Hello All!  My name is Brian, you have known me as such unstoppable forces as BillyBathtub, ThomasRourke, and Roman.  I have not been killed on MafiaReturns in nearly 3 years and have arguably held some of the most powerful accounts in the history of this game.  I also own a stake of MafiaReturns.com.  

In my time as TR and Roman I have NEVER addressed accusations of cheating publicly.  Just once, and only once, will I defend myself.  After this post I will never again entertain the boo-birds that look to tear down my MafiaReturns reigns.  However, for the peace of mind of the people who work under me within the realm of Chicago, I will answer my critics.

Dating back to the Fall of 2008, I have only ever been a winner.  In being such, that means there have been a lot of people that have gone up against me and lost.  Most take these battles on the chin and move on, join new families, begin new friendships, that is the beauty of MafiaReturns.  However, we all know this game... There will always be a small percentage of people who don't find success in this game that will tear down the top dogs.  It has been like that for years.

My gaming experience has been a bit different than the one everyone else gets to experience.  Despite my efforts, I always have to keep in the back of my mind that there are certain people that will only ever see me as Billy_Bathtub, part stakeholder in MafiaReturns.

To address this, I will start by saying that I am NOT a coder (probably much to the dismay of IzzyCreamcheese).  I can't read code, I can't write code, and if my life depended on it to code a piece of MafiaReturns, you're all invited to the funeral.  So what are my daily routines as a stakeholder?  None.  When I am a crewleader I have to go through the same avenues as everyone else.  If I have a suggestion for the game, I tell IzzyCreamcheese, same as everyone else.  If I need credits, I swipe a credit card or purchase them from the marketplace, same as everyone else.  If I'm unsure whether or not the game is glitching, I tell Anubis or IzzyCreamcheese, same as... Well you get the picture.  

So what about the good stuff, the financials?  As many of you know, I am friends with IzzyCreamcheese dating back to when we were both players only.  As time went on, and the game increasingly began to siphon money out of Izzy's personal finances to keep the game up and running, I was in a position to help my friend on a game that we both love.  I first invested $1,300 in a new server for the game back in 2007, and have since put in close to $10,000.  For that, I've never asked for anything.  

Before I invested that money, I made the conscious decision that I would never ask for preferential treatment, nor for any monetary re-imbursement.  I can promise all my Roman-ites in Chicago and worldwide, that I have never nor will I ever draw a paycheck from MafiaReturns while I am an active player.  And that doesn't mean Scott is holding money for me in some secret MafiaReturns slush fund for when I am eventually done playing.  It means I am not making any money, period.  I am literally passing up a paycheck because I love playing MafiaReturns.  Where does my money come from?  I lace up my shoes the same as most other players here and go to work for 40 hours a week.

I am a hyper-competitive person by nature, but I have never leveraged my position as someone with a share in MafiaReturns to cheat.  It wouldn't feel right.  I also wouldn't jeopardize the integrity of a game that I've sunken so much money into and whose primary coder is one of my closest friends.  

As Billy_Bathtub the HelpDesk agent, I have never pressed one administrative key while holding a Crewleader position.  As Squishy explained, it is all logged, but more than that I know my ethical duty to keep the two worlds completely separate.

So how do I get to the top if I'm not totally cheating and adding extra 0's to my wack count?  Well, I will let you in on the ancient ThomasRourke/Roman secret to MafiaReturns success.  I work hard and never stop.  When most people don't think bodyguards are worth staying up for, you can still find me popping dead BGs after a war or Durden spawn.  I am almost 2 years old, and still outwork 95% of the people who play (Damn you, Shocker).

If you want the success I have:

Hours on this character: 1894.45

Put in the time.  I am closing in on 250% of the experience needed for Godfather.  I still do my petties, felonies, jails, voting, and OCs.  I feel if I am supposed to lead a city as Roman, I should lead by example.  

After ThomasRourke, I had my fill of being the powerhouse.  I took the money I earned after my 1 year birthday, retired, and passed the money to Roman for 220 Bodyguards (which at the time was a crapload).  I then lay dormant in several Godfather families not sure how to follow up my last character.  I did my MIAs and jailbreaks, but never advanced past Wise Guy while in Godfather Deimne's crew until last summer.  

Beginning early last summer I started to get the sparks of motivation as my friend Camazotz (at the time named Colin) was starting to think about setting up a family.  I volunteered to be his RHM immediately, and we spent hours chattering like Oprah's Book Club in what we could do to be innovative.

