Aliens in the Desert

The last installment (for now!) of Jetgirl’s search for fun and enjoyment in the MMORPG genre.

Yo! Ho! Ho! Puzzle Pirates may not seem like it fits with the other games I have talked about so far. It is not in fully rendered glorious 3D. It did not take $20 million to make and it does not yet have a play base of over 1000 people. It does not include “epic” quests or feature a menagerie of brutal monsters to destroy. What it does have, however, is the most fun I have had online for a long, long time.

In this game you can only play a human and you can only play a pirate (but why would you want to play anything else?). You don’t even have that much choice over how your character looks. They all look a bit like lego people. You pick a gender, hair color and hair style. That’s it. I gave my pirate white hair and called her Duchess, and quickly found myself on Alpha Island, surrounded by scurvy dogs sword-fighting each other.

Puzzle Pirates is the first game I have seen that completely eliminates levels and experience points for character advancement. There are still sword fights and sea battles a plenty. But each challenge is performed through use of a fun puzzle game, the kind you might see on Shockwave.com. As the player practices the puzzles, they naturally become better at them. As the player becomes more skilled, so too does the character. Advancements in the game come primarily through two sources: promotion to a higher rank in a Crew (your guild) which is determined by another player, i.e. the captain of that crew, and accumulation of money through which you can buy different swords (which cater to different sword-fighting puzzle playing styles), sexier clothes, or even your own ships and shops. The treadmill has been replaced by playing fun puzzle games to help your ship do well in battles or sailing on the open sea. If the puzzles weren’t in and of themselves fun to play then this whole concept would fall flat on its face. But they are addictive in their own right. And if you don’t like a particular puzzle, fine. Specialize in a different one.

Social interaction is key here too. You can join a crew that in turn belongs to a flag of many crews. The crews in the flag will get together for pillaging runs. There are sword-fighting and drinking tournaments on land (the drinking game is a multi-player strategy game rather than a puzzle) or crafting puzzles if you prefer some alone time. Just recently they added in multi-player spades. There is always something to do. Crews host events and the developers get in on the action by creating tournaments with glorious prizes.

Even though this game is very accessible to a brand new player, the deeper you get into the game the more you realize is going on behind the scenes. Crew officers gain access to new puzzles to play, and the economy lends itself to gathering resources and trading. There are wars to declare on other crews and involved six week team competitions in different aspects of the game. There are uncharted islands to discover, and even a roaming ghost ship with a crew of skeletons who take out ships that prey on smaller foes.

Puzzle Pirates is a fun fun time. Duchess has become a senior officer of the crew ARR and has made quite a few friends and had many adventures. It sure beats killing lots of bunnies.

Future Journeys
For now I am quite settled in on Puzzle Pirates. Still, my obsession with this genre can’t help but lend a wandering eye. Many friends of mine are right now playing World of Warcraft, and singing its praises. I am convinced it is not the end-all of MMORPGs, but I am almost intrigued enough to give it a whirl. I also can’t stop eyeing up The Matrix Online. Some of the concepts behind it are pretty downright keen. Some independent games like Frontier 1859 are striking out in some excitingly dangerous directions (permanent death anyone?) Doubtless I will find my way to yet more worlds.

But if I have learned one thing in my travels, it is that if it ain’t fun, it ain’t worth my time.