Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Wired, which is probably the best magazine that isn’t about PC games, recently ran a splendid article about the mechanics, finances, and theory behind piracy in the waters off Somalia. It’s a superb piece of magazine page design, which inspired me to have a little ramble over here. Anyway, the Wired team have now sent word that the feature has now been converted into a webgame, Cutthroat Capitalism, which places you at the helm of a pirate ship – well, a dot that represents a pirate ship – and sees you take on the role of hostage-taker and negotiator. Bag an expensive prize, and bargain for millions. It’s the reality of the process Somali pirates are working with, and the game they play for very high stakes, boiled down to essential to web-maths. Go take a look.