Don’t join MySpace Mobsters
July 29, 2008 by Morninglark
A few weeks back, my daughter sent me a link to join a game called “Mobsters” on Myspace. (They actually have several similar games - Heroes, Rockstar etc.) It is just one of those little Apps you can add.
At first it was kind of fun. I didn’t get into it as much as she did, but I would log on every day and buy more territory, do a few missions, and add people to my Mob.
When you add them, they become a friend. Soon my real friends, were being blasted by 100 new mobster friends to join the game. They didn’t just ask once. Oh no! They asked one of my favorite Catholic priests 1000’s of times. I actually had two people remove themselves from my friends list because the Mobsters would not leave them alone.
Next all the Mobster players started BLASTING the bulletin area. Now usually I love to log on and read my friends bulletins. They might tell of an upcoming trip, or some new blog they wrote. But not anymore! Now I see this crap:
From:
SLIM
Date:
Jul 27, 2008 2:38 AMSubject:
TO ALL THE FINE LADIES ON HEREBody:
GIVE ME A CALL….781-382-3478
And he doesn’t leave it at that. Oh no! He continues to spam things. That mixed with all the people spamming for you to join their friends groups…and pretty soon you just turn off all the Bulletins from friends.
Now as if having creepy old stalkers spamming you with phone numbers isn’t enough, you go to read your comments. You no longer have any REAL comments. You just have page after page of:
This comment was sent by your friend via the Mobsters app.
To block this app and all communications from it, click Here.
——————————————-
— wants you to join their mob in Mobsters, a Mafia-style combat game played on MySpace.
Start out as a petty thief and work your way up to become a Mob Don!
I no longer know that my friend had a baby. I don’t know that another friend is playing LOTRO. I didn’t hear the news, that a friend of mine got transferred in the Army. There are too many pages and pages of Mobster comments to actually read my comments page.
The worst part is watching what has happened to Gabs. She has been inundated with Myspace requests. (Lil Ravey Babe has 1128 friends.) She is a nice person, that can’t say no to anyone.
People were sending her questions about the game. She couldn’t just ignore them, but answering 700 private messages a day with the same questions wasn’t going to work either.
So she wrote a few blogs, to answer some of the questions she gets. Now she is getting hate mail, nasty posts on Myspace, and one person even found her work email, and sent her nasty comments there.
These people need to get a life. I have seen people in MMORPG’s get this involved in the drama of a game. I can almost understand it, when you have years into building a character. But this is a javascript app on myspace. It’s only been around a couple of weeks, and is a lame game at best.
For me, I am deleting all my mobs. Issuing a public apology to my real friends for all the spam. I am deleting all the mobster friends. (and I am sure that some of them are really nice people that I would want on my friends list)
As far as poor Lil Ravey babe, it’s like watching the Grinch who stole Christmas. All the joy of Myspace is gone. She dreads logging on. I won’t be surprised if she just deletes her account.
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An update:
I just got this Bulletin From Lil Ravey Babe on myspace:
Well it was real.. and it was fun .. but it has reached the point where the “internet” world is now morphed to my personal world.
I have been getting personal emails that contain threasts, nasty name calling, and just all out spam.
Mobsters is a game, and a simple little nothing game in the world of GAMES.. and some people have taken it to far.
Leave aside the fact that “my”space is no longer mine but loaded with people who I dont know, it is insane to me that people would search down my private email address, work email address, and website just to come tell me nasty things. Threaten me, and all around irritate me over a simply myspace app.. I am going to be deleteing this profile, so please if you want to add mobsters that are in my myspace mob categorie do so now.
To all the wonderful people I have met through mobster and chatted with in emails I will be kicking you an invite from my new myspace profile, but it will be purely to be my friend on myspace.
As for the everyone else most of you are great people, who just wanted to play the silly app like me and cause me no harm it was nice to meet you all and good luck in mobsters..
Looks like she had to delete her myspace to get away from the crazies!
You can always delete the friends you add for Mobster from your MySpace. Just make sure you’ve accepted them as a part of your mob first. That will eliminate them overpowering your bulletin board. You can also stop people from sending you comments by going to account settings,then applcations, then make sure the box up on top is not checked. That will stop the comments from coming but it also block request to join your mob.
If your MySpace account is out of control…its only because you allowed it to get that way. I love playing Mobsters and if the people who ask to be my friend *just* for mobsters start leaving a lot of bulletins…I just delete them. No big deal.
let any of your friends know that play this game that all of those people don’t -have- to stay on your friends list. Once they’ve joined your mob, you can delete them from your myspace friends list and they remain in your mob. I have 81 in my mob, and only about 23 on my friends list
I delete them as SOON as they accept the mobster invite. That way, no spamming my friends, no spamming my bulletin board, etc.
I keep my myspace private, locked down, because I don’t want crazies seeing pics of my kids or any personal information .. so I usually take a couple minutes to lock down all my albums and such so they are only visible to me, then go the forums where you can add tons of mobster people, and add about 20 or 30 at a time, once they’re added to my mob, I delete them from my friends list, and open up my albums and blogs again for my friends. A few minutes of aggravation for a peaceful online experience ..
Hi,
i was googling something and ran into your page here. I made an account just to reply. This is so sad to hear. From my understanding you can delete the friends you added just to be mobsters to continue having your page free from JUNK and the Bulletins Clear. I don’t think you have to erase your myspace and lose your friends. I would like to know if you have tried that. Those people you erase, remain your mobsters but not your friends, and that shouldn’t affect your bulletins.
Please write back soon,
Jane
All you had to do was remove the new people from your myspace friends list once they were in your mob . You didn’t have to keep them as myspace friends.
simple as that.
I too joined mobsters….and am still playing but I have found a trick to it. You ask the people to add as a friend for mobsters, add them to your friends list, send them an invite to your mob, and then delete them from your friends list. You DO NOT have to have them as your friends on myspace after you send them a mob invite. They can be a member of your mob but are not on your friends list, so they do not leave comments, bulletins, or have any other sort of access to your profile. I, like you, was bombarded with the stupid bulletins, but do not have that problem now. This is just a tip for those that like the game, but do not want the stupid spam and other annoying things that come with having random people on your friends list. If you follow what I have said, you can enjoy the game and still enjoy myspace at the same time!!! Hope that this can help some that are frustrated.
To all of you, thank you for your comments, but you are missing a very important point…
These people..who were removed from the friends list after signing up…continued to pursue her.
They started sending nasty emails to her WORK email, all from information they gleaned by gaining access as a friend in mobsters. They were able to scroll through all of her information..intended for friends and family.
She got over 200 emails at her work, and over 50 to her home email. Her private email..not through myspace!
Some even looked up her phone number, and she got nasty phone calls.
I still say, you should be able to play a game like mobsters …without having to give everyone on myspace access to your full profile!
We should be given a mobster profile where we can approve mobster friends, without ever having them join our actual myspace page.