Although Arc Raiders is officially a PvP game, peaceful gameplay is currently all the rage. To keep it that way, self-appointed sheriffs are now ensuring justice on the servers – with moderate success.
The Earth’s surface is a lawless place in Arc Raiders. After the collapse of human civilization, the “Topside” in Embark’s new extraction shooter is ruled by the Arcs. But it’s not just the killer machines that make life difficult for the few daring raiders who venture to the surface in search of resources.
In the absence of a state authority to enforce law and order, your fellow humans also regularly become a threat. Quite a few raiders will simply shoot you down at the first opportunity in search of good loot or out of sheer insolence – even though the game can be played completely peacefully and even encourages this behavior.
There is no way for players to take action against this, for example by reporting it. This danger is part of the game principle of Arc Raiders: The game is a PvPvE title.
You are not alone
In order to still punish
these types of players and hold them accountable for their reckless behavior, some players are now taking the law into their own hands and setting up a kind of sheriff’s corps in Arc Raiders.
In a particularly popular Reddit thread, Canadian user Zarniwoooop describes how he has found his calling as a sheriff and calls on other Raiders to join his fight for justice. An appeal that seems to be working, as apparently over 8,000 players have already joined the self-appointed sheriffs.
Attention to all Top Side Sheriffs
by
u/Zarniwoooop in
ArcRaiders
Link to Reddit content
You are not alone. I have found my niche. I have found my purpose. I have found meaning in the Raider life. Life as a lone sheriff. It is not a simple thing to take a human life. You take everything they have, and everything they could have had.
I go in. I listen for noises, gunshots, flares. I investigate. I’m here to help, to fight the Arcs. All Arcs. I pick you up, patch you up. I kill murderers, Judge Dredd style. No mercy. I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it.
You can have the loot. My reward is justice. Join me. Against the Arcs, for humanity. Make a difference. Step in. Resist. Fight for good.
– Zarniwoooop
The self-appointed guardians of law and order demand no reward for their deeds. They join in rounds, watch how the game progresses, and “investigate” the culprit of a shooting in suspicious situations.
Or rather, they try to. Because Arc Raiders doesn’t give the sheriffs any way to figure out what really happened and who started a shooting. They can only rely on the word of those involved. And often enough, these investigations backfire, as a glance at the comments under the Reddit thread shows.
User TurdPhysics writes that he was attacked by another player while hunting Arcs and wanted to defend himself. Instead of helping him, however, the sheriff misinterpreted the situation and helped the attacker instead. Then the attacker stabbed his helper in the back. Another user comments ironically below: Well, that’s because these people never went to police academy. Others advise the self-appointed sheriffs to pay closer attention to the sound of gunshots so they can determine who fired first based on the weapons used.
Overall, however, the fight for justice in Arc Raiders is a laborious undertaking.
