Possible Solution to Filtering Toxic Players

@yualee I always assumed that the game is going to use more likely instances rather then full servers (because we've seen the instances join together).

Because of the idea of the game using instances, I assumed it would just search for the instance that balances the best connection with a group of other crews who all are about the same level of 'notoriety' (or whatever the rating/reporting thing is called).

Also, in case you haven't seen Craig Duncan said the 100 player server thing was wrong (just in case you thought matchmaking was 100 player servers like a lot of people have).

Wouldn't this be a double-edged sword? I mean wouldn't those toxic or troll players just report anyone they want to and possibly ruin that player's rep if it happens enough times? Also, I could see this being used to for trolls to mass report streamers for the game.

@shadowstrider-7 Have it be a 8-man row boat l**o

@shadowstrider-7 whoops who put that there?lol

I like to solution, especially because I had a lot of trouble with crews stalking and killing me while I was completing voyages - I even had trouble with camper pirates: they'd wait around the Gold Hoarders shop to kill you while you where trying to sell the chest.

The game is about pirates, actions within game are going to be hard to block without taking away from the role play aspect of the game. Sinking ships, killing players or whatever will happen. Rating people on this to avoid them is just going to take away from your experience.
People who get upset by spawn killing need to remember this, if your being spawn killed, you have nothing to lose, chances are your ship is gone, your chests are gone, and even if you spawn a new ship, you have nothing, so instead of getting upset, as your starting over, do it in a new session and move on.

What we should focus on is the verbally toxic people, the game should present you with a list of all players you can hear, or have heard in the last 5 minutes(?). This will allow for muting and remove this element of toxic players without having to limit yourself to party chats.
I have seen posts about people who are unset by the verbally toxic players, male and female, a simple mute ends the assault but you can still interact with your crew.

Other groups would be single players who are AFK, trying to throw chests over board, dropping anchor, etc, this is handled by the brig, if your in a group where most of the players are doing this so the brig is not an option, its time to leave and start a new session.

The other option is a PvE server option. No PvP options, no picking up chests which are not on your own ship, or you find. Weapons would be used for hostile NCP's and hostile Ships as required. I feel you would lose something playing the game this way, but could be an option for people who are new, wants to get a feel for the ships and maybe find a crew without the bulk of the toxic players who will likely stay in PvP

@jack6863 'This is a pirate game' isnt valid here.

It doesn't have to be a pop up or anything like that either, it can be a completely optional thing you can select in their player profile.
I don't think this would really take from the immersion at all.

People shouldn't have to leave the game entirely because someone is abusing a respawn system, people shouldn't have to leave frustrated because their only option is to 'get over it'.

This would work for both verbally toxic (abusive language) and physically toxic (spawn killing, dropping anchor etc).
I don't know what the amount of reports needed would be but it would surely be a 'larger then a single crew trying to force another player down a tier' size.

A PvE server would be bad, it would be boring and the best possible scenario for that would be a server/instace where all the players are far less wanting of combat and would much rather converse with the other crew (which could be done through some sort of separating system of private server).

@salt-ya-bumm neither is the brig though really. There's been plenty of threads talking about how unfairly they have been treated because people decided to be mean to them and, without warning, lock them in the brig.

Also, welcome to the forums!

Just add an ignore button, and they wont be able to do anything at all. I find it pretty normal for people to get p****d off after losing stuff in a game. Maybe I just have been around for too long in the online gaming world. But if I dont like what people are saying I just mute/block them. Besides an rager here and there is kinda funny, after you destroy his ship.

@fantus

People shouldn't have to leave the game entirely because someone is abusing a respawn system, people shouldn't have to leave frustrated because their only option is to 'get over it'.

Toxic players exist, its a fact we will have to deal with, you will be hunted and killed, and possibly even spawn killed.
No attempt to block players like this will work out well in the end, you will just make it more difficult for yourself to get into a session with a decent number of players because the more people you block the less sessions will be open to you.

Being spawn killed does not make the game unplayable.

While playing I was on a crew that got spawn killed, we took out the other ship, but they got onboard, they were able to take us out within spawning very quickly(there may have been some questions on how but that's besides the point). In the end we took the ship back by respawning as a group. But at the same time, had we just taken the lose, left and started a new session on a new ship, we also would have been able to continue playing. If your being t his controlled by other players, you already lost anything you were carrying, so instead of getting frustrated, just accept the lose and move on. Its not like leaving is going to tank your company progress or cost you something that cannot be recovered.

Spawn killing is more of an annoyance than a problem, and the developers should not spend to much time trying to prevent it.
In all honestly, spawn killers enjoy angering people, they are trolls, they are doing it to annoy you, raging at them, fighting and losing, trying to report them is what they want, why let them win? Rob them of the enjoyment they get by moving on. They will get bored and move onto another game.

@jack6863 said in Possible Solution to Filtering Toxic Players:

In all honestly, spawn killers enjoy angering people, they are trolls, they are doing it to annoy you, raging at them, fighting and losing, trying to report them is what they want, why let them win? Rob them of the enjoyment they get by moving on. They will get bored and move onto another game.

----->
The point indeed is to get a response from the "victim".. If you do not respond, it dies out. Basic psychology, learned at all Psychology studies at Universities.
Ignoring has the strongest effect on dying out, because a positive/negative response is a response, they feed on it!

