The Crims
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Crims | |
|---|---|
 "The life of A Criminal" |
|
| Developer(s) | TheCrims.com |
| Publisher(s) | TheCrims.com |
| Distributor(s) | TheCrims.com |
| Designer(s) | TheCrims.com |
| Latest version | 1.19 |
| Release date(s) | 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Browser MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) |
| Mode(s) | Single player with some multiplayer interaction |
| Platform(s) | Web browser |
| Media | Internet |
| System requirements | Web browser, Internet connection |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
The Crims is a free browser based MMORPG. The game was developed by two Swedish programmers. It is supported by 6 servers which ensure optimal gameplay. A player's goal is to earn as much respect as possible within a given time period. The game takes place in CrimCity, which is described as "a metropolitan for gangsters, scumbags, and criminals". According to game information there are over 5 million registered users world-wide and over 140,000 active accounts. Many of players come from Brazil which has lots of good players along with, Romania, Greece, Egypt and Poland. The game is currently available in 24 languages, with other languages in the process of translation. The game is divided into rounds, each round being 30 to 45 days long. One Crims "day" lasts 6 hours therefore 1 normal day equals 4 The Crims days. In order to give a sense and strategy to the gameplay tickets have been introduced. On the first day of each new round all players receive 100 tickets and after this they receive 8 tickets every Crims day. Players use these tickets to enter Raves and Nightclubs. They do this in order to take drugs which increases their stamina. The stamina is essential because many of the actions in the game require it to be performed. Usually its the players that manage their tickets best that will finish in the highest positions at the end of each round.
Contents |
[edit] General Features
- The easiest way to gain respect is to do robberies, starting from Shoplift (the easiest) up to the Russian Drug King (the hardest).
- Players can join gangs to rob much more profitable jobs. Being in a gang allows players to participate in so called GA's (gang assaults) when one gang assaults another.
- Players can choose from 5 different characters at the start of each round which include:Pimp, Hitman, Robber, Businessman and Gangster) each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
- Players can increase their skills though buying them from the Hospital or gaining them in attacks. The skills are charisma, strength, tolerance and intelligence. Each skill determines the qualities, strengths and weaknesses of the player.
- Each player can choose to play with only one account, or with multiple accounts ("multis" or "rabbits") which gives certain advantages in the game. Multi-accounts has been the subject of many disputes, but have been allowed by the Game Administrators in the past rounds.
[edit] Professions/Characters
PIMP - The Pimp is one of the 5 character classes in the game. He has an advantage in charisma and tolerance and therefore he can make more money from hookers than other characters. He has more space to hold hookers, and there are less chances of hookers dying or escaping when you are collecting the money that they earn. The Pimp however, has less chances of succeeding in single robberies. In rounds where the hookers are not very profitable, the PIMP is not a very desirable character, because of his dissadvantages in strength.
Hitman - The brute of the game, the Hitman is one of the most used characters. He is a vicious killer because of his advantages in strength and tolerance. He has a higher chance of succeeding in single assaults(1 player versus 1 player) but the disadvantages are that he can buy less factories, and there is a higher chance of hookers dying or escaping when collecting the money from them. This character is the favorite among the players.
Robber - He is the best character to use in single robberies. With certain advantages in intelligence and strength he is the best at robbing. He has more chance of getting away after robberies, even if the difficulty exceeds his power. A disadvantage of the "robber" is that he gains less money from hookers. He's a favorite character of players who like to play alone, and rely on single robberies instead of gang robberies. Usually this type of character is preferred for the secondary accounts that players use.
Businessman - He is the man with courage and sharp brain. His advantages in intelligence and tolerance gives him an edge in the business world. He can buy more factories which will result in a higher respect at the end of the round due to the large quantities of drugs produced by the factories. The price of drugs is a key factor in order to gain respect, and the businessman sure knows how to manipulate the drug stock. The businessman has less chances of succeeding in single assaults(1vs1) making him unfit for close encounters, however the advantages of the Businessman pale in comaprison with other characters, so he is one of the least used characters of the game.
