I used to be in the “pirate game, don’t complain” camp, but lately the griefing has been ridiculous and occurs in 50% of my crew’s gaming sessions. For the sake of this discussion I’ll define what I mean by griefing. It seems that some players only want to stalk and unsportingly interrupt voyages of other crews, then camp on their ship and repeatedly spawn-kill over and over until the other crew quits or scuttles. This has always been a thing that happens, but lately it seems to be more frequent. This is also magnified by the fact that my crew are all grown up and have limited hours to game per week, so having half of the few sessions we’re able to coordinate in the months ruined by griefers is a big deal to us. I read about the opt-out feature coming (someday), but with the amount of danger already in the Sea of Thieves I’m starting to wonder if a total PVP opt-out is warranted. There’s a lot of amazing new content that Rare has been pumping out in the past few months, but the griefers make it impossible to enjoy or even complete those events and experiences. Ive been in since Alpha, and this has made the game frustrating and not fun to play anymore, and that’s a real shame.
Griefing has put me off the game for good
@capn-jack-5000 I guess everyone's experience is different, most people seem to leave me a lone. Could be based on play times and server location
Were any of those attacking crew being discriminatory, hurled insults or foul language? So far what you have described doesn't sound particularly toxic, players can spawn to ensure the demise of your ship, or to siphon resources. Once you've lost control of your ship, the scuttle function exists for that situation, there is no shame in using it, it's there to end your torment. Sounds like PVP put you off the game, that is 50% PVE/PVP. People adapt to the game, not the other way around.
@capn-jack-5000 hope you don't play other pvp games, you die over and over on those. that griefing must be horrible....
@burnbacon said in Griefing has put me off the game for good:
The idea of spawn killing alone is frowned upon. Why do it?
Take the rewards for taking someone ship and move on or sink them. Rather sink a ship so they can’t come back then cause them to scuttle.
I usually only see it in Arena, for commendation reasons.
There are plenty of posts on this really. Could have just continued those discussions there.
None the less, I think PvP is picking up because there is a lack of end game content to keep players at bay. Can only do the same grind over and over before people are going to go for "easier loot".
Besides the fact PvP has its fun moments for most of us.
But as a reminder the core of the game is in fact shared world. None the less, the way things are looking, you will most likely get your wish when the majority of the population leaves for the bugs, issues and alienation of part of the community.
@burnbacon said in Griefing has put me off the game for good:
The idea of spawn killing alone is frowned upon. Why do it?
Take the rewards for taking someone ship and move on or sink them. Rather sink a ship so they can’t come back then cause them to scuttle.
Depends on situation.
Could be spawned killed if they are talking all resources and whatever else. I mean there are times people troll, but you can scuttle. Its in the game for a reason.
The combat in this game is annoying and pointless. I don't even think they should let you play by yourself at all. I was sitting there trying to fish off the dock and some boat pulls up and sinks mine then the two people in it jump off and start killing me over and over. Wonderful experience. I know I should have been more skillful and pulled a double headshot kill then blown up their boat but I'm a slow old man. I had heard they added a lot to this game but it seems it is still the same experience getting sucked into random battles over and over with nothing to show for it.
@opticdash I love how half of the responders here insist that this is either not your true experience, or entirely your fault. Not a good look for the community to blame the victim, in my opinion.
Not a good look for the community to blame the victim, in my opinion.
That's your first mistake, assuming we believe you are a victim to begin with. Quite frankly, you are playing a video game with no stakes. People attacking you in a video game doesn't make you a victim. You have the power to mute, leave, report, and to just outright remove yourself from most situations that some might deem toxic. All the power to control the situation, something a victim doesn't have. Don't like what is being said? Mute them. Don't like being spawn-camped? Scuttle the ship. Being relentlessly pursued even after multiple sinkings? Leave the server. Reporting is always an option. Don't like the behavior? Just report them for Xbox/Rare to sort out.
You have a victim complex going on here. We play the same game as you and don't call ourselves victims when people are mean to us.
@capn-jack-5000 said in Griefing has put me off the game for good:
@opticdash I love how half of the responders here insist that this is either not your true experience, or entirely your fault. Not a good look for the community to blame the victim, in my opinion.
I don't see how they're victims. They knowingly bought a PVP pirate game and get mad when people play as pirates?
How does this person know that they didn't sink his boat for the supplies? Or they might have been coming to turn in loot and wanted to be sure his fishing wasn't a clever ruse.
It sounds to me like he just forgot the rule that all PVP is easily avoided just by keeping an eye on the horizon.
@capn-jack-5000 said in Griefing has put me off the game for good:
@opticdash I love how half of the responders here insist that this is either not your true experience, or entirely your fault. Not a good look for the community to blame the victim, in my opinion.
You know, as an alpha player, I'm honestly surprised and a bit disappointed and you dont exactly look great yourself *crying wolf" over something that happens constantly in the game in many different servers that some ppl dont even see half the time.
