Introduction
With the addition of the dive feature being added to quests, I want to revive a topic that hasn't been talked about for quite some time, the addition of a social hub and Port Merrick is the perfect fit. Port Merrick is a large port that has plenty of room to act as a social hub similar to many MMOs and other games. This is not to be a safe zone by any means and is meant to be a social hub to meet other pirates to form crews with, share stories, and overall, have a large area to just meet and interact with other players of the community with a large focus of social interaction. With such a large space and many social features already in the game, I believe this is the perfect way to meet new people and socialize. Although the game in the past has centered around a PvPvE world, much has changed and now we have instances of High Seas and Safer Seas, eliminating the age-old argument of this being solely a PvPvE game. Adding a social hub has always been a feature in other games to be able to find people to go out and play the game with and overall give a place for people to meet others and just simply chat and show off what they've earned. Sea of Thieves frankly, has all the need for a social hub, whether you want to find a crew to focus on certain factions, world events, or just people to go set sail with and have a fun time regardless of what you choose to do.
Why should this be added?
As stated, Port Merrick is already a built-up place large enough for many players to be on at once without it feeling cramped. With the addition of a social hub pirates from across the seas can meet and interact with each other, letting people find new crewmates to set sail with and prospective guildmates, without the need to go to a third-party service (Discord, Forums, etc.). With a focus on a social hub, PvE and PvP players can enjoy a more relaxed place to go to before or after their journeys and meet up with plenty of other pirates getting ready to set sail or coming back and wanting to share their stories out on the seas. On top of this, having a place to show all other pirates your hard-earned outfits, weapons and titles, would be a fantastic way to show others your efforts out on the seas.
How it should be implemented
Port Merrick is already the perfect place for a social hub; plenty of room, many interactable seats, a large tavern, and overall a ton of potential for many people to share an area. In addition to having Port Merrick as a social hub, there can be mini-games implemented ranging from card games, fishing, arm-wrestling, and a small 1v1 sword-fighting area perhaps. Players would be able to put their hard-earned gold on the line to try and turn a profit and add some gold on the line for some non-PvP fun in a social setting. Concerns I've seen raised in the past regarding a social hub is that it is always suggested to be a "safe zone" separate from PvP and others found this as a way to escape from combat and take away core-gameplay mechanics, however with the implementation of diving, I see it now as a very feasible addition to the game, essentially you would be transferred to another server completely separate from the main map. Players would be able to either choose to launch their session straight into the social hub from the main menu or dive to the location to go into a separate instance of the social area, leaving any loot and whatnot behind. A potential option for your ship is that would essentially be kept stationary for display at the Port and be unable to be moved as it would be there for the idea to show off your hard work for others to see. And if not, simply spawning in the tavern like normal with no ships on display would still be a completely viable option. On top of this, I would imagine simple world boundaries could be in place to keep people from just swimming away. A final note, commendations could be added to mini-games and other activities around the social hub to have further purpose to visit.
Questions and Concerns
Getting away from the larger details, here's some questions and concerns I've seen:
- How many people would be in this instance?
I would suggest keeping it stable with a standard maximum server population and not going overboard to make the social hub too demanding and too crowded. - How about people getting loud on mics or spamming chat messages?
Simply being able to see a list of the people in the social hub and muting them just as you would fellow crewmates would be an easy solution. The ideal solution in my opinion however would be to have the previous option, but also voice and message zones, for example, having the tavern as an area of chat, areas of the streets, shops, and different sections of the Port would prevent an overwhelming amount of chatting being heard around the Port. A good example from another game would be how VRChat implements its proximity chat. - Would you be able to earn loot or any rewards?
Outside of commendations and the potential to have bets placed for minigames against other players, by no means is this meant to be a way to earn a large sum of gold or reputation towards factions. This is solely meant to be a social hub and to increase the social interactions between players. - What will happen to Port Merrick in the map?
Port Merrick will still function and act the same in High Seas and Safer Seas, again this is meant to be its own instance away from the High Seas and Safer Seas, while not affecting the main game in any way.
Conclusion
Sea of Thieves has always had a very important social aspect to the game, whether it be interacting with your crew and working together, finding other crews and developing a rivalry or making new friends to share an alliance with, the game has always had a foundation in being a social experience when out on the seas. With this being completely optional and aside from the main game, the implementation of a social hub has no downsides to giving players a safe area to interact and have some small fun before going out into the seas for their journey.
I was largely inspired to post this from experiences with my friends, but after doing some research I would like to reference an older forum post that helped refine the suggestion from here as well as referencing the archived Mega Thread -Safe Zones.
