Students Blog

Puzzle Pirates is a massively multiplayer online browser based game, a cross between an RPG and a compilation of puzzle games. The RPG component involves character advancement, acquiring money and items for use, crafting, exploring, quests, etc. However, the actual gameplay, at every level, is just different puzzles. All of these puzzles seem to in some way resemble the various components of Tetris, whether it involved lowering arbitrarily differentiated objects into a stacking area, or fitting blocks together as air-tightly as one can. This simple set of puzzles is a deceptively simple mask for the social interaction it facilitates.

The game is a standard puzzle game, but by its design those puzzles actually seem to take a back seat in terms of significance when put in the larger perspective of the whole game. Each puzzle serves a purpose outside of itself, with the outcomes and progress in each puzzle creating effects in the rest of the game world. This is even more meaningful because not only does it lend a greater importance to the puzzle’s result in terms of large-scale progress, but it means that other people in the game depend on your performance. Each ship in the game is crewed by anywhere from a handful people to a couple dozen players, each of whom relies on their entire team to make their voyages and conquests successful. The puzzles themselves, when performed in a player vessel, yield no rewards themselves, but each one must be done in order to maintain the ship and accomplish “pillaging,” a group effort that, when successful, produces great rewards for the entire crew. This produces the effect that the game feels like primarily a social experience, and the puzzles are just there to fulfill the activities and provide some sort of substance to pull the social interaction forward and give it a subject. The teams of players work together to acquire the in-game currency, and the social design of the game is very good at facilitating successful, peaceful, and pleasant teamwork. The structure of the game prevents there from being much infighting, for several reasons. For one thing, everyone on a ship is working toward the same objective, and has no reason to disagree on that point. They all want the ship to move, and none of them want it destroyed. Fairly simple. Also, there is no sense of competition among the crewmates because they would stand nothing to gain by being competitive as opposed to cooperative. The reward distribution system is agreed upon in advance, and depends upon either group seniority or is divided evenly; there is no incentive for a crewmember to try to show up her teammates, because she would not benefit. However, each team member is still compelled to contribute, because the group is small enough that if one does not pull their weight, the consequences are observable to everyone. If someone doesn’t do their job, their crew is less likely to win any loot, and they are in turn not going to get much; not to mention, if someone slacks off for too long they crew will just kick them out. Lastly, the only people in the game with home there is hostility or confrontation is the enemy ships, and the only interaction with enemy ships is a very structured battle system, which everyone understands in advance, and is played without much mind for the opposition specifically; this is partially accomplished by the fact that you cannot talk to your enemies when in battle. And if you ever meet them outside of battle, the odds are that they are no longer your enemies.

The mechanics of the game are simple. Each puzzle is controlled either with the mouse or with a few keys on the keyboard. Outside of the puzzles, the entire interface is mouse-driven, which makes things super-easy to learn, and streamlines the user-system interactions. However, all interaction with other players is done simply with text chat, which can be accessed at any time. Even during puzzles, the player can hit escape to leave the puzzle momentarily in order to chat.

The game addresses all four of “Lazzaro’s Keys.” The game’s “hard fun,” or challenge, comes from the progressively increasing difficulty of the puzzles as you play them more; it also results from the player-versus-player ship battles, where your fellow players are your biggest challenge. The game’s “easy fun,” or immersion, comes from the distinct and stylized art style, and detailed though limited graphics. The environments are visually intricate and at the same time quite large and invite exploration. The “altered states,” or distraction, comes from the simplicity of the puzzles and the fact that they have no distinct end, while being moderately fun, so they are something one could lose themselves in for an extended period of time. Lastly, the “People Factor” is the most obviously present, as the entire point of the game is the interaction with other players.