Sea of Thieves is a Battle Royale Game

We're not doing this again for god's sake

@raimyah it sounds like you had a very rough first experience with this game. However as several people have pointed out, you appear to be mistaken as to what kind of game sea of theives is as well as what a battle royal is. Unfortunately your claim to having studied game design and your apparent confusion over the trademarks of the battle royal genre show that you are not quite a credible source. As such I would like to see supporting documentation showing you are not pulling your definition of a battle royal game from nowhere. When you look at it, players in sea of thieves are not inherently placed at odds with each other and it is only because of previous experiences or personal motives that they attack others on sight.

Sea of thieves is an open world adventure pvevp game and as such, we the players are given free will to create our own rules of engagement and are not explicitly encouraged to fight. In a battle royal game, there is no rule but fighting. The fact that there are server wide alliances in sea of thieves shows that it is not a battle royal as simular behavior would result in all parties being passively killed by the shrinking safe area.

Conclusion: @CallMeBackdrafT has provided a definition and you have yet to provide your own with documentation. If you want to be taken seriously, lets start there

This is absolutely absurd on many levels. By no definition could Sea of Thieves ever be considered a "battle royale" game. This is sheer nonsense. You're simply trying to come up with some backwards justification for a PvE-only version of the game. It won't work.

I've played many sessions of Sea of Thieves in which there was no PvP at all. None. That is never possible in a "battle royale" game. Sometimes this game is completely cooperative. The thing that makes the game so unique and engaging is that you never really know what is going to happen. Are the masts on the horizon heading your way? Are they ruthless, bloodthirsty pirates, or might they be willing to negotiate an alliance? What happens in Sea of Thieves is entirely dependent upon the players. The game is not strictly PvP, nor is it strictly PvE. It's always both. Demanding Rare advertise Sea of Thieves as a "battle royale" game is preposterous. It's nothing of the kind. It's an open-world shared adventure game. Nothing could describe it better.

There are plenty of incentives for "peaceful option" in Sea of Thieves. There are lots of commendations that require cooperation. Alliances offer the potential for greatly increased rewards. These are already parts of the game. You're free to use these options at any time. Sometimes entire sessions are cooperative ventures between crews. This can and does happen organically within the game, for players who are open to it. There is no need for a "co-op" mode because it is already a fundamental part of the game. You're advised right from the start that the game is best experienced with a full crew. Working with a crew is cooperative by definition.

There are also plenty of incentives for general skullduggery. That's because it's a pirate game. While "peaceful options" are certainly offered, by and large the Sea of Thieves is supposed to be a dangerous place where you're likely to be attacked by (wait for it)...pirates. Because pirates.

There is no "stalemate" on this issue. The Sea of Thieves is doing just fine.

@raimyah all im asking for is specific sources supporting your claim. Even a poor college education should teach you the importance of documentation.

You are trying to propose a definition for somthing as if it were fact. However in its current form your argument is just an opinion and is no better than what anyone else has said, excluding @CallMeBackdrafT who provided a definition for a battle royal and until it is challenged with better sources, this definition will stand. (Turning your argument into someone stating their opinion)

I will disagree, Battle Royale has always had a, "Last man Standing," element. This is something SoT simply doesn't have. Death isn't finite and there is a myriad of other tasks that don't require dueling to the death.

Even the term itself predates its current popularity in gaming. "Battle Royale," is actually the name of a foreign film about that very subject. This very movie/book is where the term originates. Its a Japanese film (year 2000), originally a 1999 book, where entire classrooms of students are captured and forced into an Arena where they must kill or be killed. This film alone inspired and created the cultural phenomena genre that is Battle Royale.

You bring up MOBA's but those almost always have purely objective based win conditions. While it may contain PvP, its not what decides the victor. Merely look at the current popular ones, League of Legends, DOTA, and Smite. Each ones win condition is clearing a path to their base through at least one of three lanes to destroy their final structure. Unlike Sea of Thieves, there is a clear win condition defined in the rules.

