Toxicity Question for PvP'ers

Never thought about it from this side... but now that you mention it... its quite often that the PvE crew starts it.

To be honest all kinds if trash talk is "wrong"... the PvP players do not need to call their targets bad players (in all the forms), and the PvE players do not need to start yelling salty comments to the PvP players when they are just playing a certain role in the game.

Both sides need to think about this. Good post!

In my experience, about a 50/50 split really. I've had my share of aggressive crews who also want to spew bile from their mouths while they do their thing, and I've had a good helping of crews I have attacked that immediately jump to being vile people with nothing worthwhile to say that isn't intended to try and be hurtful.

Granted, I really don't give a darn about what they say to me as I'm one of those who just can't be bothered by it. However, I totally get that others can't deal with that so well and thus still often report these instances and encounters in hopes that things can be addressed.

But, still, to your main point I personally see about an even split of where I tend to find the people I see as being toxic. PvP or PvE doesn't seem to make much of a difference. Some on both sides of that coin get the game and it isn't a problem, so of them think the game should be something it isn't and get wildly aggressive about it should they encounter anyone taking a different approach.

The one difference I do tend to see, when PvP players are just toxic out of the gate they seem to (at least by the sound of the voices) be kids who don't have adult supervision in their crew and are being juvenile. On the flip side, I find it is more often adults on the PvE part of the equation (and thus people I would expect more from in this regard).

All in all, it is a people problem and not a game problem specifically. The best we can do is report it when we see it and hope that Rare or Microsoft can sort things out on the back end.

Just proves both sides are equal and desire to be in the same server together.

Both sides treat the other like dirt. Depending on what the other did first.

Almost always if another crew says something to me during combat it is along the lines of curse words about me, my mother, etc.

Some do try to "reason" with me first like saying they will give me their loot if I don't sink them. They then get very angry when I explain to them "Unfortunately I need that flag, could care less about your loot"

I am usually dead silent in 99% of my attacks on other ships unless the trash talking comes forth from them. Then I tend to let them know as their ship is sinking what I think of them. Usually this is the biggest ego of the opposing crew throwing insults as he tries boarding and stopping the attack.

This reflects my experience. Not just in SoT but in a majority of online games.
In a normal session of SoT and we roll up on someone, If they ask us politely to go easy or talk to us calmly we generally talk to them in kind. If you're rude and spitting cuss from the first then you're gonna get sunk, that's how it is.
The big thing is that there are a lot of people that are so different from us, and the only connection is this virtual world in which we all play. People are gonna be people, words are gonna get said, however it's up to us how we take it and deal wit hit. Yes saying some hard words (Your R's and N's) that's just not okay but it needs to be dealt with progressively and a basic escalation that applies to everyone regardless of who they are. As an extension Rare needs to take the lead in a proper well documented and communicated way moving forward for the sake of all parties.

The best example I have is EVE Online when it had a huge schism with PvE v PvP players, just look at Minerbumping for some context. I'll be honest it was almost always the PvE side that was incredibly rude and pushed for poorly thought out mechanical changes which had such unintended side effects that the mechanic they pushed for was used against them. There was a huge effort to combat it by the general playerbase because of the affect on general gameplay as a result of those changes.

I've almost always had some awesome encounters w PvP crews save for the very few very bad apples that are just rotten toxic. Some things are just not okay. At the end of the day it is a game.

If we define toxicity as verbal attacks, then for me about 30% of the time I'm either sent a nasty message, or invited to a party and had things screamed at me like "I hope your mom dies of cancer", threated to be kicked off line via DDOS, or just plain old fashioned name calling. The best response to most of it is just to remain calm and stick to the facts of the in-game encounter. For some reason, this seems to trigger them even more.

Occasionally I'm sent a very creative message. For example, I was a clumsy giant who crashed thru their garden of tranquility and ruined their week. I didn't consider that toxic of course.

That said, I know for a fact that there are some PVP players who initiate the toxicity. So, as has been stated above, it goes both ways.

