Interviews

[Captain Jack]

We will post here interviews sent to Avonmora Herald

[Captain Jack]

Interview of King Kart
By William Caxton

We are very pleased to bring you an in depth interview with Kart, King of Bermuda. Without further adieu, here it is.

King Kart: Hi
William Caxton: Hi King Kart
Kart: Just Kart is fine

William Caxton: So... may we begin ? How long have you been playing PG?
Kart: I be playing Pirates Glory for about a year now.

William Caxton: You obviously enjoy the game. What is it you like the best ?
Kart: I like the variety of game play. You can be a straight out pirate or a trader. You can go for politics or for fame. You can find what you like most in the game and concentrate on that part.

William Caxton: Bermuda has become a very profitable Nation. What do you contribute to it's success ?
Kart: People like to wear ugly shorts. We give out a pair of ugly shorts to everyone who joins as a citizen of Bermuda. Plus, our tax rate is good and we give out promotion bonuses to help our new players

William Caxton: Haha...perhaps I will visit your swag table before I leave
Kart: Aye...our rum be having little umbrellas in it

William Caxton: I don\'t think old \'pencilneck\' here would look good in shorts
Kart: Everybody looks good in ugly shorts. The uglier the shorts the less they notice the man.

William Caxton: you seem to have merged guild and kingdom under the same umbrella with a different guild leader. Does that present any problems for you ?
Kart: It does present opportunity for detailed discussions, but not problems. We operate separately for the good of the whole. I use guild leadership as advisers and guild leadership looks to me as an adviser. We work together for the over all good keeping in mind not all citizens of
Bermuda will join SSTG.

William Caxton: So far, have you many subjects that do not fall under the SSTG guild?
Kart: Not really, while there are no requirements to be Bermudan in SSTG or the other way around, people seem to like what they see and go the route of being in both. We have fun, we teach in a one on one type environment and we everybody helps everybody. Every new player coming into our organization gets an experienced player as a mentor. We get to know them and really help. People just like being part of that and they join both

William Caxton: It sounds like an ideal place to be. Obviously, your success shows it is working. Do you feel it is necessary for a King to have a guild backing their nation?
Kart: No it is not necessary but it does help especially if it is cooperative. The idea behind it was to increase game retention. So far our idea seems to work. People don\'t just get guild guides they get friends.

William Caxton: What do you think of the new features in Avonmora ie: the Hideout changes ?
Kart: It is too soon to really state an opinion. It has loosened up some gold though. I like the bank as it presents a lot of help to players. The gold smith will really show up later as the gold bars are needed to do things.

William Caxton: Where would you like to see PG go from here?
Kart: I would like to see more control of the ships. For example, changing course during a route. Also combat changes where you can position you fleet for tactical purposes and it is not just assumed one position. That may be a lot to ask though.

William Caxton: Bermuda seems to have avoided any attempts at a takeover from other nations. What do you attribute your success to avoiding conflict ?
Kart: For the most part we are peaceful. We have not tried to exercise our will over the will of other nations. We have just sat back and gotten stronger and stronger.

William Caxton: Well your stats certainly signify a powerful nation indeed !Is there any more ports in Bermuda's future?
Kart: Our strength comes from our members and their ability to understand the need for having good relationships with other nations and other players. More ports? I have learned to never say never. Are we looking to take a port from someone? No. We are at peace with the other port holders.

William Caxton: Very good Kart. You have provided a good insight to what makes Bermuda tick.
Kart: Thank you, and thanks to the Herald. We really have no secrets...that is one of our secrets of success.

William Caxton: Very good then. I shall wish you continued success and many thanks for taking the time to answer my questions
Kart: You asked good questions....good night.
William Caxton: good night
============

And there you have it ladies and gentleman. A personal interview with King Kart, the man himself.
I hope you all enjoyed this little interview and look towards more interviews with the people who make Avonmora tick.


Don't miss the other interview Kart given today to Sir James Bond: viewtopic.php?t=1367&p=16630#p16630

[William caxton]

Today we bring you an interview with Captain Alkie, the King of England in our Kings series of interviews. He has some very interesting things to tell us so without further delay, here is the report in it's entirety.