Spawn killing can occur when certain things are happening before they get a chance to sink your ship afterwards. Maybe the guy spawn killing you is trying to deplete your resources... Maybe that guys crew is on their ship trying to adjust to sink you as intended... Maybe, it simply a player or 2, trying to intimidate you to not come back after they made their point by spawn killing you and sinking you afterwards...
When insults and unnecessary comments start flying out, that's when it becomes toxic and griefing.
We dont need an opt out of PvP, the game is fine without it.None of this is your fault, just wanna make that clear, and the situation upon which you explained is more so what happens on a regular basis for the game, idk how ppl say that's not a true experience, but it is. Seen it happen thousands of times now.
Scuttleing in this situation, would be better. By the time you've regained control of your ship after the aftermath of spawn killing you, your ship is bone dry, more so than when you left the outpost at the beginning of your session. Plus, it prevents the enemy from being able to regain any supplies they used on you in the first place, even tho it's not much, the resources can still help your opponents.
I hope the experiences you went thru dont completely wash away your enjoyment of the game, and I hope to see ya on the seas sometime. :)
@capn-jack-5000 Sadly this idea is the minority here. This game has already lost 90% of its casual and adventure player base and all thats really left is the people who enjoy the toxic griefing attitude. Now that they are the majority I would be extremely impressed to see Rare actually do anything to salvage what remains of their game this game will likely slowly die like the rest of the forced PvP games in gaming history.
The game is growing. More people on the subreddit, forums and such than it was 5 months ago so im not sure where you get your facts from, just because you sunk and lost loot doesn't mean the game is dead.
@itz-majman There was an uptic in players with the new expansion/content but if you look at the numbers from 8 months ago even now with the jump in new players its still less than 8 months ago and continues to go down as new player leave. Not to mention it used to be in the SoT CD you would see anywhere from 15-25 active groups at a time now your lucky to see 10. (just checked yeah there is 10 atm and even at its peak hours during weekends on sat at 6pm my time there was only 13 groups).
ive turned in more loot than I could ever care about and I have lost more than I will ever be able to remember thats not what this is about so dont try to strawman me.
@itz-majman Also do you have any analytics to back up your claim on number of players? I use the SOT CD as my best aggregate but if you have a better one I am interested in seeing you compare number of players from 10months ago, to 6 months ago, to now.
Not sure what numbers you are looking at, the community Discord is the least active one. Check the official one, even if it's in the middle of the night it's still a huge amount of players in there.
Im part of other Discord's aswell that are based around Sea of Thieves and all of them have groups playing.I purely go off how active the subreddit/forums & Discord are. Not a perfect source but last time i checked more players active in the community = growing playerbase.
@capn-jack-5000 gimme those servers, and ill have a whale of a time, lovely lovely lovely, not all but most time i encounter players they run like the wind, making me think they have stuff to lose making me chase them...
Ill just put down a voyage for a faction i still need mileage for and lets go my time is not wasted
@monger-of-war there are tons of lfg’s at any point in the day, the sea of thieves discord is booming 99% of the time, alot of other discord sea of thieves groups are active at all hours of the day.
And rare recently shared that they have twice the amount of active players then they had at the release of the anniversary update which already had a major spike.
Every few days/weeks/months we get guys like you calling doom and gloom for the playerbase but everytime the numbers just simply state otherwise, a couple of days ago they had a guess for gold, for how much gold earned in24 hours.. it was over 3.2 billion that is 3.200.000.000+ gold in 24 hours
When insults and unnecessary comments start flying out, that's when it becomes toxic and griefing.
Not entirely true. Spawn killing you without wrecking/sinking the boat or taking supplies or treasure is considered toxic game play. Because the intention is to force you to quit the server or game. Nothing has to be said between players.
The problem is, not everyone can identify toxic game play properly (other than foul language). The other problem is the people who are toxic will hide behind excuses for their actions to protect them selves from possibly being potentially banned. These two things will never change.
But it does get tiresome to hear "we need PvE servers!" and "iTs sEa oF tHiEvEs, nOt sEa oF fRiEnDs!" or "It's a Pirate Game"
- This game doesn't need PvE servers.
- It's Sea of Thieves, not Sea of Douché.
And 3) go educate yourself about pirates, cause pirates had alliances and they didn't sink ships or kill people for no reason. Only for gain.
@burnbacon said in Griefing has put me off the game for good:
The idea of spawn killing alone is frowned upon. Why do it?
Take the rewards for taking someone ship and move on or sink them. Rather sink a ship so they can’t come back then cause them to scuttle.
I spawn kill while my crew drains the ships supplies. then we sink the boat if u don't scuttle that's ur fault
@voodoo-ic0n fair points mate, I agree with ya, pirates werent all bloodthirsty guys killing senselessly. They did it when they need to or gather supplies they'd rather get for free instead of buy with the treasures they've found.
I too make alliances and although I dont trust em, I still am cooperative with my allies and we all make agreements and analyze our names and faces too. I like stealing too, and will steal from someone's ship I have successfully snuck upon until they are all the way depleted as much as I can before I sink em.