Speaking of, who started this whole "it's just a game, relax" excuse? As a matter of fact, the entity you are being toxic to isn't a robot, or AI, but a human being. Have some decency.

I'm new to the game, been playing about a month, and came to it because of my interest in PVP. I like the PVE content too, but multiplayer is where my heart lies. I don't mind getting killed / sunk, and I don't gloat if I sink or kill someone. My default reaction is to say a sincere "GG" over comms no matter whether I won or lost.

Some of the gameplay experiences - like getting spawncamped in Arena - felt super toxic at first, but then I learned that certain achievements require serious amounts of grinding. That helped me realize that it wasn't the players trying to grief me, but actually them trying to hit their 200 kills. I still didn't like it, but it no longer made me mad, and I tried to adapt. Scuttling is always an option, too, of course.

Beyond that, in Adventure mode, my interactions have been pretty varied, and mostly positive on the balance. Most people are relatively chill. Hardcore PVEers have just scuttled if I get too close, which I don't understand, but fair play to them.

Early on, my crew and I encountered some truly legit Pirate Legends, and although we didn't PVP with them, they were obviously very skilled players and offered us a lot of really good advice. I felt they were exemplary representations of the best parts of the community.

Some of the hardcore "sweatlord" PVPers I've come across have been 1000% the best people in the game so far, in terms of interactions. We've exchanged sincere and heartfelt GGs after a fight, regardless of who won. A few others - very much in the minority of encounters - have been jerks, but that's pretty rare for the most part.

Then there are some players who whine about you "wasting their time" or "bothering them" or whatever... I have zero sympathy for that attitude, and feel it has no place at all in this game. Either I sink you, or you sink me... it's emergent content either way, and that's the game we both paid for.

I'm grateful for Rare's strong commitment to the PVPVE nature of the game and glad that they haven't made the mistake of caving to the militant carebears who demand separate PVE servers. I've seen other games (Elite Dangerous comes to mind) where the devs couldn't decide if they wanted to make a singleplayer PVE game, or a multiplayer MMO-ish PVPVE game... the end result is a mess with lots more toxicity than I've experienced in Sea of Thieves. I'm much happier here, and the community has been fine on the balance.

@xultanis-dragon on average, people aren't bad.

There are a few that take it too far and think they shouldnt be attacked and get a little sore by it. The best way to avoid this is by playing honorably, only kill if they are emissaries or hostile. Otherwise just board and steal their stuff and leave them be.

Yeap, most of the time. The "toxic" players are the pvE players who simply cannot handle loosing. Or pin "toxicity" on pvp players for simply attacking them.

I for one trash talk a lot. You know this dragon ;) but I never go so far as to be "toxic" and start talking about someones family or even real life situations. Not once have I ever. My trash talking extends only to the game, and it's part of the game.

Where toxicity comes from is usually the pvE players who either take trash talking way to far, or cannot handle loosing and so do their utmost best to pin toxicity on the attackers, attacking a ship is not toxic. Although for many it is a matter of viewpoint. I think everyone can agree that certain things people say that are what you would call "taking things to far" almost always comes from the pvErs first.

This of course almost always ends in them getting punished or spawn camped. Not once have we been as/es to anyone who simply said gg or good fight. Or had fun with us. Or even just accepted the situation. But they have always been what one would call "toxic" first. And even then, most pvp players I have met will not respond in kind. But instead just sink them again or kill them a few more times.

Essentially, in my experience of 5 and a half thousand hours now. It's almost ALWAYS the pvE player who starts the toxic acts first.

@danquememe welcome to sea of thieves. glaf you have enjoyed your time so far, honestly. the best and most hardcore players in the game do tend to be the ones that will offer advice and also are the most likely to have a convo with you after a hard fight and talk about how epic it was. unlike a lot of the newer playerbase that seems to hate pvp players, you seem to be one of the rarer players that enjoy learning from their experiences. as you play you will see rare tends to favor pvE players a little more than they probably should. but at least they understand that its a shared sandbox and pvp is a big part of the game. and as im sure you already know or will find out. most pvp players dont want to ruin your day or downgrade you, they just want a good fight and a gg afterwards.