Community Spotlight 
If we were to choose the most important part of Pirates of the Burning Sea, without question it would be all about our community. In recognition of that fact, every month Flying Lab Software chooses to spotlight the amazing contributions of one community member. Read below to learn more about the incredible people that make the Pirates of the Burning Sea community an incredible place to belong.
January’s Community Spotlight: Dpi209
- You’ve been involved with Pirates of the Burning Sea for some time now, what drew you to the community in the first place?
- Well, I was getting bored playing Sid Meier’s Pirates! (the remake), and when somebody mentioned that there was a pirate game in development, I searched around and found Pirates of the Burning Sea and signed up on the forums. Then I made the mistake to join the IRC channel on Coldfront, and one lead to another. There are some awesome people in there, and awesome people can be really addictive, you know?
- What is your favorite PotBS feature?
- Phew! That’s actually a hard one. Probably the economy. I really like dabbling around with it, because it’s complicated, challenging and rewarding. Closely followed by PvP ship combat – yeah, I know, that doesn’t fit to the “classical” model of “griefer vs. carebear”, but….*shrugs* It’s fun :)
- Many of our fans get to know the Flying Lab Staff from the forums, but you’ve had the unique opportunity of meeting some staffers in person. Tell us something about that meeting!
- It was chaotic, it was loud, it was full and it was so much fun! I really had a blast!
- I met Fraxl, Rhaegar, Robespierre and Rusty at the Games Convention Germany in Leipzig. Those of you who know “old” E3: Leipzig is probably even worse. It’s a convention with over 180000 visitors and five exhibision halls full of booths with loud music and demo stations.
- Unfortunately, German regulations (USK, the German version of ESRB, didn’t give them a teen rating at first) hindered FLS to demo PotBS in public – they had to “hide” behind a booth wall. With PAX at the same time, they didn’t even have a banner, so they were virtually invisible.
- Rhaegar, knowing that I intended to be there, did an awesome job at directing me to a meeting point, because I wouldn’t have managed to find the booth without any help.
- On Saturday, the third day of GC Germany, we had an ad hoc encounter – ehrm – meetup that was a bit intimidating at first (I was the only non-dev there), but later on two other fans – LiMuBei of “Steering Committee Ships” fame and Centurion, another veteran beta tester, managed to find the booth, so we had an awesome chat about PotBS, Rails Across America, plans, hopes and (Rusty’s favourite) what we dislike about the game. Really, if you ever chat with Rusty, make sure you have something negative to say, because that’s what he’ll ask first ;)
- The FLS crew is really devoted to create a great game. You probably notice that best when meeting them in person. If you ever saw a Rusty interview: He’s exactly the same in real life, whether he speaks about PotBS or something else he’s passionate about. And he’s (along with many others of the FLS crew) probably an even bigger gaming nerd than many of the fans ;)
- You’ve got your fingers in a lot of projects related to PotBS – what are you working on now, and what’s in store for the future?
- Currently, I’m creating content for IGN’s Pirates of the Burning Sea Vault, which keeps me busy when I’m not ingame. Besides of that, I don’t really have any specific plans for the future yet, but there are a few ideas I might pursue.
- We heard you had some technical difficulties that prevented you from playing PotBS for a bit, how did you survive?
- Barely! laughs Joking aside, the hiatus had good and bad sides. The downside was that I missed a pretty cool beta event. On the other hand, I did manage to get some work done for the vault site. A fellow staffer and our awesome site manager, Trinity Devine, helped me out with some screenshots during the time, so I was not completely cut off. Another plus was that I had quite a lot of time to hang out on IRC.
- Is there any advice you would give aspiring community members who want to get involved with Pirates of the Burning Sea in a meaningful way?
- Be friendly. Be helpful. Share your knowledge. Use your talents.
- I believe, getting involved with the community starts with basic communication, be it in game, on IRC or on the forums. Answering questions or pointing people to existing resources is a good start to get involved. If you want to do more, help out with or start a fansite.
- Create resources that the community can use. And, of course, there’s also the Boarding Party you can sign up to :)
November’s Community Spotlight: mabdebegonian
- When did you start playing video games?
- I started playing video games around 1980 in the age of the Atari 2600. I had a little sinclair computer and grew into a vic 20 and commodore 64. I used my commodore 64 to rewrite a space conquest game and to burn eeproms making games to play on my 2600.
- After you started gaming, how did you get into MMORPGs?
- Well I didn’t get into MMORPGs until after I got into my first PC, a 486dx33 in 1992. I got into multi-player online games with the Sierra Network playing Red Baron and Shadow of Yserbius. A friend dragged me into EQ and I was hooked. So somewhere in the mid 90s I got into the Massive part of MMORPGs.
- What do you like about being in the Pirates of the Burning Sea community?
