Sea of Thieves Second Chance Policy Update

Our recent enforcement policy update has gone down well both behind the scenes and with players, and we’ve been heartened by both the response to these changes and their impact since we implemented them earlier this year.

As part of the next phase of our enforcement policy evolution, we’ve spent some time reviewing some of the historical bans issued in the seven years since launch, and explored how best to give players an opportunity for a second chance on the seas. Today, we’re pleased to communicate the details of this plan to lift some of the relevant bans made over the course of Sea of Thieves’ lifetime.

Reviewing all our enforcement actions and ban reasons over such a long period has taken time; we had to be incredibly thorough to craft a policy that treads the tightrope of providing players with a second chance while ensuring we continue to protect our players from malicious acts and the bad actors who conduct them.

In short: from Thursday, October 16th, many players who were banned due to a collection of minor offences will be allowed back onto the seas. However: there are still some behaviours for which we have zero tolerance, and as such we will not be providing an opportunity for those players to return.

Welcoming Players Back

As above, for players who’ve had previous ban actions taken on an accumulation of smaller transgressions, the Sea of Thieves servers will be accessible again from Thursday, October 16th. We won’t be sharing every single reason we deem viable for a second chance, but these reasons will be in the same sphere as inappropriate ship or pet naming, stream sniping or using inappropriate language.

These players will find they log back into the game with nine enforcement points already on their Sea of Thieves account. This means that folks who are given a second chance will need to show good intentions from the second they return. As with everyone else, these players will then have the opportunity to see their enforcement score decrease by one point a month for good behaviour, and remaining honourable over a sustained period of time will see their points reduced to zero.

Zero Tolerance Policy

Of course, not all players deserve a second chance – and we’ve drawn some clear lines in the sand about who we do not want back in our game. Players who’ve been banned for using external cheating tools, datamining or attempting to use unlicensed copies of the game will not be offered a chance to return to the seas.

The same applies to players who have breached Microsoft Terms of Service, with regards to offences such as account trading, real-life threats and other illegal behaviour.

Appeals

While it’s been a key focus of ours to ensure that every player has had a fair assessment, unbanning accounts at scale has some challenges. We appreciate that some offences may have been miscategorised in the past, and that categories and classifications may have evolved in the period since launch.

That’s why, once this policy has taken effect, players can request an appeal from our Player Support team. If there are players who are expecting to have been unbanned but haven’t, our Player Support team can investigate account histories, review against our policies and then either revert or uphold the action based on what they find.

Given the manual nature of this work and our commitment to undertaking it thoroughly, it might take a little longer than usual for folks to get a response from the Player Support team over the coming weeks and months. We’d like to thank you for your patience as we work through these individual appeal requests, and pledge to ensure that every player who’s received a Redbeard in the past has their eligibility for a second chance reviewed appropriately.

The Right Time

The seven years of Sea of Thieves’ life to date could have taken a player from, say, age 14 to age 21 – from child to adult – and people can undergo a lot of growth and reflection in that time. This, in combination with our newer and more nuanced enforcement policy, makes us feel strongly that now is the right time to roll out opportunities for previously banned players to re-enter our world, make better choices and ultimately come good after a history of small infringements.

While we understand that the return of some previously banned players may at first seem disconcerting, rest assured that we have been diligent in reviewing and implementing this policy on our side and we feel good about where it’s landed. So we look forward to welcoming these players back to the game, and we’re optimistic that pirates offered a second chance to sail the Sea of Thieves will approach their return to the waves with maturity and a level of reflection on past behaviour. We’ll see you all out there!