Anyone who has dived into ARC Raiders or has seen a few clips of the extraction shooter will know that the social component of the game is at least as significant as the actual shooting. This makes it interesting not only for many gamers but also for social science experts.
What fascinates the experts about ARC Raiders? Embark Studios, the developer of ARC Raiders, has been contacted multiple times by social scientists fascinated by player behavior in their extraction shooter. Especially the social component in a shooter genre that often relies on mutual firefights with other players not only surprised the developers but also neurologists and criminologists.
As The Guardian reports, a criminologist – an expert who sociologically studies crime and criminals – recently reached out to Aleksander Grøndal, the executive producer of ARC Raiders. He expressed being “really fascinated by how the players interact with each other”.
However, this was not the first social scientist interested in the player behavior of ARC Raiders who clearly states: This could be used for research purposes!
“Forget the actual game”
Which other scientists are interested in player behavior? In an interview with IGN, the CEO of Embark Studios, Patrick Söderlund, shares a conversation that took place during a dinner with a well-known professor of neurology:
She learned about the game and said, “Hey, you don’t even know what you’ve created. Forget the actual game.” It’s all about the idea of psychological and social experiments and what this game can become. This good friend of mine basically said: “You should start a collaboration or work with people from medicine to investigate which behaviors are triggered in ARC Raiders.
Patrick Söderlund in conversation with IGN
What data can this interesting player behavior be tied to? The number of particularly friendly or funny social moments that can occur in ARC Raiders is evident from many clips posted on platforms like Reddit or YouTube. However, Grøndal can also point to specific numbers that demonstrate just how social their players are.
Embark stated to The Guardian that about 30% of players are mainly interested in the cooperative aspects of the game and PvE. Another 30% spend most of their time on PvP, and the remaining 40% seem to decide based on the situation and choose a mix. Solo players tend to be friendlier overall, while trios are distinctly more aggressive. The community has also noted this: One player perfectly summarizes how different ARC Raiders is with friends: “Suddenly every bush is suspicious”
We at MeinMMO wondered how our readers behave in ARC Raiders. Are you PvP enthusiasts, or do you prove yourself as helpful teammates to other raiders? We asked you in a survey, and here’s what we found: MeinMMO readers are among the most social players in ARC Raiders, with only 4% turning on you at the first opportunity
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