- The communication and friendly environment. I know as the community grows it gets harder and harder to maintain the friendly atmosphere. That is why it falls upon us that are here to keep it friendly. The communication we have with the Devs is unbelievable. I have seen Rusty post at 1am in the morning while working on Misha’s PC. I have seen Taelorn post at all hours of the day or night. Isildur, Robespierre, Rev, TTobey, Timbojones, even you Theresa have posted responding to something. There are so many games where you never really get a feel for the people behind the game. Here you know they all love what they do and are involved not only in the game but in the community.
- What’s your favorite section of the Pirates of the Burning Sea forums?
- Developer Questions. I have been in a number of communities where you would have a single spin control rep answering questions or the closest you would get to the dev team commenting would be a moderator responding when a thread went awry. Having a whole section where questions are not only asked but often answered is wonderful.
- What are your thoughts on PvP?
- Honestly I am a bit schizophrenic about PvP. Most of the time I am a carebear player and I just want to play and achieve my goals. I think that is often due to a limited time to play. At other times I am at a point where I may not have immediate character goals or I am taking a break from quests/missions/leveling and just want to PvP. However I really want balance and skill in my PvP. I also do not want just meaningless gankage. I loved Planetside for how they made character development not really an impact on PvP and gave PvP a meaning. That is something I think is often a mutually exclusive requirement in MMORPGs. You have to have character development but how do you do it without making PvP all about level instead of skill? Finding that balance is like the holy grail of PvP MMORPGs. I believe FLS understands that and have some new ideas to try and make meaningful PvP that is not an I win button because you are a few levels higher. Sure levels may give additional skill choices and some different ship choices but in and of itself the level does not make bullets bounce off your chest ala superman.
- You have to choose between a hook for a hand or a wooden peg leg due to a shark attack and vicious pirate attacks at the same time. Which one would you chose and why?
- I would take the peg leg. The shark would get fed and I would still be able to rub my belly and pat my head at the same time without giving myself a concusion or tearing my guts out. Sure with a peg leg you could get a splinter or two in your good leg but with a hook you could really hurt yourself.
- Have you planned out what kind of character you’ll create?
- Oh definitely! French Freetrader main and a French Privateer alt. This will allow me to play in the economy and trade then I could still participate in the OS hunts and PvP with the Privateer without having to worry about having a bad reputation.
- What in-game ship are you most looking forward to sailing?
- Well looking at the ship guide and the ship forum thread on ships in or possibly in the game I have to say I am looking forward to the Jib-rigged Balancelle Xebec created by Elessaria. I have had some of the renders of that ship as my desktop at work for months now.
- What part of Pirates of the Burning Sea are you most looking forward to?
- The release! Seriously the release and the player driven economy. Just those two things. The release, the player driven economy, and the meaningful PvP. All of it but the release first!
March’s Community Spotlight: DANICIA
Flying Lab Software’s Theresa Pudenz has the opportunity to talk with this month’s Community Spotlight, Danicia, in order to get to know her a little better and find out about her plans for her future as a Pirates of the Burning Sea rising star! Here’s the scoop!
- What is the meaning of life?
- giggle 42
- When did you start gaming?
- Like. . .all gaming?
- Yep! And after you started gaming, how did you get into MMORPGs?
- I always played board & card games. I started playing AD&D in 1988. Played a variety of table tops, CCGs. My first video game was Doom. I played on god mode because I couldn’t figure it out. I sucked so badly at Doom. I didn’t play another video game until The Sims (Not counting the arcade games of the early 80’s. I rocked Tempest and Stargate. ) While searching for mods for The Sims, I stumbled across the beta for The Sims Online.
- What do you like about being in the Pirates of the Burning Sea community?
- My favorite part of being in the PotBS community is how respectful it is. The developers really care about their game, their company and importantly, the players.
- Have you planned out what kind of character you’ll create?
- Yes! I joined the SMZS in April 2005. I love the crafting and economy and I’m a role player so it seemed natural to have a merchant. A Dutch merchant. Since the Dutch are NPC in the game, we’ve chosen to sign up “French” but will be RP’ing Dutch. I can never spell it right. :)
- What’s the SMZS?
- St. Maarten’s Zeevaarders Syndicaat http://www.smzs.org/Company.html
- Do you have your character’s name thought out?
- Danicia van Wieren, Italian/Dutch Merchant of DOOOOM
- What part of Pirates of the Burning Sea are you most looking forward to?
- The crafting and economy. Much more so the economy than the crafting, actually. I’d like to see a fully developed player based economy.
- Hence the Merchant of DOOOOM!
After this point of the interview, we started talking about girly things and gummy bears, so I’ll spare you all. We eventually got back on course on a topic that brings a smile to faces of people in the community and Flying Lab Software employees nearly every day. When asking Danicia what her favorite part of the Forums was, the first response was Editable Aether. Although she hasn’t edited Aether, Danicia has actually made the greatest contribution to this initiative by taking the picture we all know and love! Her photo of Aether has spread far and wide throughout the internet and Photoshop alike, where our users have crafted new, creative iterations of Aether. For the people who don’t know, you can find this area of the forums here.
Thank you so much Danicia – We love you!