How to keep my friends playing?

As many others have said, you can't convince people to enjoy a thing that they do not enjoy and any efforts that you make to try to force them to enjoy it will only backfire and cause resentment of both you and whatever you're trying to push people into doing.

SoT is a wonderful experience for me, but I know of a lot of people who passionately hate it. I strongly disagree with their opinions of SoT, but I respect their rights to like or dislike whatever they want.

My OG crew? Some are long gone, some still play, sometimes we even play together. I have other crews, I enjoy playing solo and if I'm stuck I just use LFG or Discord (which can both be mixed bags, but if you don't wanna solo they're worth a shot)

If I was really trying to show someone who's skeptical what I love about SoT, I'd start by figuring out what types of gaming experiences they enjoy.

Are they PvP focused FPS gods? Then throw in with the Reapers and go look for fights.

Are they more into solo roleplaying games and narrative driven adventures? Then do a bunch of tall tales and don't carry any loot so it doesn't matter if you lose your boat.

Do they enjoy grindy games and watching the numbers go up? Then focus on PvE but make sure you turn stuff in regularly so that they can watch their gold pile grow.

If you focus on tailoring the rewards of your play sessions to the things that they enjoy in other games, you'll have a better chance of them understanding what it is that you enjoy about SoT. But there's nothing you can do to convince a person who dislikes a thing to change their mind, they can only change their own mind, you can do your best to facilitate them changing their mind, but there's nothing you can do to make it happen.

If your friends don't want to play, trying to force them isn't the answer. I know that you want your friends to try it and love it as much as you do, but the game isn't for everyone, and that's fine. There are plenty of avenues to find people to play with if you're willing.. open crew, sea of thieves discord, community discords, etc.

As for introducing friends to the game.. don't try to market it as something it's not. Be real about the potential for pvp to happen, and the potential for people to be rude. Unfortunately, that's a possibility in any online game that has pvp aspects to it. If you're losing a bunch of loot, maybe sell it more frequently to minimize losses if they do occur.

You are right about practicing.. the only way to get better at fighting is to just go at it and try. There's a lot to be learned from losing. We rarely sink now (although it does still happen), but it wasn't always like that. That's because we went at the pvp and every win or loss we were always discussing what we did well, what could've been better, and what the other crew did well that we could try to implement.

Be the positivity you want to see, though. Tell other people GG. Be kind. Be humble in wins, and show good sportsmanship in losses. Not everyone you meet will act like a decent human being, but we can try and spread the behavior we want to see. If someone is crossing the line, don't be afraid to report them. We've certainly reported people before.

At the end of the day, though.. you can't force your friends to like the game if it doesn't speak to them on it's own. And making them play something they aren't having fun with is just going to make them resent the game.

1.don’t
2.buy their friendship
3.GET ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES AND BEG AS HARD AS YOU CAN
4.lies and manipulation
5.crime

@realwebber69 said in How to keep my friends playing?:

1.don’t
2.buy their friendship
3.GET ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES AND BEG AS HARD AS YOU CAN
4.lies and manipulation
5.crime

Yes. And remember kids, violence is never the answer. Violence is the question and the answer is - Yes!