Arc Raiders Proves Why Multiplayer Games Are Better With This Feature

Arc Raiders is a prime example of why multiplayer games massively benefit from a social aspect. Online gaming has evolved a lot over the last 20 years. It has gone from screaming at people in competitive lobbies to something casual to something a bit more dynamic. MMOs, games like Grand Theft Auto Online, and battle royales/extraction shooters have led to all new ways to engage with other players in-game. It’s much more than global voice or chat comms, there’s emotes to non-verbally communicate things and of course, proximity chat. Proximity chat isn’t necessarily a new idea, but it is something that seems to evolve with time as games get bigger and more complex.

Most people are familiar with a global chat, where you can openly communicate with everyone in your lobby or at least everyone on your team. It’s an easy way to hatch plans with your allies or even make friends, but it’s not very interesting. It’s predictable. Proximity chat, however, opens up a whole new world of possibilities. It’s a game mechanic within itself, because it breaks down barriers. It’s a tool for role-playing, something that thrives within a great game like Arc Raiders.

Arc Raiders Proves Online Games Thrive With Proximity Chat

The beauty of Arc Raiders in particular, is there aren’t many rules. Killing isn’t the main objective like a battle royale. You’re there for the loot, and of course, that loot makes you more powerful and can give you the confidence to engage in combat, but you could play the game without firing a bullet at a real player in theory. That means when someone stumbles upon you, it’s up to you to choose whether you want to kill them. In a battle royale or regular PvP multiplayer, that’s not really an option. It’s very much kill or be killed.

However, thanks to proximity chat, you can scream out to someone nearby that you’re friendly, defusing a tense situation. This then opens up a dialogue, allowing you to trade with this person, team up with them, or, if you’re feeling hostile, you can outright rob them by threatening to shoot them if they don’t drop their gear. These aren’t mechanics built into the game, they’re only possible by directly interacting with other players.

During one match I played, my squad chased a duo into a room where they barricaded themselves in. Knowing it would be dangerous for us to rush into a room blindly, we talked to them through the door. We knew they couldn’t stay in there forever, but we also didn’t want to camp a door the entire time. We eventually negotiated for them to come out and drop just some of their loot and in exchange, we let them live and keep the rest of their items.

This is something that only players can dynamically create, it can’t be replicated through more defined systems and mechanics. Arc Raiders gives its players the chance to make their own fun and that’s beautiful. Those organic moments are the ones that turn into viral clips for social media or make for fun stories to tell your friends. It’s also highly immersive and something that would likely happen if this was a real life situation.

This is why it puzzles me why a game like Marathon would be so against the idea of proximity chat initially. Of course, toxicity can come from this, but I’d rather have the option of turning it off than completely eliminating these emergent gameplay moments born from social interactions. Thankfully, Bungie did reverse course on its plans to not feature proximity chat in Marathon, but I hope other developers take notice of what’s happening with Arc Raiders.

If anything, it would be great to see another developer take things further and find ways to make these encounters deeper. Proximity chat is good for online gaming and developers should continue to lean into it rather than away from it. Arc Raiders will likely only get better as players continue to find new ways to engage with each other through this feature.

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