Sea Of Thieves Has Hackers Now, Good Reason To Oppose Cross-Play

The launch of Sea of Thieves saw millions of players signing in to play the pirate simulator and while many may have used underhanded methods to win, they were all within the scope of the game’s guidelines. Hacking, however, is not supposed to be allowed and yet this is exactly what’s happening to the title only a few days in. This actually makes a compelling case to oppose cross-play.

One of the first to notice the new trend is Windows Central, which noted that while the game may be fun, its appeal goes away when cheaters enter the picture. If only Xbox One players are matched against each other, things are fine. When cross-play comes to the fore, however, the console owners get exposed to players using hacks to win.

Among the hacks that are making an appearance include the ability to always do headshots, to find chests quite easily, and to even see through walls. Any one of those cheats could give the cheaters some huge advantages already, but put all together, they basically turn other gamers into witless NPCs that can be picked apart at the cheaters’ leisure.

On one site that provides these cheating tools, which will not be linked here, the Q&A essentially belittles the value of playing fairly and downplaying the immorality of cheating: “Whether you want to cheat is a personal decision. On one hand, many people think it is immoral to cheat in online games as you have an unfair advantage over other players. And while that may be the case, at the end of the day it’s just a game and you can choose what you want to do. Using cheats is a good way to excel in the game world. Earn more gold, rank up faster, and win nearly any battle you get yourself into. You may also have a lot more fun when using a Sea of Thieves hack.”

Microsoft’s TruePlay was supposed to reduce the incidents of cheating, Kotaku notes. Apparently, the cross-play aspect of Sea of Thieves essentially makes this system pointless.