Me: Greetings Captain
Captain: ehmm
Captain: ahoy
Me: I am happy you agreed to this interview
Captain: likewise
Captain: shall we begin

Me: I will keep things light and if anything you do not want to talk about just say so

Captain: aye

Me: So...how long have you been playing Pirates Glory ?

Captain: sometime around august 2014
Captain: so about 9 months?
Captain: i started out in iron helm
Captain: learned the basics there

Me: You have reached a position of power rather quickly. What to you attribute to your success ?

Captain: well of course time and effort counts for 80% of everything
Captain: i spent months just studying about the game and the mechanics
Captain: and once an opportunity arose i took it

Me: What do you like best about Pirates Glory ?

Captain: The Strategic Values
Captain: the things that can be done is absolute
Captain: also the general community i guess
Captain: ye mates are great ppl however
Captain: our guild master and my teacher have both gone mia
Captain: so I been left in charge
Captain: and it was there where i took the initiative
Captain: to put my nation in the history books of pg

Me: England has Become a successful power in Avonmora all be it much bloodshed has happened since its rise in power


Captain: ye for sure
Captain: we did what we could we our lmtd resources
Captain: but we made due and stuck it all the wat through
Captain: even dominated for a period of time
Captain: but as such real life takes it toll
Captain: with our lmtd resources*

Me: There seems to have been a cessation in hostilities. I'll assume you and Midway Islands have come to a peace settlement?

Captain: well in that subject
Captain: i actually had a long and distasteful conversation with tpk ThePirateKing

Me: I'm not going to go there right now but would prefer to keep our conversation more suited to nations and their leaders.
Me: I will be doing a segment on guild leaders though and it sounds like you will also be requested to participate


Captain: it all started out as orders and from there the guys pulling the strings left us to fend on our own from there i took my mates up there and through a long war The conversation on peace came up
Captain: I actually have it saved would you mind looking at it?

Captain: so overall thing were going well on our parts and it came to perspective that midway stopped there assaults
Captain: so i called a halt so since then things have been peaceful
Captain: i havent been in to much as i mentioned earlier i got busy but ill be around to keep you more updated on the situation

Me: Am I correct in saying no official peace accord has been negotiated with the King of Midway Islands?
Captain: correct
Captain: nothing official
Captain: currently watching

Me: Have you spoken to the King of Midway?

Captain: torpedos?
Captain: No I havent
Captain: i was told torpedos was to be left out of the war
Captain: as it was tpk and her goons who was calling the shots in the war
Captain: i later stepped out and from there tokelau and the other nations came into play
Captain: I will be talking to the king of midway sometime this week once i have everything figured out
Me: sorry...brb in 1 minute
Captain: np
Me: ok...back
Captain:
Me: so... what is EIC's future plans?
Me: or I should say, England's plan. Any expansion plans

Captain: Hows this, im actually leaving England
Captain: i lack the time to keep up with holding a guild and nation up

Me: Oh Really.. that is big news !

Captain: so im taking my ship to sail as a pirate

Me: Do you have a replacement in mind?

Captain: Im better off at looting and wrecking havoc
Captain: well ill be talking to Redbard about possibly taking position as king of england
Captain: however tho it is a shame to admit but its possible the england dynasty may fall to ruins
Captain: leaving a new path for those seeking more

Me: Running a new nation certainly takes a lot of time

Captain: ay
Me: Do you think a Pirate's career will be less stressful?

Captain: Well of course not im sure the road from here on out will be tough. the moment i leave england and news gets out about it. im an instant target. as im also leaving the guild. however tho whatever happens from there happens but do expect to see my name often in the coming months here there, will always have something going on
Me: Just a couple more questions if you have the time

Me: Have you had the chance to experience the new additions to the game and if so, what is your impression of them ?


Captain: hmm like the game updates or whats been going on in general in avonmora.

