D20: The Problem With Pirates

[News Portal]

Daniel "D20" Wilks loves a bit of piracy in his gaming life, but not of the game-stealing kind. So when [app=8111]Risen 2[/app] pops its head above water, it's enough to get him thinking about why pirates are so poorly treated in today's games.

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[JCbrovz]

Pirates are awesome, and I do agree 100% with this article . Pirates in a way need to be taken seriously. They are not the joke they always seem to be made out to be. I am excited for this game. I'll be able to crank alestorm ( a awesome pirate themed folk metal band) and sail the 7 seas

[Ashigaru]

Pirates are EASILY more interesting, however Ninja aren't fiction The ones you describe definitely are, but not the Shinobi or feudal Japan. I'm by no means an expert, but then again I know that historically there are records of them.

I think a pirate themed RPG would be amazing. Imagine skyrim in the Caribbean, sans magic and dragons.

[Nekosan]

Another problem is that the settings can be limited, there's only so much "pirate town/ship" you can see before you start wanting something else and so far integrating pirates into a semi-land based environment doesn't work out so well.

You end up with something that's not so piratey and it sort of defeats the point, either that or it's just wandering around desert islands looking for rum.

[Nexi]

as to why our interest in pirates died out, I put it down to the LEGO pirate ship which was far cooler than the almost all lego themed stuff with the exception of possibly the castle/knight stuff.

also see the point made about what you can do with the pirate theme, it is pretty stagnant in its variety. on ship, at port arranging to get on ship, a short trek through the jungles to get treasure to take back to your ship

[Bluefire]

Unless you count lego pirates... I havent played a good pirate game in something like 15 years.. and then it wasnt about pirates as much as it was about ships..
outfit/upgrade your ship, do trade runs or get a royal blessing and sink ships for that country.
capture and crew ships that surrender etc.
Dont think ive ever played a good ninja game...
Plus ive become a mmo player.. so I hate ninja's as a general rule

[TRB]

But really pirates are all about the ship and sailing.
Pirates, in reality, are just sailors that don't follow national rules.
Privateers are just pirates who agree not to pirate a specific nation during war, but once the war is over they are typically just pirates again.

also back in the day often they were just as capable, skill and experience wise, as naval ships/captains/crews.

Look at the silent hunter game, you could easily change just a few things [like the ship] and suddenly its a pirate game, you're going around looking for prize targets, mostly cargo ships but also the occasional opportunistic big naval ship hit.

its only once they start trying to add some sort of stereotypical/romantic unrealistic story to a pirate game that it breaks down.

[Marius]

its only once they start trying to add some sort of stereotypical/romantic unrealistic story to a pirate game that it breaks down.

Or pop music.

[youtube]OG0AvwM_QAI&ob=av2e[/youtube]

[Nekosan]

Dont think ive ever played a good ninja game...

The Splinter Cell games are pretty much ninja games and I guess you could probably count Thief as well, those series are both great, generally though ninja-centric games tend to be terrible IMO.

[retaxis]

kinda felt like a ninja in thief 3 deadly shadows.

In terms of pirate games they just need to grow up and create a game that targets 18+ audience and stop catering to the 5-18 year olds.

Bring on the rape, rum and pillage, aye I'd play that.

[Zombywolf]

I'm a descendant of Robert Gamble (Gimble), one of the first mates of Captain (Black) Jack Anderson

in addition to that, pirates are awesome.

[Drakand]

pirates are equally as cool to ninjas in my opinion however a ninja pirate......GG

just imagine it...you are walking along *smokebomb drops* hoatd of pirates appear in front of you....or even better...sailing along *smokebomb drops* pirate ship appears in front of you ....and before you ask where does the smokebomb come from...simple answer.....ninja!

good article btw

[Marius]

Best ninja scene in a game has to be the Japanese level in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

"I knew it, I knew ninjas would come for me!"

"I'm not a ninja."

"But you are a ninja!"

"Call me a ninja one more time and I'll kill you."

"Killed by a ninja... awesome!"

Or something to that effect.

[James Pinnell]

Pirates may feature a wealth of history, but they are notorious, like most sub-cultures, for a few iconic things. Sailin', Lootin', Pillagin', Killin'.

If you remove these iconic things, then you just have a sailor. That's it. Pirates are devoid of culture, memorable figures and a distinct impact on modern history. As a result, there is little to build on unless you start seeping into the mystical and supernatural, as almost every single pirate game does.

[TRB]

Pirates may feature a wealth of history, but they are notorious, like most sub-cultures, for a few iconic things. Sailin', Lootin', Pillagin', Killin'.

If you remove these iconic things, then you just have a sailor. That's it. Pirates are devoid of culture, memorable figures and a distinct impact on modern history. As a result, there is little to build on unless you start seeping into the mystical and supernatural, as almost every single pirate game does.

Thats why good pirate games have to be on the simulation side of the equation, rather then the RPG side.