In ARC Raiders, a glitch was causing havoc while cheaters felt safe. However, the developers are now holding players accountable and punishing those who exploited glitches rigorously.
What was the exploit that players took advantage of? Recently in ARC Raiders, there have been several bugs and glitches that allowed players to gain unfair advantages. The most severe of these was the so-called “Duplication Exploit“, which enabled players to fire an endless number of grenades.
A hotfix addressing the issue was released shortly after, yet the community demanded punishments for all those who had exploited the situation deliberately. Because of this, the game had become nearly unplayable for some time.
Those who utilized the exploit, however, felt safe, as from the community’s perspective, ARC Raiders was too “soft” on players using cheats and exploiting the system. They weren’t particularly concerned about facing penalties.
However, as Embark Studios revealed in a blog post, the investigations into the matter are now complete and there will be consequences.
“Our responsibility is and must be to act fairly and accurately”
What is Embark doing against the cheaters? The post states that the investigations have now concluded and they will impose penalties on the players who took advantage of the exploit. Various results will be drawn depending on the severity, intent, frequency, and impact:
- Warnings for minor abuse
- Revocation of currencies related to exploit activities
- Account suspensions for severe cases, especially if the use of exploits had substantial impacts on the game economy or the gameplay experience of other players
The goal and responsibility is to treat the player base as fairly and accurately as possible in their role as developers. Therefore, the process took time, which is also why no consequences have been drawn so far.
In order to be truly sure that the corresponding player should be punished and to determine the appropriate extent, the following steps had to be undertaken:
- Validation of reports using data
- Confirmation of use, scope, and effects of exploits
- Differentiating between accidental/extreme behavior and repeated and intentional abuse
- Assessment of the measurable impacts on economy and competitiveness
The developers continue to encourage their players to report such incidents via Discord, so they can investigate and potentially intervene.
The ARC Raiders community continues to lead to peculiar and memorable stories, which form a significant part of the appeal surrounding the extraction shooter. For instance, there was recently a player who camped at the exit, but not to ambush passing raiders: A player from ARC Raiders sits the entire match at the exit without firing a shot – still walks away with a ton of loot