Me: yes, the hideout feature with its associated new buildings

Captain: ah yes unfortunately the war on england happened whilst i was still premature and lacked in the games entirety

Captain: but yes ive managed profits from goldbars and got up a private marina
Captain: i love the fact though of being able to hide that special ship in the marina

Me: aye, I'm sure you are not alone there !

Captain: ill be on the hunt for ships once i go pirate which is perhaps tomorrow
Captain: when did you plan on releasing on the news about me leaving?

Me: So this interview was conducted just in time.

Captain: yeah for sure

Me: I have not decided a submission date as yet. Would you like me to hold it for a few days or, is there anything you would like to not see mentioned?

Captain: no go ahead mention w\e you like
Captain: yes ive sent word to redbard as soon as i get a response and things are set up ill let you know

Me: I would like to thank you for your time talking to me and I'll wish you luck in your PG future

Captain: thanks


======================================================

And there is is readers. Straight from the horses er, King's mouth.
It should be interesting to see where the great nation of England goes in the future.
Will the new leadership try to formalize a treaty with Midway Islands ?

Only time will tell.
Stay tuned to this paper to see what developments our series can show the readership.

Until next issue,
William Caxton

[William caxton]

Dear Readers of Avonmora. As promised, I bring you a frank, honest interview with a man who has sailed the sea's and Leader of one of the most successful Guilds ever seen in Avonmora.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you,

His MAjesty, The Pirate King.

I hope you enjoy it


Me: Today I have His Majesty, The Pirate King here live
Me: Welcome to you Sir

The: Thank you.

Me: I am sorry, I have to change my font color
Me: You have been around this game for a while. What is it you enjoy the most about it ?

The: It's hard to say actually. To be honest, I'm very unhappy with enormous portions of the game. However, I have several sincere friends of many years in this game, people I've cared about for several years now, and so long as they prefer this game to others, here I stay.

Me: There have been some big changes to the game as of recent I am told. Do you not approve?

The: You'll need to be more specific, virtually anything can be categorized as a change.

Me: Fair enough. The introduction of the Herald is a recent development. What do you like or dislike about it?

The: I think the concept itself is incredible, and stands to contribute alot to the game. I am however disconcerted with the manner in which our accomplishments are marginalized, while our losses are celebrated in virtually all content attached to a member of my nation or guild. Obviously it speaks to the individuals creating the content, but it certainly suggests institutional bias when viewed on the whole.

Me: I will not argue that point with you. I believe you are correct

The: That We are.

Me: There have been other big changes as well for example the Hideout feature. What do you think of that ?

The: There is a serious problem with several of these features. I would like to emphasize that Administration appears to be coding their hearts out, and are well aware of these issues I'm about to discuss. However, the issues are firmly entrenched and may well become a large problem for the game later on.

Me: can you give me some more examples ?

The: Captain Jack for example has referenced Banks as potential 'treasure hives.' And that isn't far from the truth. Just in Our guild, right now, We can hide several hundred million gold. We did this during the Binding of Zuzik. Several hundred million gold became untouchable within seconds of Our capture of his ships. We might enjoy this in the case of that particular action, but the larger accounts are dissapearing ever more larger amounts of gold from trade, gold bars, etc, which, if invested in the same structure, only makes it more viable to continue the upward spiral. Essentially, this makes them billionaires without recourse for their opposition. It's all well and good for the nicer half of them, but the others like to rub their invulnerability in the faces of their enemies, and this is a potential disaster for player retention.

Me: Administration has hinted at abilities to destroy hideout buildings in future versions of the game. Maybe they have considered your concerns


The: Similarly, the goldsmith feature is very problematic. This feature is establishing players who were only recently hiding in the 25 fame loophole. Now, they do not need to maintain a large, liable fleet to maintain their wealth and status within the game....

Me: Lets talk a little about Midway Islands. Can we?

The: Alright, we can move on then.


Me: As you know, the King has befallen troubling events. Do you act in the Kings absence being next highest influence holder ?

The: We feel the leadership of ZomB and Midway are very poorly understood by outsiders, and attempts at clarification aren't just futile, they would be counter productive.

