4Game

Not proposing this per-say and not sure why I'm thinking about this so much but what are people's thoughts on the existing postFX 'meta' if you will? Would you rather everyone's colorfulness/contrast/etc. be the same and unchangeable? Would it make the playing-field more even? Does it even matter?*

See this video for example.
It seems like the general trend is to crank up saturation, contrast, brightness, and choose one of the many LUTs to allow you to differentiate PMCs from the environment better. Sometimes even tailoring the settings for each map. A lot of people want postFX presets so they don't have to fiddle with them for each location, time of day, weather, night-vision, etc.

Can't really consider this an exploit or anything because it's explicitly an option in the game, but it feels odd that we're given the choice to use settings that provide a fairly tangible and free advantage but that is disabled by default. What's most strange to me is the 15+ color-grading/LUT options, many of which seem to just crush shadows and blow-out highlights without enhancing much and otherwise remove the gloomy and depressing atmosphere that the game leans so heavily on.

Sure you could just alter your GPU and monitor settings, or maybe refresh rate and resolution are the biggest factors anyways- but Tarkov's PostFX options are something far more accessible that actively provide ways to make the game look completely different between competing players, perhaps more than is reasonable.

TL;DR

It seems like so much of the game's 'best' strategies and practices rely on the player seeking out and utilizing 3rd party analysis, statistics, and other content to explain hidden mechanics in order to gain an advantage over others as opposed to simply learning and improving by just playing the game. PostFX to me is a weird exception and example because it's a free 'advantage' provided in game and effects a player's experience, but is not a learned gameplay mechanic and offers no description for those who are unfamiliar with the effects, but still prompts 3rd parties to offer guides on the most advantageous ways to use it.

*Disregarding colour-blind accessibility settings which I'd consider necessary for any game that, you know, uses colour.