Gangster - The last but not least, the gangster is a character with evenly divided characteristics making him the natural choice for the new players. He is good in all aspects of the game but does not have the edge in certain areas like the characters. He is a good choice for players who want to have a balanced character.
[edit] Game Features
Assault is the option which allows players to attack another player. In order to attack a player you must have a solid or temporary relation with that player. A solid relation is created by sending a request to a player, and him then accepting it. You can meet other players on the Squares, Raves or Nightclubs. The temporary relation (red) is a relation you make with a player you've met accidentally in a Rave or Nightclub. Those relations will disappear after a while. You can also attack somebody with the gang you are in, with the so called GA (gang assault). In this case you, along with the other gang members, set up a gang assault on another player that you have a relation with. When the members have agreed the attack is launched. If the player you are attacking is in a gang you will face the entire gang in combat and not just the individual player.
Robbery is an option where players can do robberies in order to gain money. The single robberies are the ones a player can do by himself with no help from the gang. The robberies gradually increase in difficulty from the super easy Shoplift to the high power Russian Drug King. You can also perform robberies with your gang. Those however increase both in difficulty and in the number of gang-members required to succeed. The easiest robbery here is Forex which requires only 2 members and has a difficulty of 70. The hardest is the Al Capone (AC) which requires 10 members, every one of them with a minimum power of 4,500.
Sabotage is a feature which allows players to blow up factories, Raves or Nightclubs or to kill hookers of other players who he/she has has a solid or red relation with. The longer you plan the sabotage, the higher the chances are of success.
Hookers - This is where you can buy hookers. If you are a Pimp or another character with high charisma you could find hookers for free in Raves or Nightclubs.If you are a Pimp you can hold more than 5 hookers without having to buy a whore house. If you are not a pimp you can only hold 5 hookers, after that you will need to have a whorehouse to be able to buy more. The hookers produce money every day. You can collect the money whenever you want but the more often you collect, the higher the chances are of your hookers to dying or escaping.
Arms Dealer - Here is the place where you can purchase weapons, armours and hire guards to protect your businesses. At the weapons section you can choose from a various list beginning with the Baseball Bat and ending with the deadly Mean Machine. The weapons have their own characteristics like firepower and accuracy. The armours are made to protect you and they increase the tolerance of the player. They range from the almost useless Diper to the very best Nomex which ensures the best protection you will find in the game. Guards are the ones who protect your businesses. You can hire them to guard your factories, hookers or your Raves and Nightclubs. The best guard you can hire is The Ultimate Guard which has a power of 800.
Drug Dealer - Here is the place where you can buy or sell drugs. You can buy drugs to place them in your Raves or you can sell the drugs produced by your factories.The random events in the game will affect drug prices. For example when a large ship arrives with a quantity of weed, the weed price at the dealer will go down. But when the cops confiscate a large amount of drugs the prices will go up. If you will sell drugs to the dealer he will take 5% from your profit making more profitable business if you will sell your stock directly to the ships in the Harbour.
Buildings - You can buy buildings in order to develop your businesses. The factories produce large amounts of drugs making them one of the most profitable business in the game. However you will need to pay a certain amount of money per Crims day for the buildings to produce (production costs).The money will be automatically extracted from you cash. You can also buy a Whorehouse which will allow you to hold more hookers.The higher your intelligence is, the more drugs will the buildings produce per Crims day. Also if your intelligence and tolerance are high you can own more buildings.
Nightlife - Here is the place where you go when you need some energy (stamina). The stamina is important in almost every action of the game so in order to rob, to attack, to collect money you will need stamina. You can enter a Rave or a Nightclub and refill your energy level there. You can also meet new people here which will have a temporary relation with you. You can add some Raves to your favorites list making it easier to find them and enter. You can also delete some Nightclubs from your favorites lists if you are unhappy with the drugs that you will find there. You will need a ticket to get in.
Businesses - You can buy your own Raves and Nightclubs.Here you can sell drugs to other players or you can keep the Rave just for yourself. The Rave has room for more players and you can sell all types of drugs there. The Nightclub is smaller and you can only sell 3 different types of drugs. Like the factories, the raves and nightclubs in order to function a certain amount of money is needed per day. This amount is automatically taken from you cash each day. If you don't have the money the place will be suspended and debts will accumulate.
