@oda-ashina said in A Different Type of Ban [Idea]:
@nex-stargaze
So, Let me get my ducks in a row, shall we?
1.) A little kid's first day in sea of thieves, and out of nowhere, there is a bunch of sweats. They come in, spawn camp him, and cause him to yell and scream on the mic. And because he says something, The people killing him report him, and BOOM, ban for "Toxic Behavior" Because they were pushed into a corner.
It's a video game, it doesn't matter how old you are, you should know what you're saying to other people, whether you see them face-to-face or not. Being emotionally pushed into a corner isn't an uncommon scenario, but most people sensibly try to hide that obvious frustration by saying nothing and letting the attacker come up with their own conclusions, or say something positive to hide that same frustration, but make it come off as a calm interaction. Unless you're salt mining off of other players, you should expect kindness and "well playeds" to come back to you after a PvP encounter.
2.) You get into a sea of thieves battle with someone and they are trash-talking you, or let's even say they aren't! You've been grinding for hours and hours on this athena quest, and boom, a ship pulls up and absolutely trashes you. You get mad and say something on the mic and boom, Banned for "Toxic Behavior" Because you worked hard and were pushed into a corner.
Same as before, you're responsible for your own actions, there's no excuse to say something wrong towards someone that doesn't want or deserve it.
3.) You're fighting a ship and they are putting up a good fight. Let's say they are trash-talking, and you start to get the hype. Emotions rise, and BOOM! you sink them. They are going down and you have a cheer and some more light trash-talking. But at the end of the day, you get banned for toxic behavior.
An attempt to grey area? I suppose this is your common scenario, as with many others that say they "did nothing wrong" that got them banned. The last thing you want to do in a good battle, especially if you win, is saying something that could easily come off as offensive language. Since you want to allow vast vocabulary in your trash talking, you know what kind of words, playful or not, would be seen as inappropriate enough where if out-of-context, which is what many reports can consist of, sounds wrong and offensive to the person that submitted the report from the perspective of SoT Support.
I have gotten banned a few times before for toxicity, for doing the same thing my enemies were doing. The only difference was that I won the fight. It seems that Bias as well as a major play in bans.
Yes the angry player that lost is going to spitefully get you banned. It's a likely scenario, but only works if they have valid evidence of inappropriate conduct. Trash-talking with the wrong words will again, come off as offensive without context. If you know what words you wouldn't want your own parents saying to you, chances are, the people you're fighting probably don't want you to say it to them, not just because it could hurt their feelings, but because it's an easy way to clap back with a legitimate report to SoT Support.
If you say you're calm, act pretentious, or say it doesn't bother you at all that you lose or win, you're either emotionless, or you're lying. both are bad.
I thought it was the logical norm in this game to not care if you sink. Going with the flow; whatever happens, happens. If you're getting that viscerally upset with sinking, you should either fix your attitude and/or mindset, or refrain from playing the game as to not blast your raw emotions on someone that probably doesn't deserve it.
If we are to face facts, NO ONE plays sea of thieves like how Rare wants them to. Sure there is a minor amount of you, and some of you are obviously present in the forums. And are higher prestige users because you play like rare wants you to.
I'm gonna level with you, Rare doesn't care how I play as long as my name, what I do, and what I say doesn't actively cause distress to another player in the game. I have played with TDMers that eventually evolved into cheaters (that got rightfully banned). I've played with the softest of individuals who freak out when they realize they are becoming easy content by a skilled PvP player that's sinking them for loot. I have played with nearly every kind of player in between from shenanigans with well-intentioned friends to open crew mayhem sessions. I still have access to this game with my only account because despite my attitude, negative nature, unwell mental state, and yes, ego, I don't harshly trash talk players with inappropriate language, because I report those that do it to me, and I would expect the same if I did it back.
But out of 30 Million active users, most of these SOT players are Toxic, or trash talk.
No statistic to prove that, since a lot of my sessions now are involved with people who don't use communications in-game. They aren't toxic if they desperately sail away from me, or start sword slashing me when I'm doing a friendly emote in front of their face. I don't assume they're calling me trash that doesn't belong in this game, I'm laughing at how the some of the outcomes happen because interactions with other players in this game are a mixing pot of awkward and amazing.
Even streamers who promote that sort of content, Still actively play the game.
Admittedly a subject that's genuinely worth looking into if they're Partnered Sea of Thieves creators, with non partners they are just as vulnerable to Rare's judgement as you, your friends, any of us forum goers, etc.
As a matter of fact, me and my friends, and im sure most of you could say if you were honest, that most of the players you come across in a sea of thieves want to battle, are toxic, or trash talky because that is the stigma that surrounds this game entirely.
This game actually has a serious ego problem because players don't get fair matches against one another, getting steamrolled via skill, cursed cannonballs or numbers game is upsetting, but doing said steamrolling is a massive confidence boost, especially when you can't find more people to fight. Season 8's Hourglass of Fate has now created an equilibrium where players now know how good they are without having to sign up for a competitive league, and their egos, for the most part, are in check now (except for some content creators but let's not worry about that yet).
From Ifunny, Reddit, Twitter, and youtube, Sea of Thieves is promoted or seen as a toxic game.
The funniest things to record for Sea of Thieves, sadly, is content farming off of individuals who, for all intents and purposes, should not have been playing the game in the mental state they've maintained. It's seen as toxic because the game is about finding treasure and/or stealing treasure, and many users who don't research before installing don't get that second part of the message, and get viscerally upset when it happens. It's funny because they're getting mad in a video game where you're not supposed to get banned actually fighting other players.
I'm happy to see that there are players who just sail, do quests, don't bother anyone, then get off, but let's be honest, that is not the majority clientele.
They're a much more common majority, however, they are silent, they don't use social media, they don't go to YouTube for this game outside of maybe seeing the latest content update, they don't come to the forums (and I don't blame them tbh). They are the players that many PvP players used to ravage on a day-to-day basis before Season 8. They matter as much as we think we do, and they're not toxic.
I won't comment on the note at the bottom because I don't think that's my place to argue, nor do I have a reasonable counter-argument to engage with. From what I can conclude, your logic and understanding of societal norms and appropriate interactions are completely off. You lack empathy because the people you're surrounded by more often than not are okay with whatever you say. Regardless of what you, or your friends from Australia think, you all agreed to a ToS that doesn't permit the kind of language your enemies may have done to you and vice versa, just by playing the game. If you break that ToS, Rare can do whatever they want with you, and completely revoke your account's access to the game.
