1. Meeting Skipper Jimi

Skipper Jimi is my pirate in the Sea of Thieves, a video game on PC and Xbox. This blog is a journal of his misadventures on the Sea of Thieves!

Skipper Jimi with his hurdy-gurdy

On Christmas 2020, I received a mysterious gift—a video game I had never heard of called Sea of Thieves. The holidays kept me busy for a few weeks, but I finally got around to installing it in January.

Logging in, I was presented with a motley crew of despicable scoundrels. I had to pick one of these randomly generated degenerates to be my avatar forever on the Sea of Thieves.

There are millions of pirates on the Sea of Thieves, but thanks to the "infinite pirate generator" every one of them is unique!

I scrolled through the characters until I met an edentulous old man playing a rickety old hurdy-gurdy. Although the man and the instrument looked as if they had already seen a fair share of adventures, they seemed to be telling me that they were ready for one more. I immediately felt a connection with this peculiar picaroon, and I named him Skipper Jimi.

Even before Sea of Thieves, I've often used the name "Jimi" for my characters in video games. Many suspect that my real name is James, or that perhaps it is a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. In fact, the main source of inspiration for the name is the Japanese word 地味 jimi, which means "plain" or "ordinary."

In games with customizable characters like Sea of Thieves, I prefer to make characters who look relatively simple. I generally avoid using flashy end-game gear and try to create a unique look using a mix of lower-level items along with a few unassuming rare pieces. 

Skipper Jimi with his beloved sloop, the Jimi Maru

When I met Skipper Jimi in January 2021, I never could have imagined that we would be spending thousands of hours adventuring around the Sea of Thieves together, nor could I have imagined the friends we would meet along the way or mountains of treasure we would greedily pile up on our boat... and occasionally all-too-often lose to other crews! Now in January 2023, I am more hooked (piratey pun intended) to this game than ever.

For some time now, I've considered creating a blog to share stories about my pirate and his adventures. Last week, I mentioned this idea in response to a tweet by the official Sea of Thieves Twitter account. I was pleasantly surprised when they responded with a simple note: "We'd read that blog."

Encouraged by the Sea of Thieves team, I started this blog!

 
That was just the push I needed. I couldn't put it off any longer, and here I am, writing the first post in Skipper Jimi's Sea of Thieves blog! 

If anyone at Rare or any fellow pirates enjoy reading about Skipper Jimi's adventures, I am humbled and glad. If this blog makes anyone curious about the this amazing game, I encourage you to take the journey to the Sea of Thieves yourself! It's a unique and unforgettable experience. At the very least, I am excited to write down some of my memories from this magical world. It should be fun to look back on someday!