Me: I understand that National and guild issues sometimes appear to conflict.

damn the torpedos has joined the chatroom

The: We can however answer the second half of that last sentence to your question.
The: Influence is incredibly arbitrary, cheap to purchase and destroy. It is deeply flawed to measure strength or weakness by something that has been purchased, especially on the cheap.

Me: You are not the first pirate to make that observation.
Me: Midway seems to find itself in a majority of conflicts lately. Do you feel smaller nations are ganging up on Midway ?
Me: I also see Spain has taken over a port in Midway. Has there been any clue to why ?

The: That's really not even a question in any reasonable dispute. It has always been us vs them, that's just the way it is.

Me: Are you referring to them as all other nations or Spain proper ?

The: There is no guild or nation in the game which is not at least partially hostile to us.

Me: As you are also the guildmaster of ZomB, do you find it more of a challenge running a multi-national guild?

The: The degree to which they collude is less then certain, but can obviously been inferred. For example a player is actively recruiting players to oppose us from within HELM, while we certainly aren't invited to do the same.

Me: So, you are saying members of HELM are actively recruiting for warriors to fight against ZomB or Midway ? Helm is a multi-national guild as well.

The: The major difference between uni and multi nation guilds is the leadership structure, We lack the blind obedience that seems to correlate with the personality-cult structure which comes with uni-nation guilds, but We also don't crumble if a single player is removed from the game.
The: One member, and yes. Fortunately, he's rather bad at it.

Me: The zomB guild has held the first place position in guilds since I have started. It is also the largest guild in the game. What do you attribute to that success ?

The: Fame, like influence is arbitrary. Most players who obsessively pursue fame end up losing it en masse-as having more entails losing more, or just abandoning the quest for its general futility-brownie points with a horrible exchange rate with game currencies. We have a large variety of players and objectives, as such it piles up over time. It is consistent, and good governance which has kept Our house resilient to the non-stop aggression of other guilds.
The: and it's pronounced The Pirate Kings, not ZomB, and definitely not zomb

Me: There are 2 guilds that share the same name. Care to tell us why that is?

The: The civil war was a brutal event, it lasted for roughly eight months, and it ended almost a year ago. The other guild was the house in which We rested while the guild was reclaimed from usurpers.

Me: It sounds like a terrible event in The Pirate Kings history

The: You read alot into it for so few sentences.

Me: An 8 month civil war can be a pleasant experience ?

The: Take a look at the guild please, you'll notice it is The Original guild. Guild 1 in the game Pirates Glory. Reclaiming it was a rather large, and cruel ordeal.

Me: I cannot think it would be anything but
Me: So, where is The Pirate Kings headed in the future and will Midway play a major part in its goals ?

The: I'd like to go back to the current conflict.
The: We fight, it's just what We do here. Whenever we try to go about matters in a peaceable manner, someone attacks us out of left field.

Me: by all means I am having difficulty in keeping midway issues and the Pirate Kings issues apart

The: The nation layout is very factional.

Me: Is the Pirate Kings at war or is it Midway Islands at war ?

The: Both are under attack, We are defending ourselves to the best of our ability.

Me: Where, in Midways eyes, does the greatest threat appear to come from ?

The: You ever watch Breaking Bad?

Me: I have seen attacks from England, Cuba and Spain.

damn the torpedos has left the chatroom

Me: No, sorry I have not watched that but have heard enough to know it is a most popular television series. Something that will be invented 500 years after the printing press

The: Look, all of these groups are inherently dangerous, and their-at least-tacit collusion is absolutely disconcerting.
The: We are the Danger.
The: Actually a partial rephrase might be in order.

Me: What is Midways relationship with Bermuda? They have steady been climbing in power and influence

The: The biggest threat for sure is harassment. Children evading block lists to convey profanity laced insults, over and over again makes this game an undesirable experience.
The: This isn't WW2, not a matter of life and death. This is a game, and in chess for example, when the player at the other side of the table begins shouting vulgarities about one's mother, the intelligent response isn't to persevere, and in our example purchase newer better game pieces, it's to just stop playing, and pursue a game with a healthier game dynamic.
The: remind me, and we can talk about Bermuda when we've covered this thoroughly.

