Raiders, have you ever been ambushed by rat players in ARC Raiders? The community is currently discussing this egregious phenomenon extensively. So, how can we deal with these players without disrupting PvPvE? What can Embark do? Let's take a look.
First, we need to clarify what players mean by rat players. Essentially, it refers to those who launch unintentional, unplanned attacks on other players during matches.
They don't care about the method of attack - whether you ambush from the bushes, snipe from a rooftop, or suddenly draw your gun on someone's face - these are considered firing the first shot. Even if you claim to be a PvP player, if you start a firefight without asking "Are you ready?", you'll still be categorized as a rat by veteran players.
The only exception is self-defense. If someone attacks you first, and you fire back, players will understand that this isn't being a "rat player," but rather acting in self-defense. With this clear definition, the following solutions become clearer.
Option One: Star Heat System
The core mechanism of this system is that in a single game, each time a player makes an active kill, they earn a star. The higher the star rating, the stronger the warning received by other players across the map.
It's a clone of The Division's Dark Zone system, but it's also well-suited to the escape-and-shoot rhythm of ARC Raiders.
With two stars, you might just want to hide, but at four or five stars, other players on the map will receive a direct warning: a high-risk individual is nearby. Your location will even intermittently flash on the enemy map during high-risk periods. This is like the glowing red marker you see in a chase game.
High-risk players are likely to have an invisible bounty placed on them across the entire map, and all of this is system-driven, not relying on player reports or third-party platforms. It's calculated per game, taking effect and canceling at any time.
However, this system has a minor flaw. Like GTA's Star Heat system with wanted stars, who should those wanted stars correspond to here? Perhaps it could be a sophisticated ARC machine proactively hunting down high-traffic players, an additional penalty similar to a notorious wanted status.
Option Two: A Permanent Terrifying Mark
Once a permanent mark is added next to your name, your reputation is practically ruined. Whenever you encounter other players and interact with them, your name and the mark will be displayed.
When your name is exposed, whether teammates see your ID or a voice chat bubble pops up, a special badge will be automatically added next to your ID, indicating to others that this person is skilled at preemptive attacks.
Imagine this mark permanently residing to the right of your ID; the social pressure a player experiences might far outweigh the economic loss of being ganged up on. Because you'll carry this notorious status in every match, others will automatically be on guard against you, or even preemptively strike.
Of course, some players might actually treat this mark as a badge of honor, not only failing to reform but becoming even more arrogant, perhaps thinking it's cool.
Option Three: Loot Corruption
This means the loot you steal will depreciate in value. The core mechanism is that all equipment looted from victims killed by ratmen will be marked with a "corruption" tag.
Corrupted equipment will show a special mark when scanned or inspected by other players. It's even possible to consider lowering the selling price of this type of equipment. NPCs won't accept stolen goods because their durability decays faster, or they'll disappear after only a few uses.
The biggest driving force behind rats killing and looting is undoubtedly economic gain. This will drastically reduce that profit. You can still steal, but the stolen items will be worthless, not durable, and even reveal your identity if you carry them.
The downside of this option is that if the rats don't intend to sell the equipment and use it themselves, the corruption effect will have a much smaller impact on them. However, it's still a powerful auxiliary mechanism to economically undermine rat players.
Option Four: Blocking Escape Points
Blocking normal safe and shortcut escape points in the game one by one as the number of mice increases. This essentially leaves mouse players with only one option: the most dangerous, most exposed, or most heavily patrolled hardcore escape point on the entire map.
This option doesn't directly kill you; instead, it forces you to take the most difficult route home. Want to escape? Sure, but you must go through the most conspicuous location on the entire map, greatly increasing your risk of dying in the end.
In this way, mice can no longer easily escape through the nearest safe escape point after killing and looting; instead, they are dragged into a high-risk area where they are likely to be counter-killed.
However, this might have a potential bug. If a normal player teams up with a mouse and walks to the escape point, how can the mouse be detected and stopped by the portal? Perhaps using a mechanism where "mice cannot interact after the escape beacon is activated" would be more in line with the game's lore. Of course, this requires further refinement.
Option Five: Community Bounty Board
This is similar to an NPC bulletin board. Players can use in-game currency or points to place bounties on high-risk rats. Other hunters can accept the quest, track down and kill the rat, and then claim the bounty reward by submitting a kill video.
So far, option five is the closest to spontaneous community behavior in real life.
In fact, the ARC Raiders community has already launched a civilian bounty system called Speranza Bounties. This player-built website lists wanted targets and crime tags. Hunters can submit kill screenshots and videos to earn ARC Raiders blueprints or other rewards.
However, the bounty board can easily veer into PvP. Hopefully, this strategy won't turn ARC Raiders into a purely PvP-focused game.
Our real goal isn't to eliminate all PvP, but to ensure that every choice a rat makes carries consequences. We hope the gaming atmosphere in ARC Raiders will continue to improve.