The Docks - This is the place where ships arrive. Those ships will came randomly and will take only one type of drug. The ship will only stay in the harbour for 1 Crims day (6 hours).This is a decisive factor in the game because you can make big money if you will sell drugs directly to the ships.They offer a better price and don't take that 5% like the Dealer. When a ship arrives usually the prices at the Dealer also grow.
The Square - Here you can chat with other players, search for gangs or pick a fight. Strong relations between the players develop here but it is also the place where you can find easy targets. Spamming and flooding are strongly forbidden and they are punished with ban.
Casino - At the Casino you can play Blackjack or you can buy a ticket for the Lottery. The Blackjack is an easy making money game where you can bet up to $1 million per hand. At the Lottery you must pay 1 credit to get a lottery ticket but you can win hundreds of credits.
Hospital - This is the place where you end up after a drugs over-dose or losing an assault. You can stay in the hospital for the given amount of time: 2 crims hours (30 real minutes) for an over-dose and a variable amout of time for a lost assult (a few crims days) or you can get a better treatment and get out after 15 minutes by paying the hospital 10 credits. This is also the place where you can take some pills that make you stronger, you can change your face and/or name to delete the temporary relations or you can dezintoxicate. You can buy brainstim to increase your intelligence, love potion to increase your charisma, creatine fuel in order to gain tolerance or anabola to become stronger. You can do a face change operation to get rid of the unwanted red relations. If you have taken too many drugs they will start to have no effect on your stamina. At this point you need to detoxicate (detox) and the drugs will have again the best effect or you can use Methadone which also has the same type of effect as detox. Depending on how much Methadone you buy it will cure your addiction by percentage.
Bank - Here you can deposit your money to keep them safe in case you fail one robbery, or you are beaten in an assault. The interest rate is 2% per Crims day (but only for amounts of up to 100,000 cash). But you must be careful because you need to have some money in cash in order for your businesses to run perfectly. If you have money in bank but not in cash you will still make debts because of your buildings and they will not function.
Prison - This is the place you don't want to be! Here you will find some of the thoughest players and the most dangerous scumbags. Here you end up after a failed robbery or if you have committed a murder. You can escape by bribing cops with game cash or by paying credits.
[edit] Gangs
General Description - The gangs are essential in the game. The players usually form gangs for better protection and to be able to perform big robberies. They can also attack other players or other gangs increasing their chances of winning the round. The big top gangs usually have around 100 members near the end of the round, but this number of 100 has been often exceeded some gangs gathering 140 members at various points in the game. The gang is formed by a Leader(gang-leader) who is usually the most powerful or and elder player with more experience and who can be trusted by others. He then gives a name to the gang, sets a flag for the gang and starts inviting other players to join. In order for a member to be invited he must have a solid relation with the leader. The leader also has the power to expel a member from the gang, if that member has not the required power to participate at the robberies along with other members. The gang-members gather at a place called Gang Center and they can talk there and discuss all the aspects of the game, gang and what attacks or robberies to perform.
Robbery - In order to perform a robbery one gang-member must set up the robbery and then the other must accept. If the robbery requires 17 members in order to be performed, then a minimum number of 17 gang-members must accept the robbery. The success (or failure) of a gang robbery depends on each of the members' (that have accepted to take part in the robbery) robbing power (the official formula is not known, but it is known that it depends on the character's skills, weapon and armor). All the members that have accepted the robbery must have a robbing power bigger than the rob's difficulty. The longer it takes for the robbery to be planned, the less chances are for it to succeed.
Gang Assaults - For a gang to assault another player, one gang-member must have a solid or temporary relation with that player. Then he sets up the assault and the other members must accept. The more members agree to participate, the higher chances of winning are. If that other player that is attacked is in a gang, then the two gangs will confront each other. The winner will be the gang with more powerful members. After a gang is assaulted, the winning gang gets skills, and the defeated gang looses skills, the members end up at the Hospital (if the difference in power between gangs was high).Gang Assaults are cruciall in the game because in the assaults between the top gangs, the winner is decided.
