Chat circle

A chat circle in action

A chat circle is a way to communicate with other pirates who are in the same scene, via the /speak command.

Forming a chat circle

A chat circle is automatically formed when one player clicks on the circle around another pirate, pet or NPC, clicks on or in a pre-existing chat circle, or offers a trade or challenge. The pirates will stand in a circle, the outline of which can be made visible by hovering the mouse cursor over it, and then can use /speak in order to speak to each other. As long as there is no physical problem with a chat circle being expanded, such as an obstruction like a building or another chat circle, more pirates can join the circle and talk freely to everyone in that circle. Any pirate not in the circle will be unable to hear the chat no matter how close they stand.

Pets may join and leave chat circles. When following an owner, they will do as the owner does if it is possible. While a pet is roaming, one or more pirates may form a chat circle with a pet. When joining or leaving a circle, pets will speak a word or phrase into the chat circle which all pirates can hear.

Common uses

Chat circles are required to speak to other pirates when outside on an island, or on ships. Though one may use /shout to speak to any pirate outside on an uninhabited island, this can become annoying to others and should be used sparingly, using chat circles instead. On ships, which have a ship-wide/vessel chat, chat circles allow pirates to quickly have a private conversation with a small group of pirates, as pirates outside the circle cannot hear the chat. In buildings, chat circles have no effect, as all pirates within the same room can hear /speak anyway.

On heavily populated islands, such as Lima island and Admiral Island, pirates will often gather at the dock to socialise in large chat circles. This phenomenon has been dubbed docktarting.