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Sunrise Sets
I suppose that I always knew that this day would come. It doesn’t seem to matter though. All that mental preparation and that knowledge that one day, it all must end really can’t prepare anyone for this, let alone me. I played Pirates of the Caribbean Online for about four and a half years, and even after I stopped playing, I lurked the game and these forums, both of which were a second home to me, like a ghost, forever cursed, damned or blessed to haunt whatever was Pirates Online for as long as I could. I’m not going to try to summarize the experiences that I had while I was a part of this community. Doing so would require me to tell every detail of how I was born, grew up, lived, aged, and passed in a second life of mine. Trying to summarize it simply wouldn’t do it justice. I’m not quite sure, then, what I’m even going to be talking about in this post. I usually have some sort of plan inside my head, but I really can’t think of one this time. I’m just going to let my emotions run free, and we’ll see what comes out of that. Here I go.
I came to the game a long time ago, as a different person. Nobody would have turned their head when little Davy Fireskull ran past them in a crowd of other pirates. The game was still new then; it was only 2007. It was wild, untamed, unexplored. Adventure was around every corner. I played the game for what it was intended to be: just a game. I made a few friends, none were too close. On the other side of the screen was me. I suppose Davy and I had quite a bit in common. We were both young and inexperienced in what seemed like a big world. We were both excited for what lay around the corner, but were in no rush to get there. It would all come in time. And this is how the game was for a very long time.
At some point, when I got a computer that could run the game in my own home, so I didn’t need to play it at a friend’s house, I bought Unlimited Access. I created some simple guild without really knowing what I was doing. It didn’t ever really mean much to me; it was just so I could say that I was a guildmaster. This was at some point in 2008. The next year was a blur: the game was being improved, I hopped through a few more guilds, and was playing the game as it was meant to be played. Just as a game.
In July 2009, I created the Shadow Sorcerors. At this time, it would have been my third guild that I was in charge of. I had some new ideas that I thought I would try out in this guild, in the hopes of making it great and mighty one day, and that I would become a legendary guildmaster. You’ve all heard this story, though, so I won’t elaborate on that part of it. However, it was around this time that I truly realized that I was attached to this game. I had made some very good friends, some that I still am in contact with today. This was when I began to change. People always have told me that “Internet friends” aren’t real friends. I began questioning that. Before much longer, I outright disagreed with it.
The next summer, I joined Pirates Online Forums. I made a point of looking back on some of my very old posts. I felt some of the excitement that I felt when I first joined. Some old timers probably remember me flying past the top posters very quickly. I made some amazing friends before too long, friendships that have since grown into ones that I couldn’t live without. Pirates Online Forums, and the Pirates Online world, had become a second home to me. There is simply no other way to express it. I stopped referring to things that I did as I, because it was almost always “we”. My mates and I. My guild and I. My friends and I. My pirate family and I. It was not I that earned a subforum for my guild on these forums. We, the Shadow Sorcerors, did. I did not accomplish any great feats. My mates and I did. I did not make this game worth more than gold. We did.
Life took some turns, though, and I was forced to retire from active pirating. I was among the first of many to leave during those few months in early 2012. But I still eyed everything related to Pirates like a hawk. I was a ghost of the past, waiting for something to let me rest in peace. And now, like it or not, I can finally rest.
We were all expecting this. We all knew that it was only a matter of time. The game was dying and we knew it. We all thought we would be ready when that fateful announcement came. I thought I would be ready.
But I wasn’t. I never could be.
I wish I could say that this wasn’t goodbye. For many of us, it isn’t. I know that we’ll keep in touch by some means or another. But even so, I know that I will never again don my cutlass. I will never again have the pleasure of having an event with my guild. I will never again stand at the helm of the Shadow Phoenix, and sink every enemy in sight. I will never again sail the Caribbean as Captain Davy or Tiberius Fireskull. In many ways, this really is a goodbye. I have decided that it is time for me to move on, and I will not be joining MMO Forums. While I have nothing against the idea (and in fact support it), I know that it is time for me to finally close this chapter in my life. This has been my home for the past three years, but it is time for me to go. The pirate within me will rest in peace.
Ladies, gentlemen. Our pirates have been taken from us. But I will tell you something right now: no matter what is taken from us, and no matter what little we can do to stop it, never let anyone take your spirits. For that is what made the game truly special to each and every one of us. All of us had a spirit that could never be taken away by any foe, strong or numerous as it may be. Our spirits are the true treasure worth protecting, each one worth more than all of the treasure looted by all the pirates that have ever sailed the Caribbean. Never forget that.
I keep a sort of memento of this game around my neck. For almost a year now, I have worn a little phoenix pendant that hardly comes off. Few even notice that I wear it. It’s simple and has no substantial monetary value, but it is among my most prized possessions. In addition to being the symbol of the guild that changed me forever, it represents countless other qualities to me. Picking myself back up after I fail, persistence, and to always keep a little passionate fire burning within yourself. It serves to remind me of the good old days, and to look forward to more to come.
Ladies, gentlemen, pirates, guildmates, and friends: this is it. We’ve come this far, and now, for many of us, we go our separate ways. I want to thank each and every one of you for helping me along my own journey to who I am. It truly has been one Hell of a ride, but I made it. We made it. Together. And there isn’t going to be anyone who will say that it didn’t take all of us to do it.
But alas, the time has come to adjust our headings and discover new seas. There’s a big world out there, beyond the beloved waters of our Caribbean. May a strong wind be at your backs, and may there be clear waters full of new adventures be at every turn! May you always be surrounded by friends, for without them, the journey ahead of us is not worth taking! I wish all of you the best of luck and skill in all of your future travels! Perhaps by some stroke of fate, ours will intersect once more!
Now, bring me that horizon…
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