Top Gangs/Winners - At the end of a round the most respected gang is mentioned in the statistics. The most respected gang is decided by calculating the total respect of the members. The gang with the most members with very high respect becomes the Most Respected Gang. The best gangs in the game are: Saints(Poland), ROMANIAN ALLIANCE(Romania), Furor Teutonicus(Romania),FIL(Greece), and other. In the firsts rounds of the game the gangs were formed only by members from the same country, however as the game evolved alliances have been formed between gangs, and players from different countries began forming strong gangs. But the core of the top gangs has always been formed by members from the original country (Leaders and the most notable members).
[edit] Credits
Credits have been introduced in order to cover servers maintenance. The game is completely free you don't have to pay any money to play it. You can choose either to buy credits or not, but the credits give some certain advantages in the game. There are several payment methods available in most of the countries. You can buy credits by SMS, Moneybookers and e-gold.Depending on the currency in every country 10 credits usually costs 1$.You can use credits in various aspects of the game as listed bellow.
- You can pay 10 credits to take a better start at the beginning of the round. You will receive some extra cash and better skills.
- At the Docks you can pay 10 credits to see when the next ship will arrive and what drugs it will take.
- At the Casino by paying 1 credit you can buy a Lottery ticket and you can win many credits if you are lucky.
- At the Hospital you can pay 10 credits to take a better treatment and shorten your stay.
- In the Prison you can bribe cops by using 10 credits and you can escape right away.
- By paying 5 credits you can change your profession, but you will need 2 The Crims days to learn the new skills.
- You can pay 10 credits to hire a spy.He will spy on other gangs and gather information about the members. Also he can spy on specific users (players) gathering information about their weapons, armours and what businesses and gangs they have.
[edit] Other Features/Options
The player can personalise his profile. He can upload images, he can write in his profile short descriptions, various things. For the player there is available a system of secret messages, which only him can see. In this section messages about initialised gang-asssaults, initialised gang-robberies, are sent. The messages about overdoses, or failed robberies are sent here as well. For chating with other players, each player has his own guestbook where he can receive messages from other. For the players there is a daily newspaper, where important news are announced, you can see who has ended up at the emergency, how many players are in jail and what are the other players robbing. Also the random events like the arrival of a ship in the Docks or the raid of the cops is announced there too.
[edit] Prizes
The game rewards the best players at the end of each round with real money in cash. The number one player in the international top list receives 400$, number two gets 300$, the third gets 100$, 4th gets 300 credits and the 5th 200 credits.
It should be noted that the game is incredibly competitive, with all of the most respected accounts being shared by teams of multiple players, ranging in number from 3 to 7, each with anywhere from 50 to 100 'rabbits' or secondary accounts. Should a player receive a prize, after the money is divided amongst their team mates, the actual amount earned with respect to hours of playing amounts to about 30 cents an hour or less.
[edit] Cheating
The game has a sordid history regarding fair play as every single round since at least round 5 has been won by a player or team of players utilizing the two main methods of cheating, bots and bugs. A bug is simply a programming error made by the administration that unethical players exploit for selfish gain. A bot, as the name suggests, is an external program or script designed specifically to raise the stats and respect of multiple accounts simultaneously. Captcha codes have been added at times to curtail the rampant use of external scripts, but clever players have routinely found ways to evade these meager attempts to enforce clean play. At one point multiple accounts were outlawed, but the widespread use of proxies led admins to simply make inroads to nullifying the efficiency of the accounts rather than the accounts themselves.
[edit] External links
[edit] Official Links
[edit] Community/Guide Links
- http://www.thecrims.cz
- http://www.forum.thecrims.cz
- http://www.id.thecrims.com/
- http://www.crimcity.blogspot.com/
- http://www.thecrims.cjb.net
- http://www.thecrims.org
- http://www.crimsfansite.co.uk
- http://www.tochihut.com/thecrims/ - the crims gaming portal and extension for firefox
