Ok let me start with a few things.  I'm not here because I'm mad, nor am I here to stroke my ego.  If no one wants this, I'll let the thread die in peace.  But I've wondered if something like this would ever be interesting.   Also, I'm not here for fighting or bickering, so I won't be responding to those comments.

Hi, I'm fs aka FutureStealer & ForeverSexy mainly.  I just capped off a run of nearly 1300 hours in game and almost 250 days alive.  I was GFC of NY which at the time of my death was full.  I've played the game for 10 years this May, and have seen a lot.  So feel free to ask anything of my last run, my past, or the game.  I'd love to answer them.

1 Highlights and lowlights of a/ your most recent run and b/ your ten years playing

2 What happened on this takedown?

3 Why did you give Kuklinski a chance? 

Nice run you had.

1. When do you think the game got very relaxed on the disrespect in public forums as a whole?

2. What did you enjoy most about this run?

I just want to take a quick moment and thank you for showing that not everyone hops on the bloodlining wagon. Even if it didn't work out at least you allowed someone the opportunity to show whether or not they truly changed and could do better.

1 Highlights and lowlights of a/ your most recent run and b/ your ten years playing

Fun one :)  Ok so most recent run:

Highlights: Got to play a really long time with my good buddy Revan.  Got to give auth to a lot of people. Got to give new people a chance to learn the game.  Made the streets somewhat active (imo).  Extremely high participation in my competitions (Thanks everyone!)

Lowlights: I really joined to play with a bunch of my friends I hadn't talked to in years, and they all got DD'd within the first few weeks of me being here.  Watching LV fall after a lot of planning and coordination and telling people that what happened wouldn't happen.  Final stab in the heart was the Polio situation.

For my 10 years:

Highlight: I have a ton, this game has been great to me.  It's really a love/hate relationship.  But I think a few stands out to me.  On my first account, I was asked to make a drug guide to become a hand in my first crew.  I worked so hard on that, and I still see it floating around to this day.  My first crew and playing with Acid/V, those were sincerely the best of days.  And I still get so much joy from helping new people learn the game.

Lowlights: What felt like 5 years of being unable to play past 30 days.  And probably the lowest is just seeing people leave and never talk to them again.  I miss lots.

2 What happened on this takedown?

This is an interesting one.  It's probably got more backstory, but I'll give a shorter view of it.  Basically while everyone has thought there is some 'regime', some 'boys club', some 'back room', where decisions were being made, and a few people were controlling all narratives none of that was happening.  Quiet and Worm/SassyPeach were friends before this run and had a friendship outside the game.  After all the DD's everything was kind of a mess and a lot of things happened where we (PH/NY) were working together, but we were never really what anyone here would call 'a group'.  Now we can see that Quiet's goals were to get to the 365 and quit, and she used Worm and us to do so.  To be fair, we used them to stay alive also.  Really, at the end of the day, there wasn't many other logical next steps.  Hindsight being what it is, NY should have attacked first, but I never had any wish to run the game.

3 Why did you give Kuklinski a chance? 

This one's easy: content.  The streets were dead af, and I wanted to spice it up a little bit.  Even if it caused some drama, at least it got people to talk.  And since then the streets have filled up with posts and threads.   My ultimate goal was to try to create as much potential fun in the game as possible.   This was one.  Realistically, I'd do it again if in the same spot.

This is honestly the most refreshing thread post war I have read in years. Much respect and for what I can only assume is your honesty. Humbling. Much respect. No salty just to the point polite and if you want to know ask. I admire this it has been missing here for a long time.

Very nice/interesting idea for a thread!

I appreciate you coming out and giving people the chance to ask questions. Of course, don't feel obligated to answer any of mine.

1. Did you see this coming at all (now or in the near future)? Was it a complete surprise?
2. Is there any important decision you made this run you were initially unsure about, but when looking back on it you think "yeah that was definitely the right call".
3. Is there any important decision you made this run you were initially unsure about, but when looking back on it you think "holy fuck that was a mistake".
4. I've often heard that when people make it to the very top, they eventually get bored. Did this happen to you?
5. What was your favourite street thread this run (that you didn't write yourself)?
6. Any words of advice for (perhaps the less experienced) future GFCs?

