What does it take to be a pirate?

[Kleinholz]

Hello dear spacelings,

i got a question to all of you who are considering the selected career of pillage and plunder. In almost all of my gaming years i've tried to stick to the "good" side in a game whenever possible. I know that it might involve a bit more of a philosophical discussion on what's actually good and what's evil, but i'd like to skip this for now and just establish two sides:

1) You behave according to law and order, but you will do whatever is necessary to add to the wealth and wellbeing of your faction that you strongly believe is the just one. Ordinarily you're a friendly, helpful spaceman.

2) You don't care about law and order and do whatever is necessary to secure your own survival (also within a group) with no concern for a just cause. Ordinarily, you shoot down others for fun and / or to enrich yourself without being provoked.


I understand there are alot of shades of grey between both sides, but for the sake of argument let's keep it at this simple level for now.

Now, when i played a Freelancer mod a couple of years back i switched to the pirate side for the first time. It was quite fun because there weren't really any consequences of your doing. But then there was a moment where i shot down a ship of "good" guy; i looted some high-value tech from his wreck and immediately felt a bit guilty about it since i knew it must have taken him / them some time to collect these items. Unfortunately most of them only spoke russian, so there was no way to communicate a deal (they didn't try either though). To just give the items back would have also made a dent in my pirate career, so i guess giving them back for a ransom would have been a good compromise and probably typical procedure in a case as this.

I imagine that simple things like this can become far more devastating; i heard of pilots in EVE Online that lost billions just by getting their ship destroyed and subsequently also getting "podded", meaning their escape pod got destroyed, leading to the loss of all brain implants (which can be extremely expensive) and some experience points. Losing that much, which can even amount to several month's worth of work, is quite a different story than my Freelancer one, but i wonder if people think about this the way i do, with a conscience if you will.

In summary, being a pirate in a game can be very difficult for me, especially because i always imagine how much time spent on something just got lit up by my laser show. How do you play your pirate side? What do you think makes a pirate a pirate?


Thanks for reading!

 

[Philip Coutts]

Ask Liqua, the thinking man's pirate. I'm sure he'll happen along in a while. Me, I'm too much of a goody two-shoes.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Funny I've always tended to stick to the evil side.

I play poker tournaments in casinos occasionally etc. so taking someones cargo/money isn't too much of a problem for me.

It should be about enjoying the game and I hope experiences like you described in Eve wont be replicated in ED. You will be able to buy insurance to negate your losses in game and again everyone should be able to enjoy playing a game.

I'll certainly need a parrot though just to stick with tradition I'll consider the eyepatch..

 

[Jenner]

Funny I've always tended to stick to the evil side.

I play poker tournaments in casinos occasionally etc. so taking someones cargo/money isn't too much of a problem for me.

It should be about enjoying the game and I hope experiences like you described in Eve wont be replicated in ED. You will be able to buy insurance to negate your losses in game and again everyone should be able to enjoy playing a game.

I'll certainly need a parrot though just to stick with tradition I'll consider the eyepatch..

Didn't know you were a hustler!

I, too, typically go the evil route. It's just more fun. Not that the Empire is evil, mind.

 

[Slythe]

"What does it take to be a pirate?"

Answer; a hard heart and little brain. If you want to steal from someone, the smart move is to make sure they can't shoot at you while you're trying to do it!

 

[deusx_ophc]

How do you play your pirate side? What do you think makes a pirate a pirate?

i have always sided with the pirate side of things. it comes from a general dislike to law & order and authority.

kant provides the moral compass - just do unto others as you would have them do unto you, simples

from thereone be free, be fast and don't let your custom cobra mkIII fool you into thinking you are bigger then the next ^^

your rewards are often larger and made in shorter time. you have to like living with your pants on fire. it keeps me awake, it is the edge i need to really get the best out of my gaming.

don't mind loosing all your s***, just hate dying

though i amfiercely loyal, honour my word and will often come to help the underling. and don't forget everybody needs friends

does that help?!

anyway here is to pirates, player killers and all of our ilk


ps. my best experience of "pirate" life was meeting up with the posse in buccaneer's den in uo. gamers haven !

 

[Riandor]

A Pirate flag!!

 

[Memnoch]

Burning tapers in your hair?

 

[Patrick_68000]

I'll certainly need a parrot

If I become a pirate, as I do not have a parrot, I'll take my cat with me

 

[jedt]

what does it take?

complete lack of decency and total disregard for common rules of property.

