A way to solve the griefing issue once and for all!

@captcrunchbeard I like the fact that you've come up with a different approach to this, but your solution suffers from the same problems as always: loot must always remain free of ownership and able to be stolen; ships must always remain free to board and vulnerable to sinking; players must always remain visible when in plain sight and able to be killed. That's how the game works. So if you can find a solution that retains all those core tenets you'll be onto something.

I do suggest trying to stop seeing theft and sinking as 'griefing' though - try to jump into the spirit of the game, in a carefree way. Don't worry so much about each bit of loot, or getting killed, and maybe try a few 'morally dubious' acts yourself to break the ice...

I can see a few flaws in this idea and I cannot see it working at all. For the PvP to be disabled, there would also need to be a lot more Pve including AI pirates which come after you on the open sea.

What they could do to reduce it is give PvP's their fix with a dedicated mode. Such as an open sea deathmatch on different maps. Maybe maps which one have small islands or hidden sandbanks which could be used to bait a following ship into hitting. Maybe once your ship is sunk and the die, you get teleported to a final stand off island where you battle it out hand to hand or something.

That sentence about forts says it all

"You could still use your cannons and guns to fight skeletons, and if you want to do some PvP in a non-greifing way like if they fire at you first, or at a skull fort but only if there isn't another ship already there (because thats greifing them, they got there first)"

Attacking people at forts IS NOT GRIEFING, its what forts are there for, to encourage PvP and also friendly interactions/alliances (yes, they happen), nobody is entitled to the fort loot apart from the pirates that turn it in at an outpost, until that moment, like all treasures in this game, they are there for the taking!

I'd wager a good bet that most of what the OP calls griefing more than likely isn't griefing at all and just people playing the game they want to play it. A Core part of this game is PvP, theft, etc, simply doing these things unprovoked doesn't make it griefing.

What you really want is a different game.

The only way to stop griefing once and for all is turning it into a single player game. Please don't do that.

@katttruewalker said in A way to solve the griefing issue once and for all!:

@captcrunchbeard

I think your heart is in the right place and it's a topic that many have struggled with, coming up with a solution which keeps the core premise of the game without splitting the community.

I'm not sure what the answer is except that the one that feels right to me would be a community driven one, one that isn't governed by ingame mechanics. So, something that would be agreed among us all such as the raised cannons, or the lights on at night, or (if we get flag customisation at some point) flying a particular flag.

This isn't going to be foolproof at all and there will always be danger, but there will also be those who honour that type of code within game... or maybe I'm just an optimist...

pi·rate
ˈpīrət/Submit
noun
1.
a person who attacks and robs ships at sea.
synonyms: freebooter, marauder, raider

Any change to this may require a name update. :)

Griefers are usually people who join you on your ship and then mess around. What you come across are players who want your loot and that my friend is the fun part of the game. You should try it sometime.

What i would suggest is get rid of the "sleepers" who just get on your galleon and stay in the deadzone while you do all the work and they reap the rewards, that goes for being locked up in the brig too.

Again, you can always scuttle your ship if someone tries to kill you every time you spawn back on your ship. Also learn the mechanics of sailing, crosswinds etc. There are so many tips here that have actually made me a better sailor.

@captcrunchbeard said in A way to solve the griefing issue once and for all!:

@lizardspider said in A way to solve the griefing issue once and for all!:

@captcrunchbeard About as old as the merchants who can't fight to save their treasure complaining about Sea Dogs raiding them.

*griefers

PvP is not griefing. We all need to stop pretending that being attacked by other players is automatically griefing. /thread

@katttruewalker Yes, all types of playstyles are allowed, not all will be successful, and they all must recognize that this is a shared world. So, unless the game moves away from being a shared world, nobody has the guarantee that every session will be dedicated solely to the style of play to which they are accustomed. The “however you choose” statement should be considered in context of the world of the game.

I understand that there are many people who really want to just be docile and run their voyages in peace, but part of this game is player to player interaction. The beauty of this game is you can play it however you like, and so can everyone else. That's what creates such fun and dynamic interactions when you encounter other players. Granted, many people just want to sink ships and take things, but if that's something you don't want to be a part of then you have options to avoid it. Run away, keep your distance, try talking to them, flash your lanterns. Have fun with your options, you might be surprised with the outcome!

On top of that, your voyages are literally infinite and if you lose some loot there is ALWAYS going to be more. I know it can be extremely disheartening losing so much, it happens to me too, but if you are getting that upset and/or "trolled" or "griefed" then maybe log off, take a break, and hop back onto a different server. I promise you that you'll find more loot and no matter what eventually you will achieve your goals. And most of all, HAVE FUN! :)

@captcrunchbeard said in A way to solve the griefing issue once and for all!:

@lizardspider said in A way to solve the griefing issue once and for all!:

@captcrunchbeard About as old as the merchants who can't fight to save their treasure complaining about Sea Dogs raiding them.

*griefers

Dude, seriously, this is what I'm talking about. People who attack you are not griefers, this is just some ad hominem attack to demonize people who chose to participate in the PvP aspect of the game. Why?

There are plenty of threads out there to help you so that you don't get caught slipping. You can play this game solo it is possible. Furthermore it is possible as is. I seriously don't want to see this game become unbalanced toward PvE because the loudest complaints and the most read threads are the ones that are titled "This HAS to Stop!" or "A way to solve griefing once and for all!" or "So Many Griefers!" Most of the time these threads are populated with people who are arguing against such a stance. I've almost stopped commenting so that they will stop getting attention but non the less people like @CaptCrunchBeard make thread after thread about the topic.