Board games on Ships

I like this idea

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

Put a table on the ships
Make it so we can choose to play pirate themed board games.

Why board games?
This would be a great addition because it would remedy the most boring part of the game, sailing when there is nothing happening.
Anything to keep user attention span excited for pirating versus falling asleep at the wheel or crow's-nest.

Games?
-chess, checkers liars dice from Pirates of the Caribbean, Chutes and ladders, any "WacDonalds" iterations of board games that would work best for the setting.
Company Incentive?
-you can make money selling special dice and board pieces for the game or table designs
Player Interaction?
-If action happens(Megalodon, Ghost Ship, Enemies) pause the game for the players to come back to when its calmed down, ship sinks the board gets wiped.
-Sitting at the table the player plays the game, standing next to the table they can choose to either create a new game or continue the game.
-Enemy players if boarding can flip the table for lolz.

I strongly feel that games have absolutely no business being on board ships. In fact I am of the opinion that have no place in Adventure proper as if people are playing these side games, then they aren't playing Adventure. The only place I see them being used would be in a waiting lobby of some sort, like the Sea Dogs Tavern in Arena.

Furthermore it gives some players just something else to whine over. If someone "flips the table" or drops a fire bomb in the middle of it, people are going to complain that they were attacked but not doing anything to provoke it. Don't kid yourself, they already do this enough when actually playing THIS game and they are attacked, it will only be amplified with such side activities with people feeling they should be immune to attack.

I have issue with your first point under "Player Interactions". If something like this did ever get into the game, I would not want the mini-game to automatically pause when something happens as that is an early warning to those players which is completely undeserved. If they want to play silly parlor games instead of keeping an eye on the ship and horizon, then they deserve whatever they get in terms of attacks or crashes. Why should players not interested in actually sailing get any type of early warning when something is going to happen?

I personally have nothing against such mini-games, just feel they have no business in the actual Adventure mode and would be better suited to a social hub. But I came to play Sea of Thieves, not checkers - I can do that in other games that frankly would do it better since that is the focus.

-Could be good at player settlings (Who gets to drive the boat for example)

With they introduction of dice emotes this season, there is already a solution for this.

Oh the number of complaints about things coming out of nowhere that we'd see with this. So many players struggle to realize they are in danger now, let alone if we have them focused in on a mini game on the Ship.

Servers have, at max, 6 Ships sailing the Seas. Even one crew on the server being distracted doing mini games as opposed to adventuring has a major impact on that server (16% of the total population).

I'm not really for this, and I'm a person who has changed stances on this over time. Dice could have been done better, in my opinion, by being a Tool as opposed to an Emote as this would have opened a few more options for people to make their own games without being overly distracted by being pulled into some mini game as they would still just actively be in the world at that time. But, still, as they are Dice will open a few options for people to make up their own games they can play with the crew or others.

This is about as far as we need to take the concept I feel.

@plaindinosawr My biggest issue with them being actually part of Adventure mode is that if someone is playing these, then they aren't playing Sea of Thieves and taking up server space that could be occupied by someone either gathering loot or participating in piracy. And this is before even considering the development time and cost which frankly could be better spent on improving Adventure mode.

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

@redeyesith @dlchief58
I am not the one who writes the pay checks or runs the business so the resources going towards something fascinating and more rewarding to garnering new players would be wonderful.

Technical problems are also very understandable but from what you guys have explained the server issue would be no different than if a ship of players decided to park on an island for two hours and did nothing but fish, I don't agree with the issue. I am not by any means saying there isn't a deeper underlying issue that I shouldn't be allowed to know, but the players experience the game in their own way.

At the same time I'm an ignorant whelp and just want to get across how I think this is a beneficial idea for the most lack luster part of the game.
If not this solution I plead that it get's resolved because quiet moments are nice, but for 30 minutes to an hour it is not. Maybe it adds punctuation to the events but I don't think so from just my friends and I's personal experience playing the game.

30 minutes to an hour with nothing to do ?

Is this a a crew waiting with one tucker ?

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

@lem0n-curry

I guess I could go fishing again,
or play the same 8 songs again

There are more than 8 songs.

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

@lem0n-curry

I guess I could go fishing again,
or play the same 8 songs again

Maybe do some target practice to keep your skills sharp. The bell on a Sloop in particular in my opinion, though other stuff works too, is a wonderful thing for this. Get moving around and try to land your hits with your different guns.

Make some pitstops along the way, see if your scrounge up anything of interest. So many islands and such dotted around it is easy to hop off for a bit in a mini excursion to break up the pace. Usually end up getting some Supplies, a little PvE combat, and sometimes a decent bit of treasure here and there.