Me: Very good. This seems to be a point you would like to expand on.
Me: As I am not privy to private conversations, you have the floor keeping in mind the laid out rules before we began
Me: this interview.

The: There are alot of examples of toxicity in gaming if you look through the literature, not just on the subject, game journalism in general.
The: Call of Duty players screaming racial slurs at one another, all sorts of sexism is observable in many game settings, just for example.
Me: You may paraphrase conversations if you would like to however the actual threats need both parties approval to be published

The: We once had a player who just ranted non stop about the inferiority of blacks for example.

Me: That point of view is silly unfortunately, still all too prevalent in the world.

The: Whereas we banished him, and have gone to great lengths to censor unacceptable dialogue on the part of our players, others have taken it upon itself to evade block lists, and pour as much profanity as possible towards players in private messages, tavern posts, even player identy profiles.
The: The community here is different.

Me: Fortunately this game does not work along race lines. It is quite acceptable however to throw dirt at nationals within the game.

The: As far as I can tell, we are the only guild maintaining constant upkeep of our players conduct in public, at least in terms of "you're too far past the line, get out"

Me: The Pirate Kings have had some expulsions as of late. Were they from racist comments/issues ?

The: I've seen dirt, as you call it, which would have gotten a player banned outright from a Microsoft or Disney property, accepted without even a warning from the game here, and it's disturbing.
The: No. One player was banished for being verbally abusive to guild members above and beyond acceptable limits, the rest were banished for reasons much more pragmatic in nature. Zuzik for example was on the cusp of losing hundreds of millions of gold in ships to outsiders, so we took them first.

Me: I. unfortunately, have some other things to attend to. I would like to thank you for being so candid.

The: We can resume this later if you would care to

Me: Other than the corrections marked with *, is there anything you would like to not see printed ?

The: been here a long time, have quite alot to say.
The: it'll take awhile to review all this
The: ill hit u up

Me: Perhaps we can get together again sometime ?
The: yup
The: be well new guy, nice talking to u

Me: I will not submit until later today or tomorrow so there is time to delete any answers you may wish to.
Me: Thank You again for your time His Majesty, The Pirate King.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a rather lengthy interview with His Majesty, The Pirate King, It seems to raise more questions than it answered.

Was the King of Midway overlooking the shoulder of The Pirate King as he spoke ?
The Pirate King has agreed to continue this interview in another session where hopefully, we can get more answers to the many questions that arose from our conversation.

What would YOU, the reader like to ask The King of Pirate's ?

Now is your chance to pose a question and in our next installment, hopefully we can get an answer for you.

For now, this is WILLIAM CAXTON saying goodbye and hopefully all your news is good !

[William caxton]

Today, I bring you the long awaited part II of the interview with
His Majesty, The Pirate King

Many things have changed since we last spoke together and His Majesty lays it on the line as usual.
Without further adieu The Herald presents,
His Majesty, The Pirate King.
======================~~~~~~~================================

Me: Ok...when we last spoke, we talked a little about the history of The Pirate Kings and their longevity in Avonmora

The: 1st and Last

Me: There have been some big changes the last while with the elimination of England as a nation and the ongoing war with Cuba

The: Basically, until the Cuba question is unresolved, we trapped in warrior mode. Several players, especially in the trader guilds, have objected loudly to our return to piracy, but it's really the only way to keep the cash flow going while under a sustained attack until it is resolved.
The: England isn't eliminated, they have been invited to share resources under a common banner.
The: Cuba was offered the same basic arrangement, they decided they would rather lose their ports...

Me: Will the Port be returned to England when the common foe has been vanquished?

The: Not the only reason, but it definitely allowed us to find common purpose.

Me: When I last spoke to Captain Alkie, he was considering flying a pirate flag
Me: Obviously, The Pirate Kings appealed to him
Me: But, do you think the changes there will impact Midways goals?

