In cases where tech monopolies are involved, the technocrat argument will always be there to support them: ‘this is the price of staying on the cutting edge’. However, in this particular instance, one might be tempted to flip the coin and say that perhaps they should have been more careful with filter parameters and even suggestion options. We’d rather have the devs invested in the right fight than waste their time in one that the whole world has already debunked. Hope they are learning that right, and not the other way around.
It kind of makes you feel sad at first, doesn’t it? Fear of “super ghost” players, lighting changes in games, filtering wars have come and gone; now it’s back again! Maybe the Nvidia driver update is just the situation where developers got fed up and turned off that ‘invisible’ layer they had given to the players ruling over the game. Well, in any case, you might not be able to see your enemies, but you can still feel them. One can only imagine the amount of strategic planning and deception players have been doing through the dark! But now, with such heightened visibility, one can expect no less than a short-lived dominance from the side of the most skilled ones. Besides, the smoke has already filled the room, and the lights are back on.
In the end, we can always expect a biased outlook from the community whenever there is a gaming conflict. One camp supporting ‘the filters are gray’ and the other one ‘the filters are white.’ Much of it is subjective, but gamers will always have their own views and preferences aside from those that are clearly stated by the developers. In the case of Arc Raiders, the with-the-light-anti-cheat menu option is quite evident. Meanwhile, lack of performance on the console side has been relegated to a mere issue of minor credibility among gamers and their devices. They even joked that game consoles are merely the kids’ side of the playground, where the bigger kids -the PCs- are just waiting to dump waters. Was that technology’s fault again? Or is it a fight over moral high grounds? The truth is that some are spoiling the fun for others, regardless of the box they are logged in to.
Hold on…what was the point I was driving at? Ah yes, filters! So, Nvidia has released the driver that specifically prevents the use of Arc Raiders filters. On the other hand, players like SmolTrashBandit proclaiming that it was not actually disabled. “Just so you know it’s not disabled. Lol,” they responded to someone. Dakota, on the other hand, went as far as saying that the filters were disabled for all games, thereby hinting at a larger driver problem. So, is the fix actually working? It might be classic tech rollout, though. What it creates is a weird situation: the users who update their drivers lose the “advantage,” while the ones who roll back their drivers or discover another tweak may still keep it.
It’s so ironic, however, that the same players who were taking advantage of this were also the ones who would call for “git gud” from the others. “The same mouthbreathers that told normies who weren’t good at PvP to ‘git gud’ were the ones abusing Nvidia filters in-game. Typical.” The hypocrisy just… chef’s kiss. With these people, it is never about skill, it is always about finding the thinnest edge, no matter how cheap, and pretending it is a legitimate tactic. “Creative lighting optimization,” as Castello joked. Sure, buddy!
The whole situation makes one think of something. The whole situation is a way of telling us about a recurring problem in competitive PC gaming: the technician’s curse of the visual customization he has to continually choosing between and outright exploiting. Help tools for colorblind players or improving image conveyance can be easily turned into soft cheats. Developers and companies like Nvidia are constantly playing whack-a-mole. For Embark Studios, this is a significant early trial for Arc Raiders. How they and their partners will tackle these balance problems will shape the game’s long-lasting health. Players are watching, and they’re wearisome of unfair play areas.
Nvidia’s turn-off filter action, after all, is a necessary and yet still open to debate one. Tech monopolies will always have a supporting argument for them: ‘this is the price to pay if you want to remain on the edge.’ However, in this case, one might be tempted to flip the coin and say that maybe they should have been more careful with the parameters and even suggestion options of their filters. We’d rather have the devs fighting the right battle than wasting their time in one that has already been thoroughly debunked by the vast majority of the world. Hope they are learning the right one, and not the other way around!