Sea of Thieves is at most a mere sandbox. There is no true win condition like a MOBA or an actual game that is Battle Royale. These are quite clearly defined genre's that don't match what Sea of Thieves does. PvP elements combined with PvE is too shallow of reasoning to label it as such. Quite frankly you are wrong and your reasoning's are weak at best.

@nabberwar said in Sea of Thieves is a Battle Royale Game:

I will disagree, Battle Royale has always had a, "Last man Standing," element. This is something SoT simply doesn't have. Death isn't finite and there is a myriad of other tasks that don't require dueling to the death.

Even the term itself predates its current popularity in gaming. "Battle Royale," is actually the name of a foreign film about that very subject. This very movie/book is where the term originates. Its a Japanese film (year 2000), originally a 1999 book, where entire classrooms of students are captured and forced into an Arena where they must kill or be killed. This film alone inspired and created the cultural phenomena genre that is Battle Royale.

local wrestling had 'battle royale' in the 1980s. theyd throw a dozen guys in the ring and the last man standing won.

@tehstepford said in Sea of Thieves is a Battle Royale Game:

@nabberwar said in Sea of Thieves is a Battle Royale Game:

I will disagree, Battle Royale has always had a, "Last man Standing," element. This is something SoT simply doesn't have. Death isn't finite and there is a myriad of other tasks that don't require dueling to the death.

Even the term itself predates its current popularity in gaming. "Battle Royale," is actually the name of a foreign film about that very subject. This very movie/book is where the term originates. Its a Japanese film (year 2000), originally a 1999 book, where entire classrooms of students are captured and forced into an Arena where they must kill or be killed. This film alone inspired and created the cultural phenomena genre that is Battle Royale.

local wrestling had 'battle royale' in the 1980s. theyd throw a dozen guys in the ring and the last man standing won.

Aww man! I looked this up and it goes back to 1870's https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_royal

But the first use of the term in a modern context (as well as in the context of the gaming genre) was the book in 1999 and the movie in 2000.

@tehstepford
Claiming exclusive inspiration may have been too bold of me, but I would find it hard to argue that this film/book didn't spark the current cultural craze of the video game genre. It just fits too perfectly on what defined the film/book. First, you have battle to the death, which isn't found in wrestling. Second, while certainly an Arena is involved, the Arena is more open with survival based elements required. I.E., the searching for supplies whether it be food, tools, and weapons. I don't watch wrestling, but I discount the ocasional chair whack as one scavenging for weapons.

I mean if we go according to Wikipedia, Battle Royale can go back as far as the 1700s with ye olde bare-knuckle boxing. While certainly it may existed that far back, I think what matters is what culturally inspired the game genre, which is the topic of discussion.

@raimyah said in Sea of Thieves is a Battle Royale Game:

This doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing, and you don't have to flame this thread until the moderators close it to prevent other styles of gamers from enjoying a game that is as much theirs as yours. If you do and its locked, you're silencing serious discussion and killing your game.

I went to college for game design. Once gameplay is PVP enabled, it is simply PVP. If you add Co-Op and/or PVE elements to it, that is a modern twist on a PVP game mode. An open world PVP enabled game mode with these elements is often referred to as a "Battle Royale." An RTS PVP enabled game mode is often referred to as a "MOBA."

Because PVP is always enabled on Sea of Thieves in every official game mode that is capable of progression and most players choose to engage, it is a purely PVP game.

Because PVE, open world, and Co-Op elements were added to this PVP only game it ticks every box for being quite literally a Battle Royale. Until the PVP box is possible to untick and you can access all the content you paid for without other players stopping you and get most of the achievements that way, that's what you're playing right now.

If you're not flaming right now you're asking, "But what can we do about this?" There are several options that can end the influx of customers with complaints and give you or everyone what they want.

1. Demand that Rare advertises it as a Battle Royale game. That will gate-keep us out of your community from the start and you can enjoy your game for as long as it lives with a niche audience.

