Rare’s crew for Sea of Thieves has just proudly proclaimed the winners of their latest #SoTShot contest and what a masterful mess it was. Sea of Thieves’ official Twitter account stated they were “amazed by the spectrum of Colorful Captures” and they had a “huge-mongous task” choosing among the manifold colorful submissions full of liveliness. The vote went to two Instagram creators and one Bluesky user: limesprout_tv, iaxellp, and captainchickenisle alongside zeneksot. However, the moment the announcement was done, the comments below were filled with feelings from the honest congratulations to the severe accusations about AI-generated fakes.
The celebration was too loud to be ignored from the beginning itself. Limesprout_tv when mentioned by another player was responding by sending love through heart emojis and K4TG4R was challenging Zenek’s team for showing them in that color wheel shot. Everybody was in a good-mood-waving situation with words like “GG congrats to all 🥳🎉” from loxt_1 and “Congrats to all the winners! Some really creative shots this time!” from MutinousMel. The Sea of Thieves community can be very supportive when they want to and it’s always nice to witness players giving each other support.
But then the drama began. User bananaanonimaaa bluntly charged one of the winning photos as AI-generated asserting “It is impossible to get into that place with the cat and the character’s face is not even in the frame of a painted portrait so that cannot be.” This did incite a complete mystery discussion in the replies with bone__heart guessing about the use of a rowboat as well as where the painting might actually be, Sailor’s Bounty land. Then the original photographer, xerosa, actually came out to affirm that they did take the photo the right way using in-game resources at Sailor’s Bounty and telling that their character just happened to look like the painting there. What a plot twist!
On the other hand, THE CONTROVERSY WAS ALREADY AT ANOTHER LEVEL. Several players noted that one of the images had apparently won the previous contest theme. Ep1cAc3 firmly accused it: “the cannon flare one has already won, it is a staged shot.” Pipsuwu agreed, remarking that they had known the picture from earlier times. And the good part is – the Sea of Thieves account actually REPLIED to this, admitting that they had made “the mistake of selecting an image that has received an award in a prior theme” and trading that choice with MrMestriner’s “stunning explosion of color” instead. How often do you see game developers actually listening and making changes based on player feedback that fast? Pretty rare if you ask me.
This situation was rather a clear demonstration that the Sea of Thieves photography community is very passionate. The #SoTShot contests are not just casual comings together but rather players working very hard to have the proper angles, costumes, props, and lighting conditions in game. When someone possibly uses AI or reuses old content to cheat, it, of course, irritates the community that is putting in the real effort. But the prompt correction from Rare shows that they are alert to and appreciate fair play.
The most exciting thing is how far in-game photography has come in Sea of Thieves. We are not talking about amateurs’ screenshots only – players build intricate backgrounds with several characters, use emotes to create customized postures, locate secret places with special lighting, and even spend hours just to obtain one perfect shot. That people are even having a discussion about whether something was AI-generated is a sign of how outstanding some of these compositions have become.
The contest threw light on the very creative and frustrating sides of gaming communities at the same time. On one hand you have the marvelous talent and sportsmanship and on the other the suspicion and demand for better verification processes. HaliciaSoT even indicated that Rare should “verify photos with A.I.” to avoid future problems, which is actually not a bad idea at all considering how convincing AI art can be these days.
The controversies notwithstanding, most players were truly glad for the winners and the colorful theme. The team from Sea of Thieves mentioned that judging was quite a challenge as there were lots of vibrant submissions and you could witness it when taking a look at the winning entries. From the sky-rats cannon-flavored explosions to the neatly arranged color wheel, the creativity is no doubt, spectacular.
In the end, Sea of Thieves keeps promoting one of the most visually creative communities in gaming, albeit at times this may come with a little bit of drama. The mere fact that the players care so deeply about in-game photography competitions speaks volumes about their immersion in the game’s universe and aesthetics. Let’s hope that the future contests will include better verification for PlayStation and Xbox players alike.
