TL;DR - I have managed to be successful as a peaceful trader on an ARK PvP server without ever killing another player. This is how I got it to work.

You have stumbled across a shipwreck on the western shore of the island, just north of the red obelisk. It looks like the ship ran aground. The bow of the ship looks relatively intact, but the mast lies across the deck and the entire stern section has been completely destroyed by some explosive force, rendering the ship beyond repair and no longer sea-worthy. In your exploration of the wreckage, you find a leather-bound journal.

"What follows is the story of Sea Wolf I, a trade ship on island NA-NoTamingExperiment2, and the foundation of the Sea Wolf Trading Co.

First I'll answer the question I get more than any other: "Why do you do it? Why do you play on a PvP island just to trade without actually PvPing?" Because: Killing people? That's easy. Bringing a semblance of peace to an island embroiled in war? Now that would be an adventure.

In my time on this island, I have encountered numerous other survivors that have tried to take the peaceful route, but have still come under constant attack and have not been able to get peace to work for them. So my hope is that by documenting the path I have taken and the choices I have made along my journey, perhaps those that share my passion for peace, commerce, and adventure might find their own way towards the same goal.

-Do Not Get Attached-

The first thing I did was build this ship, Sea Wolf I. I designed her to look like a merchant vessel from the age of sail and spent several hours building her, though most people's first words to me are "cool pirate ship". I put a lot of thought and work into the aesthetic, but all the while I knew that it would not last forever. Someone would sink her at some point, and there will be nothing I can do to stop it. So instead of investing time and effort into sinking foundations or building with stone or metal, I made my ship from wood. It is easy to break, but easy to rebuild.

The point is that whatever you make, no matter how sturdy, it is going to get broken. Whether for valuables within or just out of spite, it will happen. To make sure I am still having a good time and do not get discouraged, I do not build anything that I would not be just as content to build again. I had fun building Sea Wolf I, and there are already a few design changes I'm excited to make on Sea Wolf II when her time comes.

-The Cache System-

Easy to break means vulnerable to raiding, so this begs the question: How do I protect my resources? The answer: By not having them on the ship in the first place. Whenever I have finished a successful resource run or complete a trade, the first thing I do is offload my goods into my system of hidden caches for safekeeping. I can't divulge my secret for where I hide them lest this journal fall into the wrong hands, but I have gotten a far greater value out of a series of well-hidden caches than I would have from a well-defended base.

By having multiple caches each with a variety of resources, even if one is found and plundered, I still have plenty that are left undiscovered, keeping my trade going. If I ever have so much value on my ship that losing it would be a significant blow, then I have gone too long without making a deposit. I keep a list of how to find each cache and what each one contains so I know where to go when I need any particular resource, and I can put them in more vague locations by simply following my own directions to find them again.

At the time of this writing, only one of my caches has been plundered. It contained various colors of paint, nothing else.

-Reducing Raid Value-

Not having valuables aboard my ship most of the time, and making sure people know it, goes a long way towards making it not worth other people's time to board my ship. I often hear others talking about their disappointment when raiding bases that "there was nothing of worth" and that it was a "waste of time". A lot of factors can go into reducing your value as a raid target, or "raid value", and having nothing worth stealing is the best one.

I have been tempted to give up one of my cache locations in order to preserve both my life and my ship when I was raided with nothing on board, but I quickly realized that doing so would set a bad precedent and would only increase my raid value. Besides, my life is expendable and my ship is rebuild-able. In the end, I was killed, but my ship was left intact. I only lost a set of metal tools, easily replaced.

The one situation that may be rewarding for raiders is when they catch me after a resource run or during a trade delivery with valuables on board. So in order to eliminate that last remaining bit of value for raiders, I am prepared to sink my own ship if it becomes clear that I'm going to be boarded with valuables on board. This is the benefit of not getting attached. I may lose a chunk of valuable goods and my ship, but it is an acceptable loss to prevent future raids.