RusalkaBelikov

Nice run you had.

Thank you!  It was a good one indeed :D

1. When do you think the game got very relaxed on the disrespect in public forums as a whole?

I think that I could probably write an entire think piece on this and the current game state as a whole, but things are just way different than they were 10 years ago.  I can't pinpoint a time when it changed, but I do think I know why. 

When I first started playing, getting even a hand position was a big fucking deal.  Like I said in a previous post, I was given a task to help the crew after I had already shown my commitment to the game and crew.  Currently, the only requirement for hand or CL: do you want it?  I'd say there's an hours requirement, but we know there isn't.  I think it's simply because the game population is not what it was when we separated to this many cities and districts.  There are too many places to have a hand/crew that it is no longer a feat to achieve, but a task to fill.  It's just no longer of any value to try and police people's activities.  And even if you really wanted to do that, you'd have to have such a large backing of people that also believe in your vision to make a leading group that pushes for that.  And once again, you'll be faced with how you fill empty cities with a player base too small to fit the needs of the game.  And we're not even talking about distance matters added into that lol.

Really, the answer to your question is the people who were in charge and who played at those times.  We're not there anymore, and I'm not sure if we ever will be again.

2. What did you enjoy most about this run?

I know I touched on highlights in a previous response, but I'll just add to that a bit.  Because of our situation, I let go of the idea of making the entire game how I wanted and just focused on my city as much as I could.   I'm happiest about the environment I helped foster in NY and the people we had there.  It was a lot of fun, and I know a lot of people got an opportunity to build that they hadn't had in a long time.

Also, thanks Bobby_Pin.  I try to be as honest as possible in all of my responses even before death, but now that there is no position of power, I can be a bit more transparent.  Though if anyone is looking for some big info that was hidden behind the scenes, it probably won't be there lol.

Muffin, happy to answer all that come :D  I've really wanted to do this for a while but figured people would have a hard time asking me honest questions while I was still in power.

Also for the sake of my sanity I will be referring to Worm/SassyPeach as Revan going forward (if anyone didn't already know that)

1. Did you see this coming at all (now or in the near future)? Was it a complete surprise?

Ha I'm a bit of a paranoid myself sometimes, so it wasn't a complete surprise, no.  As I've said previously, our connection to PH was very much Revan/Quiet, so I always knew the most likely outcome was a break.  Even after months of working together, we had never really meshed as one group.  FYI I don't blame that on anyone in particular.  Any of us could have tried harder to make it work.  I think we were all cautious because of how we all came together.

I think there were a lot of signs.  Alucard's increase in activity, the shifting of resources across the country, and them all hitting their 1-year mark.  But in the end I had put my trust that Quiet and Revan's friendship was keeping the thing going.  So in that sense it was a surprise, yes.

2. Is there any important decision you made this run you were initially unsure about, but when looking back on it you think "yeah that was definitely the right call".

I think aligning with PH lol.  I know now, seeing where we're at that sounds a bit odd, but given where we were at it was absolutely the right call.  I gave Revan a lot of shit early on in the process because I really didn't trust PH.  I didn't know any of them, and I thought our better call was to align with the former NY.  There were a lot of points early on, I thought we'd die because we didn't play it right.

3. Is there any important decision you made this run you were initially unsure about, but when looking back on it you think "holy fuck that was a mistake".

For me, it's not one specific decision, but a direction I wanted to go for.  I'll touch on why in the answer to a later question, but much of my run I tried to give people opportunities that they really, really wanted even if it wasn't in the best interest of the city or our situation.  The two that come to mind are leaving LV, and letting Polio go to DT.  Both choices were made because people wanted and deserved opportunities that we could not give them otherwise.  I should have gone with what was best for us as a city instead of individuals.  Things probably would have been very different.

