This game is Rust without the base building.

It's actually Elite Dangerous without the ship customization. But I get what you're saying.

What you're talking about is something that is common with every single survival based online title. If there's no goals to achieve, and resources are either over hoarded or no longer have any purpose, then people will simply just PvP and grief as the only outcome with nothing else to do. The reason Rust resets servers and progress are two fold. Performance, and to start their gameplay loop over occasionally to try to keep that risk : reward tension up. SoT is better because it's balanced unlike rust which is always bigger teams destroy you, or you get destroyed while you sleep. But in the end it always ends with raiding or being raided (griefed). The problem is SoT has no way to eventually stem the behavioral problems that will be caused by people having no goals. Right now they have tried by stemming the rate of growth, so it takes something like 200 hours to reach pirate legend etc. But it's not a realistic or good solution, and at best slows the inevitable degredation of the game and it's gameplay loop.

@mothone It's also like Grand Theft Auto Online. People kill you just to kill you for the sake of killing. People kill afkers to over an over an over an over. Terrorizing other players is what most people do in GTA online which also stems way back to GTA4 multiplayer free roam. People will always kill other people in sand box games cause its the go to thing to do.

I see it more as a Sea based behave like a d**k simulator. LOL

@ixxdeathgodxxi in the absence of other purpose I agree. Sea of Theives as of right now, and especially earlier on. Actually kept that balance quite nicely. In fact just as often as attacking, I have ships run, or break for outposts, or even talk to me. But the problem is killing on sight will eventually become the go to, like you said. Unless something is instilled to keep the gameplay loop varied and necessary. It's two pronged. You have to have enough to gain in terms of progression go keep people semi focused on wanting to keep moving up. But also have some element that forces people to work loosely, and I do mean loosely within the framework of what SoT is, by incentivizing quests, events so that regardless of player level they participate to some degree. I have other posts about this, but I think I'd there needs to be dynamic faction struggles, with power struggles being shifted by doing quests etc. Like how Elite Dangerous does it. Or have a capped resource that you need consistently so that all players must still engage in quest/treasure activities. Like a gas tax if you will.

@shralla not really. A pirate would have very little reason to attack or sink a vessel that they knew were holding no treasure. Why would they expend their resources or risk their lives if there was no reward in it. That's the whole concept here which is supposed to be kept alive. That level of tension from the unknown. The problem is if I don't have treasure, and I don't need treasure and there's no penalty of any meaningful kind when I die etc. Then I know there's absolutely no risk for me, so I guess I'll just go sink everyone I see, because what else is there to do.

@shralla that's fair enough. I do agree that's the most pertinent issue to address. But still it doesn't resolve the underlying issues of lack of sufficient incentives to do anything else. Which is exactly what happens in Rust. The end game is "raiding"/griefing. Sure you may be able to somewhat avoid griefing with spawns. But the problem is the entire core/expectation of the kind of experiences you might encounter with an emergent title die with lack of incentive.