Attack on Antigua

E.sport tournament/programming.

Do I need to go back over the staggering number of online video games whose theme is piracy? Of course not.

Do I need to go back over the equally staggering number of piracy stories, in all languages? Of course not.

So today I wanted to focus on the ultimate link between the two worlds: an e.sport tournament inserted in the mechanics of a show given at the same time on stage.

I suspect that I sound like a canary – pretty, maybe; but a canary – so let’s say a pretty canary that sings nonsensical songs, with my crazy ideas, and that all of you are waiting to see to believe me.
I won’t be able to give you anything to see – at least not for the moment.

But I can give you to see what is more or less written in my head.

For this “premiere”, I chose a theme that is dear to me, as much through stories as through games: a story of sailors and pirates, a story full of fury, salt, waves and flames crackling up to the stars.

We would order this to be staged: the attack of Antigua by pirates, on a summer evening, when the winds are contrary and the waves are immense.

Then, of course, if I command this, we will have the pirates’ point of view, and of course I hope that they will win: the port city will be infested with dirty, corrupt and cowardly guards, traitors, mangy dogs.
I admit that I have a few dozen books about piracy, and I will have to compact various stories to get a credible one.

Here’s the plot: the second one was taken the day before – by felony.
He is the only one who knows where is the last location of their treasure.

Antigua is then rustling with soldiers – times are stormy and all the kings have decided the death of the pirates. They allied themselves, for once, Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Dutch.

I need these troubled times – for pirates – to insert doubt into the heart of the story. And a doubt that will be truly credible – these states can easily afford to buy poor starving people; and indeed they have done so very often.

So there is a doubt: how was the Second taken? Who sold him? Did he give up the location of the treasure? Did he give up the way to find their favorite anchorage? Is he a traitor? Is he staged to escape his former comrades? Does he want the treasure for himself alone?

Alas, there is no more time for questions – it is time to get it out of their clutches – and know after : an expedition is set up and they set sail – almost all of them, to Antigua.

At anchor, in the pirate’s lair, there are still a few wounded men and women to heal them. And while searching for something to bandage their wounds, a strange letter is found: if you read it without thinking, then you are sure that it is all a trap and that the Second has betrayed them.
But one can also read it while thinking, and the identity of the traitor becomes less certain.

And here I am, Altair, with the two “big” endings I wish for – because every time the show is performed, the ending will depend on the e.sport players’ results.

Which makes four of them, ends, in the end.

Either the second one is a traitor and his trap worked: the pirates are defeated and hanged.
Either the second is a traitor and his trap did not work, the pirates are victorious and the traitor hanged.

Or the second is not the traitor, and the real traitor succeeds: the pirates are defeated and hanged.
Either the second one is not the traitor, the real traitor is discovered and he will be hanged from the great yardarm.

And note that I am only at the beginning of the structure.

The really funny thing is that each of these ends will not depend at all on the actors but on the players.

According to the quests proposed, depending on the scores, there will then be on the stage the ending number 1, or 2, or 3, or 4.

And there, not only does my e.sport tournament take on a huge scale, but my show – which was almost classic – achieves exactly my goal: to be a totally new thing, which exploits everything we have at our disposal to create totally new shows.

Are you still with me ?

The real difficulty is not writing the story – the real difficulty is writing the various phases of fights and quests in e.sport that will influence the story.

You probably don’t care about that? well – I’ll go ahead anyway.
I’m going to use this great rule of writing enunciated by the Romans: Vae Victis – woe to the vanquished.
The truth of history will be the truth of the victors.

So when I’m going to set up a time-limited quest to determine whether the second one is a traitor or not, there will be both possibilities at the beginning.
So a “clue chase” quest that, at some point, will offer double clues: one says yes, the other says no (to put it simply).
But the team that gets one of the two “final clues” first will have the “truth”: as a result, the other final clue will be removed from the game.

This team will then have an advantage over the other team: it knows if the second one is a traitor or not.

They will be able to say it: the other team will know it and the spectators will know it too –
or not: the other team won’t know anything and neither will the spectators.

On the other hand, the performers on stage will know which clue has been found – which will allow them to anticipate their return to the stage when the “e.sport” part is over.

See the trick? It’s going to be lace to write – but frankly, what fun!

With this knowledge, the teams of players will be able to compete in naval and land combat style in the waters and streets of Antigua. The goal: to find, save or kill the Mate/Treacher – depending on which side you choose.

The instant the Second is found, the performance resumes – depending on what the players have achieved. And we will see, on our theatre seats, how this horrible pirate story ends.

Which has a huge side benefit: no need for hallucinating or realistic staging: there will be screens showing the game so that everyone can find themselves at sea, boarding, in the alleys.

I’m not going to write the text for this show here – firstly because it would take me at least a full month of work and I don’t have that time – and secondly because I know that I can’t really write in English. But I hope I’ve made you imagine what it could be, a show with a tournament inserted into the story.

As for Altair… to achieve this, we obviously have to propose the concept to – at random Ubisoft – randomly a new Black Flag or the latest Skull & Bones: so that our proposal fits in with their sets, their characters etc – and obviously, we have to get them to read the script for this show and the e.sport principles developed.

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Featured Image : Summer storm on Antigua