Example: Got swagged by a 4man crew, spawnkilled after I spawned. Only told them through ingame chat: "gonna take a s**t", and stood afk for like 5~10 mins.. they didn't get any more response from me so they left after 2 mins. (I took away the fun in killing me, because I don't respond, so I won't give them the confirmation they want.. it has something to do with the endorfine releasing in your brain.
(don't lecture me on mistakes please, not 100% up-to-date on the subject anymore, but using it to make a point ;))

An other option is to wait a few mins longer on the Ferry o/t Damned before you respawn.

Ofcourse the best is to report toxic players but if it doesn't help at that given moment, just think about what I said above ;)

@jack6863 Firstly, I did say it would try to find an approximate grouping of people within your tier, so if there was only 2 crews playing SoT at that current time, no matter what they would pair together.

Players shouldn't have to build a play-style around the fact that they are going to lose everything.
What if I want to play as a merchant, I'd want to carry around lots of cargo so I could either trade it at ports or to other crews. If I was to get spawn killed and have all my stuff stolen then that's hours of work gone.

I realize the whole 'don't give them the satisfaction' method but there will be so many players who will get fed up with having to go "oh well, time to find a new session" every time another player gets on their ship. Some players have an hour or less to play at a time, they shouldn't have to spend a decent amount of that finding new sessions.

Spawn killing within the beta was definitely a problem. I hope there is simply enough content and things happening to prevent people from leading to just trying to detriment other crews but I guess we'll see.

@fantus

What if I want to play as a merchant, I'd want to carry around lots of cargo so I could either trade it at ports or to other crews. If I was to get spawn killed and have all my stuff stolen then that's hours of work gone.

That's the risk of playing a merchant. And if your travelling with a lot of chests the first kill is not a spawn kill, and the rest would likely be to steal all your stuff.
If I was to see you, and noticed your had a lot of chests I would likely recommend to my crew we attack you to steal them. If you die and respawn before we finishing looting you, do you expect us to say "well he spawned, times up" or would you expect us to kill you again and finish stealing all your stuff?

This would technically be spawn killing, but its not in an effort to be a toxic player, after we got your stuff we would leave.
You would no longer be spawn killed, but you would still have lost hours of work, your ship might be intact when we leave, but it would depend on the fire fight before we boarded you.

It sounds like you want to be able to play without the PvP elements at times. Part of the charm of this game is the open waters, do what you want play style. If my style is to raid every ship I see rather than use maps to find chests, why should I be punished?

Spawn killing is only an issue if you let it be one, but at the same time, if someone is in the position to spawn kill you they could easier sink your ship. Your out of the work either way, so why may a big fuss about it, just move on.

@fantus said in Possible Solution to Filtering Toxic Players:

@jack6863 Firstly, I did say it would try to find an approximate grouping of people within your tier, so if there was only 2 crews playing SoT at that current time, no matter what they would pair together.

Players shouldn't have to build a play-style around the fact that they are going to lose everything.
What if I want to play as a merchant, I'd want to carry around lots of cargo so I could either trade it at ports or to other crews. If I was to get spawn killed and have all my stuff stolen then that's hours of work gone.

I realize the whole 'don't give them the satisfaction' method but there will be so many players who will get fed up with having to go "oh well, time to find a new session" every time another player gets on their ship. Some players have an hour or less to play at a time, they shouldn't have to spend a decent amount of that finding new sessions.

Spawn killing within the beta was definitely a problem. I hope there is simply enough content and things happening to prevent people from leading to just trying to detriment other crews but I guess we'll see.

Nice try, but you're not being "spawn killed" if you're a merchant carrying lots of cargo around and looking to cash it in. What you're doing is playing playing Sea of Thieves. That crew that is out to get your cargo, they are also playing Sea of Thieves. Imagine that, both of you playing a game as designed. Pirates repeatedly taking your loot? You need to evaluate your decisions in-game and/or the people you play with... perhaps even whether the game is for you.

As for actual spawn camping, eventually these guys will realize they are wasting time and this will decrease.

@jack6863 I used merchant as an example of that of how you said that if I was to get spawn killed then all my stuff was pretty much all gone anyway.

@N7-Spectre
I also realize that if its the first kill then its not spawn killing lol.

This would be a kind of system that lets players who are finding other players toxic with a way to, if enough other players agree, let them be more likely to be sorted with other more toxic players instead of people looking to play Sea of Thieves without harassing or stunting the enjoyment of other players.

@fantus
It sounds like you want a PvE environment, you want to be able to play your way, without the risk from other players. Which is not the game being created here.
You could be coming back from a long voyage, someone sees you, and sinks your ship, that is the risk of playing the game, your hard work is gone due to a single action. Its not because others are toxic, its an open world, open rules and fair game.

Giving players the option to report other players for killing them in what is supposed to be an open world is a bad idea. If you can not take being killed, you should not play a game which is PvP.

Personally I find nothing wrong with spawn killing, not that I do it, but I understand it, and I will repeat an early point, if you have fallen into a spawn kill trap, you have already lost your items, just as if your sunk by a passer by, or a storm, or running aground.

There is no point to a reporting system, it would just be abused by people who want to enforce there own personal rules for the game. It will become a tool of the very toxic players you are trying to protect yourself from.

No reporting system is perfect, they will not have time to research every single report, so when bulk reports are submitted by a group of players, auto ban's will be put in effect. You could be targeted for no reason and unable to play, because of the very tool you wanted added to the game.

I can see this being abused by solo/PVE players who just don't like any sort of combat.

@Jack6863 Yknow this system does allow for PvP right?
The only people who would likely not be experiencing PvP are the people who are on a very end of the spectrum against toxic players, simply because players on that side would probably be too nice.

If this would get abused, how would you be able to fix it? What would you suggest?