f13.net

Hadn't heard about this until SOE sent me an e-mail today advertising some free trial.  Apparently they've taken that Pirates card game and done an online version (http://piratesonline.station.sony.com/) similar to Magic: The Gathering Online.  Despite not having any interest in playing the game, I tried to find out the cost of booster packs just out of curioustiy, but the site was less than helpful, especially since the "Buy Now" link which I presumed would lead to booster pack sales wouldn't load any of the times I tried clicking it.

I don't know, I could see people buying the cards just so they could build the little ships, but who the hell would want to play an online version of this game?  I assume the card game must do ok since I've seen a few expansions for it, and I suppose it probably only took some guy at SOE a couple days of working through his lunch break to throw this together, but I'm still a little surprised they bothered with this.

SOE bought Worlds Apart (http://www.worlds-apart.com/) (now SOE Denver) in August and the Pirates game was part of the announcement back then.

I think I read the costs of Starters were like $10 and boosters were maybe $2? Something very similar to actual real pricing.

So yeah, not fucking worth it beyond the free trial. I have yet to try the free trial.

Poxnora (http://www.poxnora.com/index.do) is the best online collectable card game w/ booster sales model I've ever seen.

And it's still not terribly popular.

I couldn't get Poxnora to work right.

And as someone who collects Pirates actual ships?

WHY WOULD ANYONE PAY TO PLAY THE GAME VIRTUALLY?

Its one of the worst games I have ever played.  Simply terrible gameplay.
I just collect the ships because they are fun, and hope to find a decent Age of Sail miniatures ruleset to use my little pain in the ass to assemble boats with.
A friend who got into it too hates the game more than I do.