Oh, the other kind of RPG

With contemporary piracy still very much in the news (though bad weather may change that) and insurgents in Mogadishu further tearing apart the minimal trappings of Somali state authority while threatening to turn the country into a proxy war for Ethiopia and Eritrea, the popularity of pirates continues unabated. Given stories like this one:



it is not surprising that my first thought upon reading a headline about pirates and RPG's went to weapons technology and not entertainment. However, it appears that Disney has announced the creation of a role-playing game (RPG) called Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned that they will release in 2010. The game seeks to capitalize on the popularity of the movies and (one assumes) on the recent upswing in piracy news, but according to Game Director Alex Peters, the idealization of individual liberty associated with pirate identity is also an important part of the game:

[W]e want to make sure our game creates a sense a freedom in how you decide to live your pirate life ... Since the player is cast in the role of a pirate, they may choose to involve themselves in situations that pique their interest or serve their own purposes.*

The game is not aiming for historical accuracy, but it does acknowledge the moral ambiguity of piracy, the prevailing economic conditions, the historic distribution of state power in the Caribbean (or lack thereof), and the importance of a pirate ship's crew.

In an even more explicit Hollywood connection, Columbia Pictures acquired the rights to the story of Captain Richard Phillip's capture by Somali pirates and subsequent rescue by US Navy SEALS (answering a question posed on the Duck of Minerva and discussed here a couple times in the past month). Here's a brief statment about how Columbia Pictures plans to narrate the story:

"We were drawn to this remarkable story of heroism and courage as events were unfolding off the coast of Africa," Doug Belgard, co-president of Columbia Pictures, said in a statement.

This suggests that the Somali pirates will be cast fairly unambiguously (and unsurprisingly) as the bad guys, in stark contrast with their role in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, highlighting the gap between perceptions of contemporary pirates and portrayals of historic ones.

Finally -- because pirates are still kid-friendly --LEGO has a new pirate ship set out, reviewed by John Baichtal at Wired. He thinks the set's pretty great (and with good reason -- this LEGO pirate ship actually lets you fire cannon balls!), but can't help noting how it fits into the greater construction of piratical identity:

Speaking of soldiers, like many LEGO sets, Brickbeard’s Bounty comes with a readymade conflict. The cartoon storyline depicted in the instructions shows a pair of hapless soldiers arriving in a rowboat with a chest full of gold and jewels, which they give to the pirates in exchange for the Admiral’s daughter. Any question who the real stars of the line are? (And does anyone else find it ironic that LEGO is selling a toy that shows authorities ransoming a hostage from a group of pirates?)

Yes. Yes, they do. Competing and dynamic narratives of piracy are the essence (eeps!) of this project, though, so more than ironic, I find it a fascinating puzzle.

*I'll have more on libertarianism and pirates in a future post.