 

[Cody]

Guts!

 

[jedt]

Guts!

we all have those.....

 

[Hamerstein]

My take on it:

Self Justification.

From other peoples' perspective, you might appear hard hearted, no ethics, no morality and a general scum bag.

For the pirate, they would have a good reason in their own mind for what they're doing. It might be forced upon them by environment or events but it's their solution for the dilemma.

A pirate's life is brutal, dangerous and (usually) short. Only someone with a strong self justification or insanity would choose this lifestyle, and the insane ones are sociopaths rather than just pirates.

(Sane) Humans are self preserving, if they had better (safer) alternatives to achieve their ends, they'd take them.

 

[jedt]

My take on it:

Self Justification.

From other peoples' perspective, you might appear hard hearted, no ethics, no morality and a general scum bag.

For the pirate, they would have a good reason in their own mind for what they're doing. It might be forced upon them by environment or events but it's their solution for the dilemma.

A pirate's life is brutal, dangerous and (usually) short. Only someone with a strong self justification or insanity would choose this lifestyle, and the insane ones are sociopaths rather than just pirates.

(Sane) Humans are self preserving, if they had better (safer) alternatives to achieve their ends, they'd take them.

a bit like muggers then eh?

 

[Hamerstein]

a bit like muggers then eh?

LOL

Yup muggers in a space ship

 

[jedt]

LOL

Yup muggers in a space ship

i'll need to get something a bit beefier than pepper spray then...

 

[Thargon]

Noone mentioned there needing to be lots of "YARRRR!" and "YARRRRRRRRR!".

 

[Kleinholz]

My take on it:

Self Justification.

From other peoples' perspective, you might appear hard hearted, no ethics, no morality and a general scum bag.

For the pirate, they would have a good reason in their own mind for what they're doing. It might be forced upon them by environment or events but it's their solution for the dilemma.

A pirate's life is brutal, dangerous and (usually) short. Only someone with a strong self justification or insanity would choose this lifestyle, and the insane ones are sociopaths rather than just pirates.

(Sane) Humans are self preserving, if they had better (safer) alternatives to achieve their ends, they'd take them.

Thanks for this answer. I see what you're talking about, however you are looking at it from a roleplaying (or actual pirate) point of view, while i was actually asking what it takes players to go this specific roleplaying path and not another. That's especially important since we as players, persons in real life, are not in a situation as you described (and if so we wouldn't play games).

 

[Nagual]

Thanks for this answer. I see what you're talking about, however you are looking at it from a roleplaying (or actual pirate) point of view, while i was actually asking what it takes players to go this specific roleplaying path and not another. That's especially important since we as players, persons in real life, are not in a situation as you described (and if so we wouldn't play games).

Perhaps you answered your own question here. Playing as a pirate in game, gives you the chance to do something you would normally shy away from, no one gets hurt as it's a game. You mention the obvious time investment earlier, as a guilt inducing moment, but as you say your opponent didn't contact you either. They knew the risks, they took their chances along with everyone else. The game has NPC pirates in it too, will I write an angry email to Frontier complaining that I just lost X amount of goods and ship modules, that took me months of play time to get? Of course not, as becoming richer, getting better / more expensive ships / equipment is meaningless if there isn't risk of failure. Step in the player pirate, who is no different than a NPC pirate except they will probably be a much harder opponent. So if you play the good guy and accept these risks may happen, and if you survive you'll feel rewarded for being a better player and enjoy the game, regardless if it's a NPC or player attacking you, robbing you etc.

So, if you view that playing the game to acquire wealth, knowledge, influence and/or combat skill are the core elements of the game and accept that (if you've bought the game then that's probably a given, probably..) then playing as a pirate yourself ups the stakes quite a bit. You will have bounties on your head. You will have NPC and player bounty hunters after you. You will be restricted to where you can dock your ship etc. You have a lot of things making life pretty hard for you. Maybe you won't survive long as a pirate, or maybe you will be a successful one. If so I'd bet the feeling of accomplishment is great!

 

[Black Ops]

To be a pirate, rum and big-boob wenches are MANDATORY

Other thsn that, s good ship, no sympathy for the defeated, and, if you're serious sbout being s pirate and not just s ganker, honor. Honor ransoms, keep your word. You learn by doing, so go for it.