The: I think there's some structural problems to that question, and no way to answer it. Anything towards an answer would be based on prolonged, binding negotiations which haven't happened yet.
The: Last I checked, Captain Alkie IS flying the Pirate flag.

Me: ok, Fair enough. Change of topic : Any word to what is happening with Spain? I know not a fair question

The: We have minimal diplomatic relations with Spain, our last communication was unclear to say the least. We'd love to have that conversation, but I feel the conviction isn't mutually reciprocated.

Me: Nobody in Spain is talking much but I will admit, I have not pushed very hard for an interview

The: Uniting Pirates under a common banner is a long run goal spanning backwards for 2 years in my case, but was also a goal of other Pirates we hold in high esteem before I even found this game.
Me: After the last interview, the head Publisher headlined the Herald with a statement that you were dissatisfied with many aspects of PG. Would you care to rebut that?

The: all the problems are still there, the surge in spanish wealth as seen in the banking system evidences a serious imbalance tumor developing

Me: ok...lets move on.
Me: Tavern battles show Midway less active as of late. Does this mean The Pirate Kings have moved toward more active trading?

The: We hit less, but win more. Perhaps Captain Jack can confirm or deny these with metrics.
The: For example the porates raid of Shaydo netted in 3 pages of hits what our raids more often then not net in 6 battles.

Me: It sounds like The Pirate Kings have found a formula that works for them
Me: It is difficult to fight pirates that have no assets or stocks of GC visible
Me: Has The Pirate Kings found a way to battle this latest tactic?

The: its not the latest tactic, the mosquito tactic has been around for a long time.
The: the porates learned it from us.

Me: Agreed it is not the latest tactic but certainly one that presents it's challenges

The: back before the interpersonal-toxicity and general childishness started
The: hey, u wanna hear a poem?

Me: Sure, why not?

The: The one was shared with me strait from the ATC board of directors, not sure if you can reprint it word for word.
The @#$#@#
by Psychodad

pig @#$

mother ^&^%

too bad you can't make a living on your on, you have to steal the hard work of others. you and your ilk are the reason the world s***s. why work for it when you can steal it? when you can't steal it, you whine about not being able to steal it. the rest of the time you sit around and dreaming.

I feel better now.

Me: I somehow think the paper would frown on such a piece of "poetry"

The: To give a bit of context, the Avonmore Trade Commision's potty mouthed Director of the Board had just lost perhaps 6 million gold, maybe it was 7? Math, how does it work?
The: Heh, maybe you could paraphrase it?

Me: I will presume a successful raid was launched against Psychodad

The: it was pretty cool, a total noobers walked away with operating capital sufficient to last for weeks

Me: He is now the King of Barbados ? There is bad blood between Barbados and Midway Islands

The: o yea, u weren't here for the Barbie wars

Me: No unfortunately, I have read a little but information is sketchy

The: checkit, they had almost 1/2 the map then bailed to hide inside the Spanish nation.
The: 3/4 of those players have gone inactive now

Me: Do you think that is the root of Spain's defections as of late?

The: you would have to ask them
The: doesn't look like a defection to me though, to be honest

Me: The press release seems to hint at a diplomatic solution but as mentioned Spain is not saying much
Me: I will find someone though that will cast some light on the questions

The: Great, I'm curious myself.

Me: Ok, I would like to say goodbye as I have some work to do before this goes to press. I will submit a headline as per last time and hope the Herald prints it and the story will be released right after.
Me: I try to time the story to coincide with the Herald but the irregularity of publish times make it difficult

The: I'm hoping our press release gets a column, but I have low expectations.

Me: You would be best to submit that yourself. Have you delegated a press agent for The Pirate Kings?
Me: The Herald depends on submissions from Guilds to inform of things that the statistics do not show
Me: With that, I shall make my departure.
============================~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~===============================

And that concludes my in depth interview with His Majesty, The Pirate King

We hope to bring more interviews with interesting personalities found in Avonmora.
I have received some requests to provide more glimpses of the characters that inhabit this fine land so stay tuned and this is William Caxton saying so long for now and may all your news be good.