What does it take to be a pirate?

[jan]

What goes thrue a pirate's head is quite simple really ( WHAT IS MINE IS MINE, WHAT IS YOURS IS ALSO MINE ) They live in the present what was before and whats in the future they dont offer a single thought.

 

[Kleinholz]

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.

Honor is a very good point, thanks for that thought. I failed to make the distinction initially that a pirate isn't necessarily a bloodthirsty killer breaking every single deal. I guess a more precise definition of "pirate" is in order.

Suggestions?

 

[Jason S]

Much higher than average combat skill and strategy for a long living pirate...

Plus crazy eyes.

 

[Rogehans]

Plenty of grog! ha har jim lad!

 

[Patrick_68000]

Do not be afraid of death, and also very important and necessary, be a blind in one eye

 

[Variform]

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.

In RPG's I tend to choose True Neutral. It is a hard course to follow. But in MMO's I go by the default, to be lawful good. I believe most people have no natural inclination to do harm to other players.

So in ED I could never be a pirate. It isn't in me to hurt others. Maybe it is me, but I don't particularly like to be blown out of the sky. So I put myself in the view of my victim first.

Here is someone who studied the stock market for 4 hours, to get the best feel of what a good price is to buy some item. He finally goes for it, loads his ship and starts on a run to a nearby world. Even though he has got his insurance and can survive a loss, there I am, attacking him and ruining all his careful preparation. For some people that might be fun, some people might shrug it off.

I couldn't do that to someone. I am not merciless enough I guess? Anyone get what I mean here? If it happened to me I'd be like 'I am trying to do something here man, leave me in peace!'

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 could never do that. I am a teamplayer that would like to cooperate with others rather than oppose people.

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.

That's exactly it, no matter how you put it, you are interfering with someone else's good time. I wonder how many people are out there that actually enjoy the scene, get destroyed and shrug it off with 'that was good fun, now let's go back and do the last 5 hours of planning all over again.'

I wonder what ratio there is at that scene between someone losing equipment he might have worked for for weeks and the fact you, as a pirate, kills him with 12 shots. For example.

I just hope that piracy won't be the career of the majority. Many people want to release their inner corruption I suppose. They got jobs, a supervisor that is like a petty tyrant and tells them what to do and when, a low salary. They come home frustrated. Then release that stress and existential weariness on another unsuspecting player in a game.

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.

Definitely most people's default look on life will be to cooperate and not be a pain to someone else's parade.

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!

I like to be a Bountyhunter because I feel I like to protect the interests of those who just wanna explore and trade and not hurt the interests of others. I have less problems with hunting down a human player who makes it his trade to attack innocent people. If I die trying at least I can tell myself it was for a good cause, not some semi-enlightened self-interest. That is to say, 'I wanna be rich but lack the patience to learn to work the market or do some work, like mining.' Preferably a bountyhunter guild and a Wolfpack to take out pirates and especially griefers.

I listened to a nice discussion on Lave radio about what a griefer is, to me a griefer is not a pirate but someone who makes it a point, goes out of his way to purposely attack players to make their lives harder, without mercy.

If a griefer is spotted, maybe it is time for the Bountyhunter guilds to investigate. So if you are a pirate, you better be a good one, with the est fitted ships, maybe also moving in packs. Otherwise, I hope, likeminded 'Lawful Good' players will seek you out.

I think that being a pirate requires an RPG inclination. You have to tell yourself something to overcome the natural goodness of people, not to harm another. Roleplaying makes that possible, it solves the psychological distress of doing harm to another person by creating a virtual situation where no real harm is believed to have been done.
On the other side is the default position of most people, who don't want to roleplay and just act to further their own interests but not at the expense of others. And so, there is a tension between someone who wanna roleplay and someone who gets destroyed by a roleplayer but had no real interest in playing along.

So basically a real pirate is a roleplayer while his victim is not, or doesn't necessarily have to be. I don't intend to roleplay if I go out there on a trade run. I never seen real roleplaying in MMO's. Because often the games are so complex that there is always someone with questions on 'how to do this'. The immersion gets constantly killed off.

Leave roleplaying for the table top and rather enjoy, in a group or guild, the exploration of the universe.

Just for writing this, there would be players seeking me out in the game But beware, I will be playing with a friend and we plan on cooperating closely And I won't be using this forum name so you'll never find me, oh eveil pirates!