4Game

Five years ago, I was playing Rust most of my day when I heard about a new "Survival Shooter" called "Escape From Tarkov". As soon as I saw a trailer of Factory gameplay I was hooked. There was so much novel design space that I immediately wanted to try the game, though I had immense skepticism that the developers would ever reach their lofty goals.

I saw so many other games in the genre attempt innovation, and quite frankly, they all failed to deliver what was promised. H1Z1, PUBG, ARK, all of these games fell miles short of the original scope. Growing up I played a lot of Runescape and Diablo II. The guarantee of risk and the allure of victory drew me to those games. Never has my heart raced faster than when I got my first PK in RS, nor faster than when I found my first SoJ in D2. How could a first person shooter ever deliver something similar?

Every time I come back to this game, the thrill is still there. Yesterday, I killed a juiced PMC on a Reserve scav run. I survived with 3 HP on my chest, while still bleeding out. I searched my victim's pockets to find a Calok-B to just barely survive. As I was healing myself I heard someone's voice near me, "You okay dude? You sound fucked up". I couldn't move. I was prone next to ~1.5M roubles worth of gear and items, desperately trying to heal my nearly blacked chest. As I finish healing, I see the barrel of another player scav's ADAR hovering over me. I almost shat as I cursed my luck, "Damn…. my first big win and someone's going to snatch it from me." But to my surprise, they showed genuine concern, and no hostility despite the position I was in. They offered me meds instead of shooting me, so naturally I gave them all the PMC's gear. I took the backpack and the rig and managed to choke out a "peace out dude" through my labored breathing.

When I first started playing EFT, none of this could have happened. If another player Scav saw me in such a vulnerable state they wouldn't hesitate to kill me. There was little means for English speakers to communicate at all on Scav runs. There was also no real incentive for cooperation compared to the risk of betrayal. After all these years EFT is still the birthing place for unique moments that bring people closer together.

Are there issues with the game? Plenty. Cheating has been an issue since the beginning of Tarkov. Or rather, cheating has been an issue since the beginning of gaming. I remember being a 10 year old playing a Korean MMO shooter called WarRock. All of these dudes were rolling around with infinite stamina, aimbotting their ass off, and throwing infinite grenades that would threaten to crash other players' clients. Naturally I ended up finding those cheats to try it out myself. I wanted to dominate a whole lobby of players while being nearly immortal. The feeling of power is incredible but short-lived, and after cheating the game loses all of its magic and intrigue. Using hacks literally cheats a script-kiddie out of the unique feeling of risk and reward. It negates all potential for personal improvement that the game has to offer. But alas, the intense nature of Tarkov forces some to have a short-sighted need to feel safe somehow, but in seeking security, they give up the long-term benefits of having a truly unique experience.

That being said, cheaters are people, too. People can change, but we need immense positive stimulus to do so. I quit drinking. After many nights of beer-induced rage, I realized it wasn't worth it. I realized that chasing the comforts of my short-term alcoholic high wasn't worth the long-term detriment to my life and the people around me. The same people that I was hurting were the ones that helped me through those times. Cheating in Tarkov is probably not as bad as drunken rage, but it can be healed in similar ways. By sharing our experiences we can discover how exciting life is because of, and not despite, the unknown. Sometimes the unknown is scary and dangerous, even. But sometimes it's just an awesome game for us all to enjoy.