Chat with your crew and just enjoy a bit of bonding/hang out time with your friends, assuming you aren't solo which I presume based on the request. These calm moments are great for just chatting about things other than tactics or the immediate plan.

Set some crew side goals while you're playing to break up the pace. Maybe pick some of the more random Commendations to accomplish as you go through your session in between stops on your Voyages. Unless you and your whole crew have these done already there are a lot of side activities you can engage with at any time.

If getting sidetracked means you won't finish a Voyage, don't stress it. A Voyage costs 250 Gold, you make that back with basically a single piece of Loot being cashed in in most cases. So if you only have time to finish a Voyage if you hard grind it which leads to boredom while you sail around the Map to do it, maybe weigh if it is more worth finishing the Voyage or ensuring you have a more engaging time with the game. It is a personal choice to turn the game into a grind fest, or be stressed about doing some RNG Loot generating Voyages. Those should just be an excuse to get out into the world with an assurance that you'll find something of value out there.

Plus, we have Dice now. You can make up (or look up) different games you could play in these moments with those now. There are loads of options opened up with that (even though I admit it could have been even better as a Tool and not Emote). So you already now have the ability to play a number of games if you want to without a mini game system in place.

You could also make up your own games, like Fruit, Plank, Cannonball (Cannonball smashes Fruit, Fruit rots Plank, Plank block Cannonball). Or whatever other creative stuff you can come up with using the plethora of Emotes and Tools the game provides you for whatever purpose you can cook up with them. Sky is the limit, no mini game system required.

Notice the map itself has squares? That be your board your ship the piece.

Use the dice emote to tell which direct and how far you go. Any island/event or shipwreck close to the ship you visit. (Use two dice and choose Up/down and Left/right)

What you do on the island can be judged by dice as well. Use the 20 side die and write down 20 possible things. :p

Why introduce something new when we have the tools to make our own?

@personalc0ffee said in Board games on Ships:

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

[mod edit]

1. This is not an acceptable comment for this forum

2. Engaging in such an activity is illegal, and dangerous. You could kill someone or yourself.

Im pretty sure that was a joke. No need to take it so seriously

@personalc0ffee said in Board games on Ships:

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

@burnbacon I'm not going to lie this is ridiculous and has nothing to do with the topic.

This is to burn time in-between gold hoarders destinations for example. It would just be checkers, it's not that intensive or robs of experience.

What you proposed is a way to play the game.

It's a sailing game..

You could make this "argument" against anything in the game that doesnt include sailing, like fishing, emotes, sitting, pve on islands, pvp boarding and the list goes on forever.

@plaindinosawr If you need to keep yourself busy with a game then it needs to be somewhere else than on the boat. There is always busy work to be done on a ship (shooting off to islands to collect supplies, managing sails, watching out for floating kegs in the barrels, etc.) Just think of all the open crew games and how they will go, 80% of the players can't even load up their ship with supplies. As for your comment on what miserable frontier people done to keep themselves entertained well this was part of it too..... playing a board game.

@plaindinosawr said in Board games on Ships:

Great for people who are children upwards to college, but for us who have jobs it's just simply not in the itinerary.

So we have this followed by:

A good board game like checkers or candy land is perfect length and keeps players engaged versus falling asleep at the wheel.

I got a good laugh at the irony here. Don't know many people college age or older that still play Candyland unless they have children or grandchildren. And I doubt that game would keep adults engaged (not to mention it would require licensing).

Plus I doubt anyone could complete a game of any of these examples in the time it takes to sail completely across the map AND not have to make any adjustments to the ship as well. These types of distractions have no place on the ship and do not contribute to the pirate adventure.

I'm all for additional activities, but I don't want activities like board games. I want constructive voyage assisting activities, that help drive the current game cycle. A group just sitting in on the map is doing nothing to benefit the server. I hear you, you are gonna say that what that crew does is their business, which is very true. However, this game heavily relies on on other crews to fuel adventure. Every other crew is another crew to interact with. That includes attacking and or working together. A crew playing a board game is doing nothing but pull people away from the current cycle. One crew playing a board game means instead of 5 other ships to interact with, I have only 4. Want to play checkers? Online checkers is out there, no need to dump that into this game. This wouldn't be such a big deal if there was an abundance of crews, but that isn't the case here. Every non-contributing crew is just one less crew to do stuff with. For a game that drives itself on player interaction, that is a huge hit to it.

I want activities that are like fishing, but not fishing. What I mean by that is its an activity that contributes to the game. Fishing provides food items that help heal players for combat or provide something to sell and generate loot. I want activities that can actually contribute something and not just waste time.

I'm all for more activities, but I don't want activities that are for the sole purpose to just waste time.

Honestly just add minigames to the Sea Dogs Tavern. It might actually liven up the servers, and bring some love back to Arena. No further support though 🤣