I’ve seen a lot of people getting rat/hatchling mixed up and they are just uninformed so let’s start with the easy one.
Chad – chads usually are well off money wise and run high tier gear. They sprint around the map and into battle, they play aggressive and with a lot of confidence. Many nades, many mags, many voice lines. Their aggressive playstyle and high tier gear gives them a tactical edge and are generally feared.
Hatchling – hatchlings spawn in with only a melee weapon and rarely a backpack. They sprint to the high tier areas and snatch all the loot. Any high tier loot goes straight into their balloon knot and then they sail down to extract and boogie out of the map. FUCK these guys. I cannot stress enough, shoot them. They aren’t poor, they aren’t down on their luck. They are just there to steal good loot and ruin it for everyone else without risking any gear. Instant KOS.
Rat – A rat is the player that sneaks around and hides in the shadows, striking when it is advantageous to them or if they are forced to. They revel in the element of surprise. Gear can range from budget to high tier but usually low to mid tier. A great way to play. It may be strikingly different to a Chad but it pays just as well to play like this.
Pistoling – a player with a pistol, sometimes armour and usually a backpack. This could be due to the player wanting a challenge or they are poor.
Mosling – lesser seen these days but in the hay day of the mosin meta, players would spawn with just a mosin.
Timmy – new player/low level.
Extract camper – small pp people.
I hope this helps.
A lot of people hate rats which never made sense to me. They are literally playing a honourable playstyle that takes skill, just like chads.
Bring back the rat pride.
Also this isn’t to say you have to stick to one playstyle, I usually switch between Chad/rat depending on what’s what.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EscapefromTarkov/comments/p4hr4k/lets_clear_up_a_few_things/