it be inactive or simply not enough time to put into the character to have the crew leader i was capable of becoming made

I agree Triple. I've been made a grand total of twice in all the time I've been playing and all the characters I've played and the sole reason is well, because my entire family was wiped out before I had a chance to really. However, the times I have been made im really not seeing a distinction between when I was just an associate. I mean, I do all this work to get my button and I mean, theres no real difference. THeres no higher meaning to it, I don't get treated differently in anyway, I mean, you kinda gotta wonder what youre working for. Triple I am interested in playing with you in the future if that's how you play because that's kinda what im looking for. I mean, I like where I am with this character but, I mean, I want strict mob structure... I want mob rules and mob hierchy... Some people have even told me that if I don't like the way the games played to quit, but this is the best mafia rpg out there for real.
 

In the end we're all just equal people. Killing a WG for accidentally PP'ing a MM+ may be according to RP but you still just destroy the effort the person put into the game rather than do something else.