-A Positive Attitude-

I cannot reiterate enough how important it is to have a positive attitude when taking this route. It may sound silly or cliché, but believe me when I tell you it works. Most other survivors on the island are actually nice people, and they react well to optimism. When I wake up, the first thing I do is greet everyone and express my hope that they are having a good day and having fun. When I see people in passing, I greet them warmly. When joining a conversation or answering a question, I choose my wording carefully to make sure I am not offending anyone and that I am being as helpful as I can be.

Being social is important as well. If people don't hear from you, they can't know who you are, and that makes them harder to make friends with. Even when someone is clearly being negative or is trying to share their anger with others, keep the environment positive. Don't get offended, and don't get upset. It is difficult to establish an understanding with someone you hold a grudge against, and difficult for them to want to be peaceful back to you if you are rude or offensive. Understand that everything anyone does is done with the intent of furthering their fun.

-Dealing with Griefers-

Sometimes that fun is drawn from intentionally reducing the fun of others, which is the case of those that are typically labeled "griefers". These are the people that have the most fun when someone else is not, and it is in this case that having a positive attitude continues to reduce your raid value. They don't care for your material goods, they only want your misery. And who are we to judge? This is their way of having fun, which they are entitled to.

This is easy to deal with if you maintain optimism and positivity. I keep a smile on and keep talking to them in a positive manner, I play some sea shanties, I find some humor in what they are doing, and I make sure they know that they are not getting under my skin. This way, they do not get the satisfaction that they desire, and if you are still having fun all the while, it will reduce your stress load. If they don't get the "salt" that they want from you, eventually they won't find satisfaction in trying to get a rise from you, and it will be possible to establish a reasonable dialogue with them.

-Story Time-

When someone walked on board my ship when I left the door open, rather than saying, "Get off my ship!" I greeted him and welcomed him aboard the Sea Wolf. I was promptly knocked out with a club. I continued being positive, inviting him to take what he wanted, no hard feelings, but assuring him there was nothing of value on board. He continued clubbing me until I died.

But I did not get upset about it. I woke up nearby, ran back to where I was docked, and resumed an attempt at polite engagement with the intruder, who was still aboard trying to find anything of value. He did not respond, but did not immediately attack this time. I think he was confused that I was still trying to be diplomatic. He did eventually knock me out with his club again, but did not kill me this time. By the time I woke up, he had given me back all of the items that had been on my body when he killed me the first time, minus a few metal ingots. A small price to pay for what I perceived to be an encounter that ended on good terms.

-Sea Wolf I, Final Entry-

In my first journey up the western coast, I had heard reports of a tribe traveling with a metal raft covered with Plant-X operating in that area without contest. Perhaps it would have been best to avoid the area, but I believed the combination of my ship's aesthetic, my diplomacy, and the reputation I had built thus far might be enough to at least establish a dialogue if I ever encountered them. Unfortunately my ship was parked on shore when they came across me. I was gathering a few simple materials on the shore when I saw the unmistakable metal raft and at least 8 Plant-X on the top. I don't know how long it had been sitting there, but as soon as I opened the door to my ship, half of it blew up in front of me. There was no dialogue, no demands, no breaking in for material gain.

After the destruction of Sea Wolf I, I had a pleasant conversation with my attackers in which I expressed my gladness that they are having fun and my assurance that there were no hard feelings. After some conversation and explaining what I was trying to do, they told me they actually thought it was a good idea to have a neutral trader on the island. So even though it cost me my ship, I had at least the beginnings of an understanding with a tribe hailed as the most dangerous on the island.

I will not claim that this is an easy path to follow. It takes more patience, optimism, and persistence than anything else I have ever done, but it is more of a game of skill with people than with the actual mechanics of the island. As a natural introvert, this experience has increased my diplomatic ability and has given me a theory of mindset that I plan to take well beyond ARK. With a smile on my face and the sea shanty "Randy Dandy-Oh" on my voice, I begin work on Sea Wolf II.