Sea Of Thieves Makes Poor First Impression, Combatting Toxicity Was Major Priority

No sensible person has ever said that making video games was easy and one of the biggest examples of how effort is no guarantee of quality is the highly anticipated Xbox One exclusive, Sea of Thieves. Despite the huge marketing effort that went into promoting the title, its weak launch impression has dampened the hype around the game. It seems to combat toxic behavior was high on the developers’ list, though, there’s no proof that this affected other elements of the title in any way.

It’s been a few days since the launch of Sea of Thieves and so far, it’s been leaving a bad taste among reviewers. One of the gentler publications to take a stab at the game is Ars Technica, which notes that the title “leaves a bewildering first impression, a magnificent second one, and, so far, a disappointing lasting taste.”

Many other reviewers really didn’t pull any of their punches, citing the game’s repetitive mechanics and elements, as well as the problems with the servers as just some of its weaknesses. The problem that many critics have with Sea of Thieves, however, is the fact that it provides very little in the way of goals.

The gameplay might be solid and fun, but if players have nothing good to aim for, very few would find it enjoyable. On the other hand, the pirate simulator does have one thing going for it; combating toxicity among players.

A recent Game Developers Conference panel saw Microsoft user researcher Jerome Hagen explain that Sea of Thieves was designed to punish trolls and the bad players while rewarding the good ones, Comicbook.com reports. The best example of this is how the game gives players the ability to lock away undesirable crewmember via a democratic process. It’s essentially the video game equivalent of being voted off the island in Survivor.