One of the many reasons players have used time and again as a reason as to why they either love or hate Mafia Wars is the ability to select any player and attack (fight) them at will. This ability to attack select players has led to the searching out of players and/or families as potential targets for attacks. It is the process of searching out players to attack and/or fight that has become known in the Mafia Wars community as what has been deemed a Drive-By.
Since many ‘drive-by’s’ in Mafia Wars that are conducted by many players and/or families can last hours, days, months, and even years the use of the term ‘drive-by’ to describe this action is undeniably inaccurate. In the real world a ‘drive-by’ never lasts for more than a few minutes. The victims (or targets) of a drive-by never know it’s about to happen and they most certainly do not have a chance to fire back or respond.
Wikipedia has a very accurate and descriptive overview of what a ‘drive-by’ truly is. Here is some of the text from the Wikipedia description of a drive-by;
A drive-by shooting (or drive-by) is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving vehicle, often without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target. The objective is to overwhelm the target by a sudden, massive amount of firepower without attention to accuracy.
The tactic of drive-by shooting originated when assailants would ride up to their targets on horseback, shoot them with wheellock pistols and then ride off before they could be apprehended.
In the United States, drive-by shootings have been used in organized crime since the Prohibition era of the 1920s. Originally used mostly to disrupt distribution of alcohol by rivals, they are now used to commit revenge killings. Drive-bys can be an efficient means of taking out rivals, as they allow the perpetrators to not only flee from the police but also escape rival territory quickly.
If you applied that description of a ‘drive-by’ to Mafia Wars the only way to conduct a ‘drive-by’ would be to select a player to fight and hit them a few times, or maybe until you ice them, and then move on to another target. In other words, you would want to try to go unnoticed. The irony is that this happens naturally all the time through normal game-play by players fighting others off the fight-page.
Contrary to the true meaning of what a ‘drive-by’ is somebody, or the community as a whole, wanted a ‘drive-by’ to mean more in the game of Mafia Wars. In fact, many players will describe a Mafia Wars ‘drive-by’ differently than others will.
Some have taken it upon themselves to attempt to standardize what a ‘drive-by’ in Mafia Wars is and how one should be conducted and what etiquettes should be utilized. The following is one example that a friend sent to me;
As the game of Mafia Wars has evolved, so have the rules of etiquette involved with this evolution. It used to be that if you initiated a drive-by, you would post a hello on someone’s war wall, maybe ice a couple of people to get their attention, and then play with whomever showed up to play. Those who had no interest in the ice and be iced game that was occurring on their war page, did not need to worry about being iced and could go on their merry way of playing their own game.
With the implementation of Red Tags in the game, also came the ability to ‘run the tag’ of any clan. Along with that ability came the question of what, exactly, is good Mafia War etiquette when it comes to drive-bys and/or ffa’s?
Some clans/fight clubs post on your war wall, and then proceed to run the entire clan through the Red tag. Now, this is not an issue when it is red tag on red tag, but when it is a fight club that comes a knocking, how should one handle the situation? You can’t simply run the tag of most fight clubs as they usually have some white tags as well, and the fight club is usually made up of multiple red tags. So, do you proceed to run all of the red tags of said fight club? Or do you sit and let them hammer on you while you attempt to switch and hit, getting slammed by the fight list the whole time makes it more difficult. What is the optimum solution?
It stands to reason that a drive-by or ffa should fall under old timey rules: switch and hit until they fill up your rivals list, then hit from there—it’s the only realistically fair solution. Until everyone in the mafia wars world agrees though, it would seem that tag running is the wave of the future and we must get used to it and play in like manner in return.
Originally posted on mwlists.com
I do know this, the blatant misuse of the term ‘drive-by’ by the Mafia Wars Community has led to countless fights, arguments and disputes outside of the game itself. It has become too easy for players to loosely use the term when they are actually assaulting others accounts or Mafia Wars characters and even them personally on Facebook and/or other social networks. The end result has been many (countless) players discontinuing their activities in the game of Mafia Wars. The proof is in the ever-declining player-base.
The problem is that the strong players believe they can do what they want and screw anyone who can’t defend themselves.
These bad attitudes and dispositions of the stronger players are ignored by Zynga and much of the community. In fact, they are condoned by many.
The end result will be that Mafia Wars will become just another Vampire Wars type of game. Meaning, the DAU will continue to decline until Zynga finally closes the game down.
If you love this game as much as you claim that you do then you must realize that you are either part of the problem or you are part of the solution to keeping this game vibrant and active.
