The game ARC Raiders has been developed by the ex-Battlefield staff and it definitely is free of charge yet it has not been without experiencing a tumultuous event. The main issues that people like players and the community noise have been, looting, shooting robots, etc. and all of this has at times too made noise about it. This situation has turned into a great commotion and thus, it was felt that the game should bring in the heavyweight streamers.
Once the big streamers like TheBurntPeanut and Shroud who have a colossal fan following came on board, they started to reveal the culprits involved in cheating. They also showed the gamers’ clips using the most evident aimbots or wall hacks, mentioned the game makers, and virtually said “hey are you gonna do something now or what?” The murmur turned into a vociferous public appeal and to everyone’s surprise, it worked.
The word was let out via a tweet from CharlieINTEL, which depicted that Embark Studios is generating permanent bans at last. Players caught cheating are to be subjected to automatic exclusion from the game, henceforth. No more temporary banning, no more astute measures. If you decide to cheat, you will be expelled and you would not be allowed back ever again. Players’ responses in the comments were… to put it simply, a mixture of “about time!” and “it took you ages.”
Romey, one of the players was very blunt with his comments: “Cheaters should not be treated leniently, they will interpret any such treatment as their chance to cheat, a 30-day ban is not even a token punishment to them.” Honestly speaking, he is right. A temporary ban is like a vacation for a cheater. They come back, take on a new account if required and keep ruining the game. At least a permanent ban inflicts a real cost on a cheater.
However, the conversation in the comments quickly escalated into a very spicy one. Not everyone was in a celebratory mood. Some players, in fact, raised the most important and complex questions. For instance, is an account ban sufficient? Felix added to the conversation with a drawn-out explanation, “Bruh they need hardware bans……they need dedicate a team of ppl to this shit n take it seriously.” Hardware bans are the most stringent, trying to block access to the actual cheating computer. But a little later another user, Ussj4Brolli, mentioned the cat-and-mouse game: saying that the bad guys can also change IDs and use VPNs to bypass those bans. It is a never-ending arms race.
There was also one more angle to the whole affair. Some people were furious that only through streamer pressure was this change brought about. Gifas tweeted, “So it takes a fucking steamer to get something this basic? Personally, I’m not a fan of the precedent.” It is a good point! Shouldn’t the anti-cheat be a priority from day one, without influencers making a studio feel bad before it takes action? It raises the question of what the internal priorities were before the spotlight got too hot to ignore.
The talks in the comment section also revealed that there are few hidden issues. A gamer named Josh Schafer lamented that the lobby system of the game is nothing but “complete random bullshit” and that they should mix PvP and PvE modes. Another one, Justin, said that the game felt “compromised” and the problem was “always baffled people on PC.” It denotes a game that has been unsure of making the right decision, with cheating being just the most visible symptom.
So what’s the conclusion of the matter concerning ARC Raiders? The policy of permanent banning is a solid and unavoidable first step. It signals that Embark is listening to the players even if the trigger was some very public shaming. But the player discourse indicates that this is only the first step. Gamers are demanding rigorous systems like hardware bans, anti-cheat teams assigned solely to particular games, and preventive measures that are consistently improved. The studio’s reputation is very much at stake here; gamers will be keeping an eye on whether this was a one-off reaction or the beginning of a serious, long-term commitment to a level playing ground. The gamers who just want to enjoy playing the game would definitely prefer the latter option. The battle with cheating might not have ever been really ceased but at least at the moment the rightful side has drawn a line that they will not cross.
