So it has come as a jolt to the game\u2019s developers at Embark Studios in Sweden that many players are not shooting at each other at all. \u201cIt caught us a little bit by surprise,\u201d says executive producer Aleksander Gr\u00f8ndal, who has found that many people play \u201ca more peaceful version of the game than we anticipated\u201d. He is quick to add: \u201cPleasantly surprised, just to be clear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unintentionally, the game has become a sort of social and psychological experiment, raising questions about game design \u2013 and the human condition \u2013 that have intrigued social scientists, psychologists and criminologists. Roughly one in five players have never knocked out another raider, and half have knocked out fewer than 10.<\/p>\n
Mysterious robots, called Arcs, patrol the surface. Photograph: Embark Studios<\/p>\n
In most shooters, from Fortnite to Counter-Strike, killing other players is the point \u2013 and the way to earn points. (Many of the development team at Embark are experienced with other fast-paced shooter games, including the massive Battlefield and Call of Duty franchises.) And Arc Raiders is part of a growing subgenre of shooting games that are notoriously cutthroat: the extraction shooter, where players compete not just with each other but with the world itself, working against the clock to get out of each round alive and with their scavenged treasure intact. Sessions are intense, with high risk v reward gameplay in which death often comes right at the end of a hard effort gathering loot, as you are ambushed by another player seeking to steal swag. So why aren\u2019t Arc Raiders\u2019 players behaving as mercilessly as the environment calls for?<\/p>\n
Gr\u00f8ndal says the team knew there was room for some cooperation. \u201cWe always wanted [that] to be the case, but it was a little bit surprising to see how many people latched on to that aspect of the game \u2026 It kind of blew the whole extraction shooter open, because it doesn\u2019t always have to be about conflict with other players.\u201d<\/p>\n
A catalyst for cooperation \u2026 Arc Raiders\u2019 Matriarch. Photograph: Embark Studios<\/p>\n
What are people doing instead of shooting each other in this ravaged world? Many are teaming up to take down the robot monsters, which range from flying drones to spherical balls that blast fire. Others try to sneak quietly around them to scavenge rare resources. Gr\u00f8ndal says players also hold spontaneous rave parties, where people play music through their microphones.<\/p>\n
But often, players are just talking. A YouTube video called The Humans of Arc Raiders<\/a>, inspired by the photographer who interviews strangers<\/a> in New York City, includes conversations with randomly encountered players. They talk about family struggles, work lives, depression, autism and, in one case, a lung collapse. In one conversation<\/a>, a heavily armed player in green armour named Poopy candidly asks another raider: \u201cWhat\u2019s it like having kids, dude?\u201d<\/p>\n When I first jumped into Arc Raiders, I found a dichotomy on the topside, where birds sing and plants thrive among the carcasses of downed machines. The more I wandered around this 1970s-style retro-future setting, the more I bumped into other humans, many of whom offered help, such as medical supplies. Mostly we snuck around and battled robots together. It was tense at times, sometimes scary, but often relaxing.<\/p>\n In one session, I encountered another player with a British accent who was also new to the game. \u201cHave you been killed by another person yet?\u201d he asked me, as we explored a burst concrete dam complex. \u201cBecause every person I\u2019ve met has been friendly,\u201d he added. \u201cNo one kills each other.\u201d<\/p>\n I must have gotten used to the lack of human-on-human violence because the first time I was eliminated by another person, I felt quite offended. Clearly, I had been lured into a warm feeling of human camaraderie, and it was hard not to be upset. It was as if my attacker had broken an unwritten rule that we were all supposed to help each other out.<\/p>\n That was, in fact, the aim of the original game Embark had hoped to create \u2013 a shared fight against the machines where human players physically cannot fight each other. But late in the development process, they thought it would get boring, so changed it to add in unpredictable humans and the added tension that brings.<\/p>\n Interestingly, there is a lot of spoken communication in Arc Raiders, with players using their microphones much more than in other games. In Arc Raiders, a player can hear any other people in their proximity, allowing them to shout out \u201cI\u2019m friendly!\u201d or \u201cPeaceful! Peaceful!\u201d. More than 95% of players use this proximity chat feature, says Gr\u00f8ndal.<\/p>\n Many players do still shoot on sight, but they form a minority. Embark told the Guardian that about 30% of players are mostly interested in the cooperative aspects of the game; another 30% focus on the player-versus-player action; and the remaining 40% enjoy a mix of both. Those playing solo are generally more friendly, while those who group up into squads of three are more interested in firefights.<\/p>\n Sean Hensley, a graphic artist from Tennessee who makes YouTube videos about mental health and video games, has taken an interest in the game and believes players value \u201cconnection over competition\u201d. \u201cWhat players are getting from these friendly interactions is more rewarding than any game loot system or victory screen,\u201d he said in a recent video<\/a>.<\/p>\n The strongest catalyst for cooperation, however, might be a common threat. When Embark introduced a massive walking mechanical enemy called the Matriarch, Gr\u00f8ndal expected rival squads to be sneaky, waiting for others to expend their ammunition before attacking them to steal the loot. Instead, players used proximity chat to team up. \u201cIn an instant \u2013 like literally in less than 30 seconds \u2013 everyone on that server stopped shooting each other and faced the bigger challenge together,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I hadn\u2019t really anticipated the fact that every single one would cooperate that easily in a 30-second timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n This type of unexpected player behaviour can be problematic for developers, as they tweak an enemy\u2019s difficulty depending on how they anticipate people will play. Easily downing a massive robot is less fun, and when everyone cooperates, it only takes a few minutes. \u201cIf it\u2019s so easy for people to stop turning on each other,\u201d says Gr\u00f8ndal, \u201cwe need to up the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We have accidentally created a place for people to connect\u2019 \u2026 Arc Raiders. Photograph: Embark Studios<\/p>\n Whether players want human connection \u2013 or are making a cold, calculated decision that it is more profitable for all to cooperate \u2013 is a question for scientists, not video game developers, says Gr\u00f8ndal. He was recently contacted by a criminologist who he says was \u201creally intrigued by how players are interacting with each other\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Video_game_loop--ce1ad6e1-bc75-4276-ab16-62d588b71ac5-1.0.0000000.jpg\")
The video game where players stopped shooting each other<\/p>\n