The Marvel Rivals is all set to give away heaps of things for Season 5 and 5.5 and students are the primary beneficiaries of this haywire. The highly played hero shooter has issued a college campaign and players are provided with 10 trial skins and MVPs just by confirming their student status. It is just like getting access to a whole semester’s worth of gameplay for free.
But what does the whole thing mean? The Marvel Rivals‘ Twitter account made it public that the free stuff were going to be distributed among students with a graduation cap emoji implying that the students who renewed their status would get all aforementioned. While these perks will be available during Season 5 and the 5.5 content update, the good stuff coming over for months is really a deal. They gave a link to the page containing the details and requirements, and the short answer is very clear – if you are a student, you get free stuff.
The feedback from the community was… more or less, it was just like the normal noise around a campus during finals week. For example, user john_lmfaooo tagged it as the “best set so far😍”. Likewise, user adecoNzuL simply said, “I will be using these.” However, some gamers have been feeling a bit left out as they had already got the skins before. The user brielarsonfan23’s use of the emotive phrase “cryinggg i have most of these skins” was a perfect description of the unpleasant situation – when what you already owned is being given as free stuff, oh no!
The topic of verification was raised in the comments and User Crow18250489420 humorously pointed out how “Debatably why is rivals doing more for the education system in America than politicians?” That is actually a fair question? However, it became a little too paranoid claiming that all college emails would have to be vetted, and user friendedkarma19 thought about “Chinese spying on American students” which is… a position, I suppose. But Helvnt countered that claim saying that “all student discounts and exclusives require verification, same reason for the rest.” and it is quite obvious that otherwise people would just pretend to be students.
Gokussjx2 was confused if this is a US-only deal or not, so he asked: “Is it only for america?” and dziuniakicia replied saying it is “worldwide” so every student no matter where he or she comes from will get a chance to enjoy this offer. Then, armorgaladriel asked if she could “send you my degree and still get this?” which is really relatable – graduated players feeling cut off from student advantages.
The usual calls for characters’ addition are not stopping even though college perks have created a buzz. RealVukester is on “Day #326 of politely asking #MarvelRivals to add White Tiger Ava Ayala” considering the remarkable persistence that can only be respected. Sauron_Rivals is craving Sauron’s presence, and DigitStakGamer has submitted a demand for “another sexy skin, with a gyattt” because it was inevitable that someone would ask for that.
However, the most heated topic in the comments is cross-progression. Different people like fvckp2rge and LeroyConcepts are nervously inquiring if cross-progression will be unlocked with Season 5. LeroyConcepts is expressing their desire with “I just got my gaming pc and was playing MR on the console and I really wanna play it on PC 😩🙏”, the problem of changing platforms and at the same time losing all your progress is extremely frustrating.
Gambit is also a point of excitement for some with luisramirez193 stating, “Gambit looks so fun, I swear I have never been this thrilled to play a new hero” which is quite reasonable considering that Gambit has been always a favourite. Moreover, MotherSett made a very particular request to “Delete quickplay bots!” with the irritated emoji that conveys everything about their bot experiences.
Even more interesting is that this student perk program indicates that Marvel Rivals has purposely explored the college crowd when it comes to the building of their player base. Free costumes and MVPs? That is the most appealing offer for penniless students who want to look good in-game without spending actual money. In fact, moving it through two seasons means they have not only caught up with students once but they have temporarily engaged them.
The verification process may be a bit cumbersome, but, to be honest, students are already being trained to do verification for discounts at every place from Amazon to Spotify. This is just one more platform doing the same thing. Besides, it is not that bad compared to some of the students’ programs out there.
