Sea of Thieves getting more Toxic?

  • Ansgar Redbeard
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Ahoi Mateys!

    I'm playing since the open beta and every days I have the feeling that the "tone" in Sea of Thieves is getting more and more toxic.

    And I don't mean sinking, stealing, betraying, thats all part of the game (and also sometimes of the fun) but the % of people flaming or insulting you while they attack or sink you is getting out of hand.
    Where is the "Fun-Attitude" that the game had at the beginning, sure its frustrating to loose your loot after hours of grinding, but if everyone just takes it with Humor (either as the attacker or victim) thats all fun and games.

    But recently I noticed a lot of people rolls on deck laughing while they spawn-camp you or admitting to be cheaters and saying things like "oh no we're not going to sink you, we're going to r*pe you until you quit" is just not cool.

    Wish we as a community could come back to a more fun and "piratey" way of seeing our interactions. There are rare occurrences of good sportsmanship (weirdly mostly in HourGlas) where people are having fun even while loosing or being a sportsman and not sinking the poor kid that just started playing the game and just wants to do some tall tales alone. Really dont want to think about what that kid might think/feel if they would meet a crew like the one I cited above, I'm pretty sure they will never touch that game again.

    So just as a call to every pirate on the Sea of Thieves, be rough, but be fair.

    And just if anyone is interested, here are the "Rules of Engagement" for my Guild:
    We don't attack (unless they attack us):
    -People who're obviously new and have no clue
    -Pirates doing the tall tale
    -Ships we've already sank a few minutes ago
    -Solo Sloopers who're desperate to run away
    -Ships that are running away for too long (we usually get bored after 10minutes and whats the point)
    -No Sh*t talking, no insulting
    -Try to communicate with every opposing crew, even if its just nonsense talk XD

    What are your thoughts?

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  • Loch1907
    Captain
    Insider

    Personally, a lot of my engagements have been 'quiet'. Whether I sink them or not, I don't get much in the form of verbal or written communication.

  • Musicmee
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Moderator
    Founder
    Deckhand

    It really is swings and roundabouts... I feel more sessions for me are none toxic than toxic.

    Ran into a really nice solo slooper German guy last night while doing the fleet... and allianced up. There is good out there!

  • PithyRumble
    Castaway
    Insider

    @ansgar-redbeard

    I don't pvp. Anxieties lol. Everyone is muted and I don't join random parties.

    Game's fine lol

  • Ansgar Redbeard
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @loch1907 sagte in Sea of Thieves getting more Toxic?:

    Personally, a lot of my engagements have been 'quiet'. Whether I sink them or not, I don't get much in the form of verbal or written communication.

    yeah, but that was always the case, I think when Xbox player are in a party they cant hear or speak to you or something? Or some people cant or dont want to talk which is fine, a bit sad but fine :)

    @musicmee sagte in Sea of Thieves getting more Toxic?:

    It really is swings and roundabouts... I feel more sessions for me are none toxic than toxic.

    Ran into a really nice solo slooper German guy last night while doing the fleet... and allianced up. There is good out there!

    Yeah from time to time to meet cool people, even if they're on the other side of the canon thats shooting at you, a quick GG at the end of the encounter or just talking when you meet each other on the ferry of the dead makes it much more enjoyable than getting insulted or the well known passive aggressive rolls on deck laughing XD

    @pithyrumble sagte in Sea of Thieves getting more Toxic?:

    @ansgar-redbeard

    I don't pvp. Anxieties lol. Everyone is muted and I don't join random parties.

    Game's fine lol

    Oh, for me that would miss a lot about the fun of the game :) The engagements are what makes the came so intense, but the tone should still be nice :)

  • WolfManbush
    Lord

    Lots of factors involved.

    How someone plays and how often they play
    how someone gauges "toxicity"
    how some treats and reacts to others, conflict, loss, etc
    gameplay style with encounters

    There are ways to approach this game where there is very low toxicity and there are ways where toxicity will be a part of the experience more often.

    I don't pirate hunt and I defend, I let other players decide how the encounter goes, I don't get riled up, I don't consider unpleasant stuff or people as toxic if it's within reason. I don't escalate encounters or feed into any of the engagement traps. This keeps my organic toxic encounters very low.

    This is just my opinion and I've shared it for years,
    I think people are far too focused on tattle taling in this game, not actual toxicity, looking to farm something to report or at least just so they can run around talking about "cleaning up the seas". It's very built into the culture of SoT, the whole good person vs bad person thing. Farming "content" of "look at this bad person".

    Organic gameplay in SoT isn't that toxic, it exists but it exists everywhere.

    Some people are unpleasant, that's life, some get upset after they get sunk, that's life, some pvpers do some mild cringe stuff, that's life. It's easy to just swap a server (It's literally built into the game now). Doesn't need to become this thing where people just go on and on about reporting and toxicity and all that. It drains all of the fun out of the social areas imo. There is a support system for the report stuff. They ban people regularly for the serious stuff.

    An unpleasant online encounter can just be some nonsense to move on from, doesn't need to be drama dumping around the community over stuff that probably wouldn't even get someone yellowbearded.

  • Captain Fob4141
    Captain
    Insider

    @ansgar-redbeard a reminder because I'm not sure if anyone has said this: if they use voice coms to say toxic things try to record it and report it so the seas can get cleaned up.

    That said: I like to use flares to declare my intentions with white being friend and red being don't approach.

    I would like it if there were more flare colors to mean more things.

  • Foxx5
    Captain
    Insider

    I think season 11 has brought in new and returning players to see what's SOT is all about and I have had several players approach spouting verbal assaults of cursing and name calling I have been fortunate enough to sink most. A couple of them have sunk me and then left the treasure. As a long time player I have noticed they will play for a few sessions and get bored.

  • Cpt DrKnight
    Master
    Insider

    @ansgar-redbeard said in Sea of Thieves getting more Toxic?:

    But recently I noticed a lot of people rolls on deck laughing while they spawn-camp you or admitting to be cheaters and saying things like "oh no we're not going to sink you, we're going to r*pe you until you quit" is just not cool.

    Hmm.... I haven't really noticed if it's increased, but I think that's been in the game since the beginning unfortunately.
    In fact, a popular SoT streamer was known for saying and doing that exact thing to other players...Get r@@ed. And Rare did nothing when he did it to another popular streamer because he helped make the game popular. Lost a lot of respect for the team because of their silence on that.

  • WolfManbush
    Lord

    Imo the vibe has mellowed significantly since season 9 and is at its best in season 10-11

    and that's for a few reasons

    The game lost a lot of veterans players over the years but specifically the adventure focused veteran players. That's where there have been long stretches of skilled pvpers and new players and the middle really wasn't there as much on the servers.

    The adventure qol brings back experienced players that aren't aggressive, they will fight, defend themselves, play cautiously but they are open to more adventure focused encounters than just strictly pvp/content encounters.

    Guild leveling and now season 11 features really offers veteran players some wide ranging stuff to do as opposed to "I have to find someone to sink because...well just because"

    Brig crews are often still intentionally obnoxious but often far from toxic.

    I'm generally digging the organic vibe of SoT again. Season 11 is a lot of fun, the encounters are a lot more random than they once were, people are into more variety of play right now.

    If people are looking to make their way out of safer seas or return to SoT to play with friends or just to enjoy a casual grind with improved qol I'd say season 11 the time to do it. Adventuring is fun, encounters are interesting, not much toxicity in my experience.

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