As players become more proficient at sailing, their attributes will gradually increase and nonplayer characters may join their ranks. Players begin the game by creating a character with limited skills in the areas of ship control, trading, fighting, and various other traits.
Those with a taste for blood and vengeance can become a bounty hunter, or the true freedom of a pirate's life can be enjoyed with no strings attached.
Players can work for a European power to lead a squadron, or forgo the pillage and plundering altogether for merchant sailing. The player's career is not locked into one path, however. Blending roleplaying elements with the strategy of shiptoship combat, Pirates of the Caribbean offers players a chance to set sail on the high seas as a treasurehunting pirate.
