In Pirates! Gold, you take the role of a pirate captain who's headed for the top. After choosing which time period you want to live in, a trade to excel in, such as swords or medicine, a nationality to fly under the flag of, and your family name, you go out into the simulated world of privateering (Pirating) and begin doing all that stuff that pirates do.

If you want treasure, go into town. Maybe you'll find a guy selling pirate maps. If you want to hurt someone real bad, go get into a sea battle with an enemy ship and ram it.