Over the course of this past year Origin has journeyed into unproven territory with the release of Ultima Online. By selling through more than 150,000 units and maintaining close to 100,000 active accounts, Ultima Online has proven that the new genre of online gaming can be profitable. At the same time Origin and Electronic Arts have established AND maintained a leadership position in the new genre. As the Fantasy RPG Online genre grows in number with new products, Origin must look to the future and expand its mastery of the online genre.
Based on the commercially successful Wing Commander and Privateer franchises, Privateer Online will prove to as much of a ground-breaking product as was UO when it shipped in 1997. With Wing Commander’s outstanding performance in the marketplace – outselling Ultima products two to one – it is not unreasonable to expect significantly greater subscription numbers than Ultima Online. Also, with the fantasy RPG online genre already becoming overcrowded, Privateer Online will allow Origin to attract a new customer demographic and continue Origin’s and EA’s quest for total dominance of online entertainment.

Privateer Online’s goal is to combine the action-packed space flight simulation of a Wing Commander with the character building elements of the original Privateer and blend them into a vast online community to foster dynamic and synergistic relations between all of its players. Privateer Online will create what will become the ultimate online experience for the next decade.

STORY
Although the war with the Kilrathi has been over for more than ten years, the Border Worlds remain quiet, and the first wave of the Nephilim attack has been turned aside, all not quiet in the universe. Political tension and economic growth set the stage for the next generation of privateers.

THE FIRST 30 MINUTES OF GAMEPLAY
The success of Privateer Online as a long-term revenue generator hinges in large part upon its ability to captivate players from the moment that they install the game and start to play. This means a streamlined process of entering the game and an easy path to the kind and level of action that users will want to see every time they play the game.

ENSURING ACCESSIBILITY
Privateer Online must build an online audience that is more diverse than merely Privateer and Wing Commander experts. In order to do this, the game will provide an interface that is easy to learn for novice players but still allows great personalization for advanced players. This process will begin with comprehensive tutorials and continue with effective documentation and readily available assistance for those in need. A simple, easily localized interface will guarantee that PO is accessible worldwide.

BUILDING AN ONLINE COMMUNITY
The basis for building an online community is providing players with avenues for interaction. Privateer Online will enable player interaction through an extensive system of communication, a wide range of meeting places, and the ability to create and/or join a variety of organizations. This chapter details the highly accessible communication systems in the game – from messaging to e-mail to chat rooms – the types of public meeting areas, and the variety of organizations available to players. These organizations include governments (political organizations), guilds (skill-based organizations), and alliances (player-formed organizations). Also covered in this section will be opportunities for player-run governments.

THE PRIVATEER ONLINE UNIVERSE
While a large community and the excitement of online space combat will be an adequate draw to bring huge numbers of players into the Privateer Online universe, only a readily sustainable world with many avenues for player development will successfully maintain the interest of those players and provide a stable level of subscription revenue. Building Privateer as an online product means building an enormous, rich, ever-changing environment that will be as interesting after six months as it is after six minutes. For this to succeed, PO will depend upon the tense political environment created by the cohabitation of Confederation, Kilrathi, Border World, and Pirate forces, a dynamic economy that responds to player actions (but does not depend solely upon them), a mission system that always has enough for the players to do, and rich character development that provides adequate motivation for long-term play.
This section details the political environment of Privateer Online, the major factions and their significance to players, and the events that will expand and change the game universe. In addition, it discusses the economy of that universe – and ways for players to affect that economy – and the mission system that will drive players to explore and interact with the universe.

ESTABLISHING AN IDENTITY
Players will be able to create a unique personal identity in the game though the use of customizable physical manifestations of their characters, both in ports and in space. Each character can develop his own profession, skills, and reputation, all of which change dynamically as a result of his actions within the game. For those who seek material rewards, the game will offer the opportunity to purchase a huge number of ships, weapons, and other equipment. Beyond this, players can gather wealth in order to purchase transports, offices, and even entire stations. Most important to many online players, Privateer Online will provide a unique new system that allows players to establish a reputation that changes as they interact with different factions within the game universe.

SPACEFLIGHT: CONFLICT IN P.O.
As with any space simulation, conflict and combat are key elements of our game. In the PO universe, there will always be plenty of action to go around, and combat will be made readily available for all players who seek it. The design of the universe will, however, scale difficulty based upon regions of space, allowing players to find the level of challenge that is appropriate to their own playing styles. This section deals with the mechanics of space flight – from in-depth ship mechanics to a detailed description of the PO universe’s construction.

PORTSIDE: THE P.O. COMMUNITY
Navigation through the worlds of Privateer Online will be as simple as possible, while still providing the depth of gameplay that long term players will require. Players can gather in space stations and planetary  port facilities throughout the universe to trade goods, gather missions, modify ships, or merely interact with other players in a combat-free environment. All of these elements will be readily available through a three-dimensional port screen containing polygonal representations of the characters. Each aspect of the port – from trade to ship repair to the creation of player organizations – will be accessible through simple, appealing, and easy-to-reach menus, and gathering places will be abundant for all manner of player interaction.

GAME MECHANICS
This section explains how Privateer Online will be superior to anything else on the market due to its technology.

PRODUCT SUPPORT
This is the summary of OWO as well as GM support.

COMPLETE CUSTOMIZATION
Online societies succeed because of two major factors: the ability to remain anonymous, and the chance to customize your self-presentation – to become the person that you want people to see, rather than the person that you are. Anonymity is a given for any game with a character persona, but customization is key. By presenting multiple levels of character identity – the player avatar on ports, the player ship in space, and customizable office and station spaces – Privateer Online creates a unique opportunity for players to be more than who they are – both at work and at play – and to show that personality off to a vast online community.

IMMERSION
Privateer Online is really two online games rolled into one: players meeting and interacting on a human level within the confines of ports, and ships meeting and interacting in the vastness of space. To successfully immerse players within the game universe, however, they must never feel like they’re only playing their online personas some of the time. In order to maintain this immersion between the two different sections of the game, P.O. will provide players with a transition from space to portside that shows both the avatar and the ship in the same hangar, reinforcing the effect of players climbing into and out of their own personal ships and entering space, rather than walking around in a world and then jumping into a separate game that is spaceflight. Because the ships are customizable, players can show them off to each other, just like they would show off their cars in the real world. This sense of accomplishment and the need for recognition among their peers will drive players to spend more time in the online community that we create.

VIRTUAL SPACE
If players can own their own property, the world can rapidly become a crowded place. Likewise, providing hangar space for hundreds of ships at a time can create a significant traffic jam in ports. To handle players’ needs to have their own space and to maintain the immersion between ports and space, Privateer Online will build virtual spaces into every port. These places are real locations where players can meet and socialize, and they will provide players with recognizable marks of their accomplishments. These virtual spaces will not, however, exist as separate entities on the ports. Instead, they will be catalogued on the server and created only for players who are actively using them. This will prevent crowding problems suffered by games such as Ultima Online while still providing players with ample personal space in which they can build and maintain a sense of community.