Sea of Thieves is a good game. There is a ton about it that I love. I think it's some of the best cooperative experiences I have ever had in an online game. As the game has grown I have enjoyed much of the new content, and I really love to do tall tales, working with others, and sharing knowledge with crewmates both known and randomly met.
I also really love the atmosphere and setting. It's really colorful and vibrant. All the NPCs are cartoony and interesting, and the storylines even when they get dark have a jolly, swashbuckling, good-versus-evil tone that I love. Everything about the game seems really welcoming and about building comradery and helping each other against the odds.
All this said, I will never suggest this game to a single person. The amount of tools a player has to show friendship and cooperation on the seas is basically nil. The player base is incredibly confrontational, which I have been informed in the past is part of the dev's vision for how they want interactions between players. I understand until recently there was an arena, and in that arena people who wished to engage in ship to ship combat had an outlet to throw themselves at each other. This has since been closed, and those players are now back in the general populace. I don't know if that has anything to do with how awful my experiences have been, but it seems odd that the devs would close an outlet for people to seek out consensual competition and just have to find an outlet for it in the greater game.
The confrontational nature of other players seems to even go against the design of other aspects of the game. I recently acquired the sunken curse, which requires you to traverse the map multiple times visiting mermaid dungeons, leaving your ship basically helpless or requiring one of your teammates to babysit it the entire adventure. Though I was able to earn it, and I have attempted it twice since, none of my friends have been able to finish the voyage. We are always sunk while in the depths of a mermaid dungeon. This was bad enough that customer support even refunded me the dubloons on the voyage. I have been jumped and attacked during voyages, tall tales, adventures, and even just wandering around collecting journals. I am not a pacifist, but I refuse to ever strike the first blow. I always send up fireworks when I approach another ship. I will call out and play music. I want to make friends out there. I want to have a good time with others. I really can't blame the community for their reactions, as the trained response to almost every situation seems to be "attack, remove the threat" or just "harass until they quit". I have been chased across a map on an empty ship, and had insults hurled at me for not wanting to react aggressively to people I have never met. This seems to be the general mindset of almost everyone I meet.
The way players act is so incredibly different than anything the devs have created. If the devs designed any aspect of the environment with the hostility and vitriol that the players show, I doubt this game would be as appealing to me as it is.
I know the devs will never make a less competitive/PvE mode, and honestly I've given up hopes on the private servers coming out before I am completely burned out. I just really wanted to love this game, but I think I have had enough of the treatment I get in it. I know this means the game, as it stands, is not for me. I just really wish it could be? I would love to be in more alliances. I would love to keep sailing and having fun and interesting interactions, maybe even earn the dozens of commendations related to spending time with people you meet (which are an incredibly poor way to foster togetherness.)
I guess I am just writing this because I am frustrated. I honestly don't think I can keep playing and I am very sad and disappointed. There are a lot of things I would still like to do, but I really can't take the behavior I meet in this game anymore.
Calm seas and great rewards to all you pirates.