One day I woke up, and almost the whole of New York had been wiped out.  Colin had put Roman on a safelist, and I made the decision to see our plan to be CL/RHM through to fruition.  I can truly say that some of the moments I have enjoyed most as a player in the last few years were being a Right Hand in Philadelphia.  It only lasted about a month before DonPardo and TheDean attacked.  With Colin offline and pro'd I was forced to spring into action and set up as a Crewleader.  The war waged for several hours, and once Evangeline killed DonPardo I was able to create an alliance with TheDean that stood the test of time up until his retirement.  

My goal on Roman was never to be a Crewleader, let alone Godfather for a second time.  However, we play the hand that we are dealt in this game and I had fun having a character be an underdog for many, many months.  I grew to be friends with folks I had been enemies with or had not known before.  We had a very merry band of misfits and outcasts for a long time, but eventually the tides would shift and I find myself again at the top of the game.  

As Roman, I will continue to play the character as I have until I am killed or retire.  I am not a cheater, I just work hard.  I don't have advance notice of any features that get put into the game, I have asked Izzy or Anubis as many simple questions about the game as the next player.  I'm as surprised as anyone when a thread goes up in the OOC with the title "GAME CHANGE:".  Furthermore, if I don't see the thread and I ask Izzy what's up he tells me the same thing he tells everyone, "Go look at the OOC forum".  I can't even get a cliff's notes version, I have to read the thread the same as anyone else.

As per my actual game mechanics knowledge.  Everything I know, everyone knows.  It's pretty simple and I don't need to elaborate further.

To the folks who come out of their holes every now and again to cast dispersions on my character, I'm sorry that you've never beaten me.  When you're falling asleep at the keyboard during a war, I'm only getting started, and until that changes you will never beat me.

I love this game and always will.  It has introduced me to friends that I consider my closest in this world, not to mention a girlfriend (cats included).  I will never smear the integrity of MafiaReturns as a player or an Administrator (when I eventually retire).  And by now you should all know I would never betray the trust of IzzyCreamcheese, and all the people I love and respect that put time into characters and work under me in Chicago.

That's all, thanks for reading.

Voting gives you game experience? I find that somewhat bothersome. Sorry, I just got back and I'm trying to catch up.

Anyway, good on you, man.

You should knock off the cats... Just saying.

good read :)

You should knock off the cats... Just saying.
Reply by: RoRoG at Jul 23, '11 00:40

........

If they go, you're going with them.

Lets be honest, its only in the cats best interest ;)

So basically, to be successful at MR, you have to work hard? I wonder if that works irl too?

In all seriousness, the same people who moan about those who are successful here probably also moan about those who have success irl;

'Daddy got them the job.'

'They got lucky.'

etc, etc

Moral of the story, no matter if its ingame, or real life, if you work hard, you will be the best you can be!

I feel sorry for the poor sots who continue to degrade this game with their constant accusations of cheating and sucking up. Having met you IRL as well as Izzy and the others, I got to see how dedicated you all are to the game. Those who take this game seriously are always going to come out on top no matter what because that's who they are and what they do. Roman, I consider it an honor to know you and I marvel at the dedication to the craft that is MR.

To be honest, despite loads of people saying to me you cheat, I have never really been that bothered about it. If you had chosen to then it is on your conscience that that is how you have been able to do it.

During my life time playing the game I can only think of one time I have fundamentally disagreed with a decision the owners have made, but that certainly didn't make me think CHEATZOR.

I commend you with what you have done and achieved in the game it is up there with the achievements of Tita and many others. I further commend you for coming to these forums to set things out.


To others, you to can rank and achieve it is just a case of putting in the work, a la Shocker, Brian, Fats and Authed.

when i first started playing as waylander i always saw you as a badass grumpy silent man who would spring into action during the wars but Romana (at the time marietta) tried to convince me that you really were a friendly guy. We haven't spoken much but on those occasions you have indeed been very friendly. I never thought you cheated to get where you were, but knowing you had a stake in MR i always thought u knew how the game worked from the admin side. To learn that you really don't have any coding or admin information is really a surprise. It just goes to show what you can achieve with hard work and dedication.

Interesting read, of course its fair to say most people already knew that you don't cheat, and those who live and work in Chicago are fully aware of how dedicated and hard working you are.

After such a long life, its surprising that you are still so dedicated, and also commendable at the same time. Many would have by now grown tired and/or bored of sitting at the top, which I guess was the case for ThomasRourke. I hope that day doesn't loom near for Old Roman.

