July 3, 2026

Sea of Thieves, Arc Raiders, and the Social Dynamics of PvPvE

As a long time Sea of Thieves player who's been dipping his toes into Arc Raiders (and loving it) I started having a strange sense of deja vu.

It wasn't the gameplay.

It was the subreddit. Every post felt familiar.

I was doing my kill Hornets trial on hidden bunker, and after 40 minutes of farming, this is what happened...
by u/MilanSerbia in ArcRaiders

The important part is that neither world belongs solely to you. Other players are out there pursuing their own goals, and both games deliberately give them complete freedom in how they interact with you. They might sail past without a second glance. They might offer an alliance to take down a world event. They might help you defeat the Queen and go their separate ways.

Or they might wait until you've done all the hard work before shooting you in the back and taking everything. That uncertainty isn't an accident - it's one of the defining features of both games.

Every encounter becomes a gamble because another player isn't just another obstacle; they're an unpredictable human being making the same calculations you are.

Basically, both games ask the same question:

Can you trust the stranger you just met?

Every encounter is a social experiment

You're out there doing your thing and you see another sail. Or you hear someone downstairs breaching a container. Perhaps there's gunfire off in the distance.

What should you do?

Investigate? Hide? Run? Push the fight? How much loot do you have? How much loot could they have?

Every decision suddenly carries weight. That stranger might just ignore you or run past with a "hello Raider." Or they might bring their cannons to bear and take down your sails - they're another person (or crew) making the same calculations you are.

This is, in my opinion, what makes these games special.

Not the shooting or gameplay.

Not the AI.

The uncertainty.

Every other player is a question that hasn't been answered yet.

The fact that someone might kill you for your loot gives the loot its value.

The possibility of losing your loot is what gives it meaning. A backpack full of rare crafting materials or a ship packed with treasure only feels valuable because there's genuine risk attached to it. If you could never lose it - if every run was guaranteed to succeed - that same loot would quickly become valueless.

The feeling of escaping with your hard earned loot from somewhere truely dangerous is why both games are fun to play.

Just as importantly, not every encounter ends in violence. Sometimes another crew helps you finish a world event. Sometimes another Raider shares ammo, helps kill a boss, and extracts without firing a shot. Those moments are memorable precisely because the opposite outcome was always possible.

Cooperation only feels meaningful because betrayal is always on the table.

It seems like every PvPvE subreddit or forum eventually produces posts like these:

I was just trying to do my quest...

I was fishing. I was farming Hornets. I was just doing an Ashen Winds. I was just completing the Harvester puzzle.

This game is dying

Because of people being rats; because of people hiding kegs at outposts; because everyone shoots first; because no one wants to alliance.

We need separate PvE and PvP servers

The player base is toxic.

Git Gud.

The pattern is almost identical. Depending on who's posting, it's either the players ruining the game or the developers refusing to "fix" it. Only the names change.

Replace "Hornets" with "Fishing."

Replace "Extraction" with "Outpost."

Replace "Rat" with "Tucker."

Replace "Embark" with "Rare."

The conversation barely changes.

What is griefing?

What actually counts as griefing? Is griefing simply doing something another player didn't like? Or is it intentionally trying to ruin someone's experience outside the intended rules of the game?

Killing someone?

Stealing loot?

Lying?

Camping?

Waiting at extraction?

Pretending to be friendly?

All of these are explicitly supported by both game's designs.

In fact, Sea of Thieves literally has commendations and rewards for stealing treasure - that is, treasure someone else acquired first. It also has disguises and stealth to help hide and facilitate this.

These aren't loopholes. They're intended gameplay. This makes it impossible to call every act of deception "griefing."

Safety through violence

Sometimes I don't kill you because I want your loot. I kill you because you're a future problem.

Imagine I've got a ship packed with treasure and I need to sell it at the outpost you're already sitting at. Maybe you're genuinely just dressing your ship or maybe you're sorting your inventory. Maybe you're waiting for a friend.

Or maybe you've got a keg tucked below deck and you're waiting for me to anchor.

I don't know.

And that's the problem.

Likewise in Arc Raiders, maybe I'm loaded with cores and I see you approaching the extraction point with a Bobcat already in your hands. You might just be heading for the elevator. Or maybe you're waiting for me to call it in so you can ambush me.

I don't know that either.

I might also be scared. I am afraid of losing my loot and time.

In both games, eliminating another player can sometimes be less about greed than uncertainty. You're removing a variable. You're turning an unknown into something you no longer have to worry about.

Not malicious.

Not personal.

Just reducing risk.

From the outside, this kind of preemptive violence can look toxic or irrational. From the inside, it's often just good risk management. Both players are making decisions with incomplete information, and the safest choice is frequently the one that looks the least friendly.

It makes me wonder whether every PvPvE game eventually develops the exact same culture.

Sea of Thieves.

Arc Raiders.

Escape from Tarkov.

Hunt: Showdown.

DayZ.

Rust.

Maybe these games don't have different communities at all.

Maybe when you build a world where players are free to cooperate - or betray - human nature fills in the rest.