Dear Rare development team,
Dear Sea of Thieves community,
Forgive me, English is not my native language and I tried to put it in the best form I could. This threat is both constructive criticism about the current state of the game, but also a cry for help, because current events are now affecting my experience with the game I love and the fun, I'm in danger of losing.
Why do I think I'm able to give an overview of the problems that have been occurring for some time? The seriousness of the situation is the reason why I take the time to write these lines. My name is Tygrah. I've been playing and streaming the game for quite some time now, and at the current state I've put in almost 3000 hours of play. I support the team as part of the Insider Crew, as someone who supports the team with reports when players really misbehave, but also by buying all the items in the Pirate Emporium. Why do I do this? My passion is to help people create memories, build friendships, and make a positive difference in the world of online gaming and I love the Sea of Thieves because it has a unique approach to that.
So, how do I start? Let me assure you that the content I describe reflects not only my perspective, but that of many I have played with or met on my adventures over the years. This has been noted in the numerous streams as well as during private sessions. At this point, there is a lot of discussion about whether Season 6's content will help keep the game active and attractive in the long run. I think Sea of Thieves has a very different problem.
Over the past week, I've been intensely researching the issue of cheats in Sea of Thieves and I'm not only shocked, but downright paralysed by how brazenly and openly this fringe group deals with it. There are probably a lot more cheaters than I first thought, and for good reason: there is no punishment.
In order to have fun, enjoyment and to be able to witness the moments that make Sea of Thieves so unique in the long run, it is indispensable, necessary, it is OBLIGATORY to implement an anti-cheat system.
I'm not talking about a casual "I'll do a gold hoarder quest" scenario, but about a "I invest more than 40 hours in a game, whether I might even earn money as a streamer, as a normal content creator or generally as someone who spends a lot of time in it because it's fun." I don't want to go into the lingering problems of server hoppers, and this isn't meant to be a post accusing anything - I just want to point out that after the arena closed and literally NOTHING else left in the game that incentivizes PvP, the PvP community just shrunk down to a “download any cheat software for whatever reason and endanger the core, indeed the long-term community” player base.
If a player is reported for using cheat software, maybe their account will be banned, but this can be safely ignored, because by creating a new account with an alternative email address you can continue sailing within 10 minutes. There are now ways to remove these bans. There are instructions in publicly accessible forums, through which the punishment is simply removed.
Rare, you need to address this. It is mandatory to keep a healthy community alive.
Thank you for reading through this, it comes deeply from inside a wishful heart that just wants this game to thrive and stay healthy for a long time. Please, do something.
Tygrah