FFS I was coming here to find out how to cheat my way to the top, and here I find an explanation that is bloody obvious.

Seriously, I think spanning about 4 or 5 characters or whatever, I've seen Roman here constantly, that entire time, I've also heard the bullshit cheating allegations that seem to go hand in hand with comments about you and how you play the game.

Fucking man up people, it's getting really boring listening to the accusations, and fair play on coming out here in the open Roman to address something that you normally don't give the light of day to.

Your on a blinding effort fella, your right to ignore the allegations from here on in.

The simple fact of the matter, Billy, is that I don't trust you. I don't trust one word that comes out of your mouth. You have never been a person who has proven that they can be trusted. I fully believe that you will throw anyone and everyone under the bus if it means personal advancement for you, I believe that you would throw your mother under the bus if it meant you would get $10. From the first time I met you, when you were harassing teenaged girls on this game, til now, not once have I ever trusted anything about you.

I trust Scott, though. And I trust his systems of checks and balances. And I know that, regardless of my personal feelings about you, you wouldn't cheat - because the second you do, that's game over. If an owner is sitting there cheating in order to be the "top dog", that's it, the game is done because people will just refuse to play that. Say goodbye to the money you invested, say good bye to ad revenue, say good bye to your reputations... that's the end game and why I think that all these cheating allegations are ridiculous if someone puts even a modicum of thought into it.

My only issue is that when the HelpDesk and Assistants were first created, you were required to suicide any Administrator/Assistant account if you became a RHM or CL, purely to avoid even the APPEARANCE of impropriety. You could, of course, regain those accounts once your time as RHM/CL ended, but during that time you were completely shut off from anything that could be construed as "admin-related". There was a built-in wall purely to avoid all these accusations, and now there isn't. I thought that wall was a good idea, I still think it is a good idea, and with the recent wave of Assistant suicides to make way for the new Assistants, I was honestly glad to see your Assistant account be one of the ones that suicided, hopefully that will shut people up a bit.

In short: I hate BillyBathTub. I think he is bad for the game as a player, and is as untrustworthy a person as you will ever find in this, or any, world. I also think accusing him of cheating is ridiculous and a slight against him, and Scott, made by jealous twits who will never accomplish anything in their life.

Fuck, I need to go take a shower now.

I really dislike when people try to make the top people seem like they are the worst, cheat, and everything under the sun. They sit in the Conner and sulk and do nothing have they ever thought if you stop sulking and putting so much energy into hating and spitting on someones rep and turn this energy to working on their person they just might be a little bit better

Well, in honesty, I really must say I pretty much agree with the dead guy.

Especially in light of him being dead.

I've never spoken to you beyond business, and you seemed like a strictly business kind of person (in game, of course), and you also seemed like a big huge GF that would like eat my face off if I talked to you.

Not in a scary way, but you are extrememly powerful.

Love your devotion, and hopefully, after I graduate, and don't have a job, that period, I hope to be half as good as you, Roman.

Cats are pretty boring though, lets be honest.

Roman is our equivalent of Usain Bolt. Very successful, and with that success, there will always be some who claim he is 'cheating' or 'doping.'

Like with Usain Bolt, most know he does not 'dope' but there will always be some who claim he does.

Also, like Bolt, if it ever came out that Roman did infact 'dope' it would kill the world. Athletics would die if Bolt was found as a drug cheat. MR would die if it was discovered that Roman was a cheat. It is for this reason that I am sure neither of them cheat, because they rely on their worlds. They hjave invested a lot of time into their worlds. And all this would be destroyed if they cheated. The possible personal gain from cheating is minor, in comparison to the major impact it would have on MR/Athletics. And both Usain and Roman know this!

So there you have it, Roman = Usain Bolt

This was a great read. But I always loved success stories. Be it from the underdog
POV or just from pure work and dedication like in this case.

I wish I could have succeeded in approaching you to learn a bit from your style of play, but it didn't happen. You truly deserve to be where you are.

Nobody has ever doubted your hard work, however you can't blame everyone else for being suspicious considering your connections to the coders of this game. I'm sure it's a coincidence that people like Ganelon (friend of the coders), Anita (ex of the coders), and McTavish (girlfriend of the friend of the coders) have all had long runs on here. You see, you fail to give credit to the others that have worked hard on here...and I've known of lots of others that have outworked you. I won't say that your connections have put you where you are right now, but I can't fault others for thinking said connections have.