Haven’t you ever been in a situation where you start playing a game and during the game you find a little weird thing to collect? For example, like collecting every single coffee mug in Fallout. But what if that item was… a rubber duck? And what if you didn’t stop at one, two, ten, or even a hundred? What if you just kept going until you finally had over four thousand? This is the case in Arc Raiders now, and it really is the most charming thing one can find on the internet at present.
So here is the situation. A player known as u/BigBootyTom (great name by the way) was initially known for collecting 600 rubber ducks in the game. That is such a large number of ducks! People found it funny and the whole thing about collecting a weird item was just nice. But Tom was not done with his plan after that. Not even close. A recent news article reports that this stubborn player has now assembled a whopping 4,200 rubber ducks. Just let that number sink in for a moment. Four thousand, two hundred. Digital ducks. In a game where you mainly raid arcs, battle robots, and do other similar things, of course. This level of commitment can only be described as… cosmic.
Many players have found the situation to be very hilarious. It has slowly but surely changed from “haha funny” to some kind of bewildered admiration. One player, Arox, summarize this perfectly in his comment, “From 600 it was funny. At 4,200 it’s a mission statement.” Spot on! It is no longer just a pastime; it has turned into a mission. Another player, Jose M, said, “At this point it’s not a collection, it’s a lifestyle 😎.” And they are right. If you spend that much time trying to locate one particular item with no real reason, then it definitely becomes part of your gaming identity.
Of course, in case of a viral story, there always are a mix of skepticism and jocularity. While some people can only see the dedication, others would not even call it a hobby “That’s crazy dedication i respect the grind but 4200 ducks are wild,” commented ElvRaps. Nevertheless, there are those who are already plotting the next, even more absurd goal. “Now he needs 42069 to be complete,” Fig Bella has opined. Oh no, dear! Please do not keep on giving him bright ideas! He might try to go for it indeed. Moreover, there is the question that has always been asked and this time it is from Samantha J. Foster; “What do you do with them?” That is perhaps the same question that each of us would like to ask if we ever had the chance! What do you do with 4,200 rubber ducks? Build a castle? Rule over all the digital bath toys? The answer is nobody knows!
Naturally, along with this, there are also some “get a job” comments that come up, as in the case of frenchymeta who said, “It is safe to say that the daily routine does not include a job.” But to tell you the truth, this is not the case in today’s world of streaming and content creation, as one can never completely rule out the possibility that this might be his job? Going this viral for rubber ducks is a brand on its own. Sonii called him “Gamer of the year,” and you know what, for sheer, raw dedication to the bit, he may even be right.
Surprises in the gaming community are plenty and it happens that one player has spent an absurd amount of time collecting rubber ducks which he considers to be the most valuable resource in the game. It is hard to envision how this can be both silly and at the same time creative but it does pull people together either to support or to wonder about it. MohammedAli succinctly put it as “a significant accomplishment that demonstrates the creativity of the gaming community.”
What is next for u/BigBootyTom and his rubber ducks army? Is he aiming for 10,000? Does he try to make a word out of them? Or maybe Nexon, the game developer, sees this and a special title or achievement is made for the lucky player who can get 5,000 ducks? The sky is the limit for imagination. But for the moment, we just need to salute the hustlers. With the serious competitive shooters and the huge RPGs a gaming gamer is clearly saying that play can be whatever you want it to be. Even if it is a bathtub toy. So have fun, Tom, Quack, quack. oops, or was I saying? oh yeah, ducks, tons and tons of them. Your turn, Arc Raiders community. Who is going to be the first one to gather 4,201?
