A leading developer of ARC Raiders has talked about the game’s matchmaking and shared information that “rats” might interpret as a warning.
Who is warning here?
- Virgil Watkins, the lead designer of ARC Raiders, discussed the game’s matchmaking in an interview with gamesradar.
- Watkins states that “aggression-based” is somewhat misleading as a description of the system, but players are not entirely wrong in their understanding of how it works – however, player behavior is just a small part of a significantly more complex system.
- The developer then shares information that “rats” might interpret as a warning.
ARC Raiders knows what you did on the last map
What is this warning to the rats? Watkins says that the game can determine if someone is shooting you sneakily in the back. “We can track who shoots first and who takes damage,” he explains.
As Embark’s CEO Patrick Söderlund confirmed back in December, your playstyle affects which lobbies you enter. So if you often shoot other players in the back, the game recognizes that, and you will more frequently enter lobbies with other players who also shoot first.
Watkins then explains that the game, however, cannot discern intent or morality, only who lands hits on another raider first:
“If I am a very bad player and you are a good player, and I am the attacker and just miss all my shots while you defend yourself, then the game doesn’t know what the intent was. It only saw that you defeated me because I am so bad.”
So if you want to ensure that the game does not label you as the aggressor in a conflict between raiders, you might just have to let yourself be hit first.
For the developers of ARC Raiders, PvP is a part of the game, but not the sole focus. It contributes to the tension and atmosphere of the shooter. Therefore, the developers do not plan to further encourage PvP with systems like PvP leaderboards. You can read more about it here: ARC Raiders does not intend to promote PvP in the future, which is why it is foregoing a well-known system: “It’s not about shooting other players”