Usually, I have my team barrage the enemy with cannons, while I get in their ways and kill them over and over until they completely sink. I dont think that's toxic to me, even if someone is doin it to me and my crew, especially if I'm in a party with my team. They cant hear me and we cant hear them.
I honestly think toxicity depends upon how one feels about it. Some things are apparently "toxic" to some, and not to others, ya know?
(you dont have to read this part)
I know I definitely confuse toxicity with some things in games in general, but I'm not afraid to admit it, nor to apologize for it. I'm a pretty humble and wholesome person for the most part, sometimes I get mad, but we're all human, and I will get over it and reconsider things afterwards. :)
@capn-jack-5000 said in Griefing has put me off the game for good:
I used to be in the “pirate game, don’t complain” camp, but lately the griefing has been ridiculous and occurs in 50% of my crew’s gaming sessions. For the sake of this discussion I’ll define what I mean by griefing. It seems that some players only want to stalk and unsportingly interrupt voyages of other crews, then camp on their ship and repeatedly spawn-kill over and over until the other crew quits or scuttles. This has always been a thing that happens, but lately it seems to be more frequent. This is also magnified by the fact that my crew are all grown up and have limited hours to game per week, so having half of the few sessions we’re able to coordinate in the months ruined by griefers is a big deal to us. I read about the opt-out feature coming (someday), but with the amount of danger already in the Sea of Thieves I’m starting to wonder if a total PVP opt-out is warranted. There’s a lot of amazing new content that Rare has been pumping out in the past few months, but the griefers make it impossible to enjoy or even complete those events and experiences. Ive been in since Alpha, and this has made the game frustrating and not fun to play anymore, and that’s a real shame.
Unfortunately, YOU do not get to define what griefing is, in this game... Rare has defined it already.
https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/97111/sea-of-thieves-community-code-of-conduct-forum-rules
Pirate Code, Article 5:
"The Crew Bond Is Sacred"
Description: "Those who betray their crew through griefing or trolling shall be sent to the brig."That, combined with the Sea of Thieves Community Code of Conduct:
ALWAYS:- Be a good sport. Sea of Thieves is a pirate game, and stealth, stealing and battles are all part of the fun. All pirates on the seas accept that, but be a good sportsman in both victory and loss.
So if some pirate decides to sink you, or fight you, for whatever reason, they are not a griefer, by Rare's definition... So you simply have to accept their actions and admit loss, or fight back and make them regret engaging you. :P
What definitely doesn't work, however, is whining about PvPers, calling them "griefers" to artificially inflate your argument. Makes you come across as intellectually dishonest, which makes people not take you seriously. : /
@nabberwar what times are you playing? Also what ship I’m guessing the brig, or gal. ? See your the good type of pvp’er actually use the flag. I did manage to have a decent run last night till the very end. I don’t get how ppl must keep on , and god help you if you kill them then they keep on and on ... There excuses is to ruin my night..
Brother, I'm mostly on board with your comment, but there is a very thin line, between a PvPer and a camper.
For example, me and my crew are incredibly aggressive and kill absolutely everything on sight. Seriously - PvE, PvP, pigs, chickens, whatever can die - we kill! But we never mess with people. If we see you, we will sink you, or at least attempt to do so, but we will never spawn camp you on your ship just so we can make you miserable.
@sweltering-nick “Be a good sport. Sea of Thieves is a pirate game, and stealth, stealing and battles are all part of the fun. All pirates on the seas accept that, but be a good sportsman in both victory and loss.”
How is killing you repeatedly a good sport? How is attacking you while your engaged in a kraken fight a good sport? Again I get some of you old salts that played 12 hrs a day for a month can do it all with a hook tied behind your backs. Not everyone has that time or that skill and ppl shouldn’t have there night ruined cause some jerk thinks it cool to ruin your night..
A friend of mine just likes the riddles and fishing but can’t stand it to ha e run for hours , when is it enough ? A lot of people seem to have the same issues, I hope something changes .. no one should ruin your night and say it’s fun.. They are the kind of person that kills your neighbors pets .. Kill it, steal it and sink and move on , no need to harass other players all night.. That’s why I think ,there should be pve server , then all the pvp’rs can farm and steal from each other.. Then the ppl that want to be left alone can do it safely with no harassment..
Either way I hope you all have fun together.. hope everyone has a great holiday
Couldn't agree more with your post. Griefing is becoming a sure issue with the game and it's down to people being bored and set out to ruin others fun. There will be no loot for them to gain from it they just want to needlessly kill you over and over, even scuttling won't make a difference as they are sailing around just to do that, then hide behind the comments of "well its a pirate game" to mask their poor behaviour. It's getting difficult to enjoy the content updates each month as a result of it, which in turn which drive the playerbase away due to frustration, and when they are gone these people have no one left to go after and leave themselves, making the game empty and it's a shame seeing that as it's an amazing game that's being damaged by that type of community
Survivorship bias - Wikipedia