4. I've often heard that when people make it to the very top, they eventually get bored. Did this happen to you?

Absolutely.  There's really nothing to do once you've made it to the top.  I will say, I think it would be different if I was working with an entire group.  I'd love to have imposed more rules and make more changes, but the reality is the game is so big that if you don't have a large group to begin with, it's hard to impose any kind of sweeping changes.   Really, the game's lack of end game makes the end game goals 2 things: staying alive for as long as possible, and killing anything that may stop you from living longer.  It's extremely boring, but the interesting thing that I had to face was that even though I was bored, it didn't mean that everyone in my city was.  Lots of people were happy and hadn't had a chance to play like that for a long time.  Thus, why I never wanted to make any big, crazy plays. (For better or worse, I suppose.)

5. What was your favourite street thread this run (that you didn't write yourself)?

Ok of recent, I thought this thread from Spike was beautiful.  He always had a good grasp on the situation:

https://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/1879395#30491552

I also want to call out this one as one of the most successful RP threads I've ever seen:

https://mafiareturns.com/comm/thread/1855825#302207353

6. Any words of advice for (perhaps the less experienced) future GFCs?

Life is short, play how you want to play.  I really don't have any great regrets.  I think I accomplished everything I wanted to, I do feel terrible for those who died who wanted to do more, but I'm happy.

Give your city every opportunity to play how they want to play, and support it.  The game sucks if you're not having fun and your #1 job is to help to make the game more fun for your city.

At the end of the day, your responsibility is your city as a whole.  You may have goals, and you may be bored, but you are also looking out for a bunch of other people.  With that being said, sometimes people are going to really want things that they should deserve.  But that doesn't always mean it's the best move to give it to them. If, in your gut, you know have a feeling the situation will play out negatively, you're probably right.  It's better to have people get slightly upset that they're not getting a hand/crew/gf/city than to give it to them and watch them die.

FS_x

What do you make of the deaths and retirements?

What bloodlines do you respect historically? 

What do you make of the deaths and retirements?

10/10 did not see that coming, but the chaos is pretty fun to watch from the sidelines.  It's funny, I feel like historically may has been a month of restarts in MR.  And it looks we're there again. With over 200 deaths yesterday, that's the most I've ever seen at one time I'm pretty sure.  It's a nearly blank slate.  Best of luck to the ones in charge of the rebuild (hint, it's never the ones left standing with a crew who end up succeeding).

I do hope the Gods do some reduction to districts at this time.

What bloodlines do you respect historically? 

 I have a lot, tbh, but I'll name a few.

Obviously, Revan and I have a long history at this point, so I'd say him.  (Tho, respect? :P)

Acid is the first one that always come to mind for me, he was a mentor and good friend as I learned the game. 

V is usually right there with Acid since we all 3 came up together.  He's always so much fun and loyal as hell.

Lush/SB (Daiquiri) and I played together on and off for nearly 20 years, she'll always have my full respect.  I'll never forget on my second account (in another game) I joined her crew and shot at one of her members and she still didn't hate me after that.

Spike, who I also am pretty sure I've played around for about 20 years.  I'm not sure if I've ever played with him, but I respect his acceptance of the game and the way he plays (most of the time).

To be fair, I have problems with object permanence in people, so I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton.  I sometimes look through old threads and remember, 'Fuck, I forgot we worked together so much'.  I think, in general, I like people who enjoy having fun.  Most of them don't take it too seriously and understand at the end of the day we're playing a game.

I do hope the Gods do some reduction to districts at this time.

 Don't you think it would be better to just take DT out the mix and have East vs West? This way those sent to Detroit are not just placeholders 99% of the time.

 Don't you think it would be better to just take DT out the mix and have East vs West? This way those sent to Detroit are not just placeholders 99% of the time.

100% yes.  This would actually be the ideal option.  

Who is your favorite Helpdesker and why is it Jen ? 

Who is your favorite Helpdesker and why is it Jen ? 

Is it a cop out to say all help desk?  haha But seriously over the years the help desk staff has always been great, but I gotta shout out my boy Toby.  He's come in clutch for me on quite a few occasions.

Wow none of that was specially about Jen and that is upsetting. 

But I agree, Toby is by far my favorite staff member.