2. Request a true Co-Op mode with most achievements and factions enabled.

3. Request incentives for peaceful options to encourage as much open world Co-Op play as PVP.

4. Keep flaming every thread I post in and create a stalemate that kills the game when it stops trending after a new release.

it's not a battle royale game it's a shared world game

@raimyah

I went to college for game design.

Did you fail?

@raimyah The game is advertised as a PVPVE experience focused on player interaction because that’s what it is. The game gives the player the choice to do what they want, making every interaction with other people different. You might run into a group of people trying to hunt the kraken, a trio of blood thirsty hunters out for your blood, or a friendly dude on a sloop who is doing a tall tale. At its core Sea of Thieves is about creating fun, varying experiences centered around your interactions with players, both good and bad. Just because you have had some PVP based interactions doesn’t the game is a battle royale. Almost all elements of Sea of Thieves are there to create interactions. Quests, gold, and reputation give something to work towards. It also gives people something to fight over, a reason, as well as reasons to help people. World events generate interactions between people by providing a central point for them to meet up and work together (or fight over) towards a goal. The entire game is about interacting with others in different ways, that’s not even remotely similar to slaughtering a large group of people until you are the only survivor.

On another note, you may have gone to college and gotten a degree in game design, but so did all of RARE’s staff, I mean you do not have more expertise when it comes to defining what genre or type of a game than they do (especially since they literally made the game in question), so I wouldn’t really use that as a point. It’s like a philosophy major going to a group of different philosophy majors who agree on a philosophy and saying they are wrong because you are a philosophy major.

For a Battle Royale it sure looks a lot like an open world sandbox adventure game.

Battle Royales:

• Several players are explicitly fighting against each other in an arena.
• Players fight to be the last one standing

Sea of Thieves

• Several players are placed into an open world
• Players play to fulfil their own goals typically by collecting treasure and reputation by engaging with any one of several systems.

Not only do you not need a college degree to know the difference, you don't need a college degree to do game design, sorry. Your appeal to intelligence is falling flat.

@limbicfanatic here all the time they write that without PVP the game will instantly die, that most people came to the game because of PVP. I came to the game a long time ago and only after a while I realized what was what. My friend stopped playing because of PVP and because he has a console and I have a pc and we can’t only play against players on the console.
I go into the game and try to create myself a single player transporting cargo, there is nothing more, skeletons, lords and activities are not built on robbing merchant ships but exterminating the undead.
How do you see a solution to the PVP problem?

Even the creator of The Hunger Games series confessed in interviews that she did not draw her inspiration from the foreign film.

I would like to clarify that I've not made that claim, I am aware of her saying that as well. Parallel thinking can happen often. However, I still think it was more Battle Royale, because there was more similarities in the earlier Battle Royale style games. The film itself always had a modern twist unlike Hunger Games. Guns with live rounds were present, including technology being at the disposal. Hunger Games was more medieval in its weapon choices. Even how they herded contestants favors BR. Hunger games used traps, fires, wild-life, and even survival motivations like dehydration to move people. BR had actual death-zones that triggered explosive collars which feels closer to what games nowadays use to get people grouped together. I feel like its hard to argue that the Genre itself is named under an identical name.

If we even look at Hunger games, it certainly spawned some creations. Most notably a Hunger Games mod in Minecraft. However, BR can say the same with mangas like Btooom and even Fortnite. Here is an article on that if you wish for some light reading.

Sam Greszes  /  May 26, 2019  /  Culture

Hunting down the true origins of the battle royale craze

From Fortnite to Japanese films to one novelist’s sleep deprivation

There is nothing ingame helping promote a battle royal style of play there is no shrinking ring of death there is no means to find other ships, bar getting a reaper flag but you have to rely on other ships getting flags. So at the games heart it is mainly a open world (adventure) sandbox both pvp and pve leaves a choice if someone is not into pvp they can simply stay on there toes and run when they see fit, sloops if sailing against the wind can outrun any ship, brigs are the fastest in crosswind which is 90% of of the time the winds direction , the only ship that is not very good at being able to run away is the galleon due to there slow turn speed and having to sail directly with the wind to reach there max speed.