{"id":407,"date":"2022-10-29T13:30:02","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T18:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morsepower.net\/?p=407"},"modified":"2022-11-08T22:18:16","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T03:18:16","slug":"the-subtle-anti-war-thesis-of-escape-from-tarkov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/?p=407","title":{"rendered":"The subtle anti-war thesis of Escape from Tarkov"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Video games have been portraying warfare since its first days as a medium. Media critics pointed out that the Medal of Honor series set in WWII went on longer than the actual conflict it used as a setting. And like all war media, video games cannot escape the question of portrayal versus endorsement. Do these games celebrate and glorify war, or criticize it? As with all media, it depends on the product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top First Person Shooter games from the last decade been battle royale games that focus on last-man-standing fights set outside any specific conflict or narrative, and range from dystopian and nihilistic (Playerunknown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Battlegrounds) to irreverent and goofy (Fortnite). But none seemed to be interested in interrogating their settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came Escape from Tarkov<\/a>, by Russian development studio Battlestate Games. The gameplay loop was unique at the time (it has since established the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extraction shooter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d genre, which has several competitors at this point). In Escape from Tarkov, players equip themselves from a persistent inventory, and are dropped into a large map simultaneously. The goal is to reach fixed extraction points some distance away. Should you die, you lose everything you came in with. Should you extract successfully, you keep everything you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve collected along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it does not attempt to make its stance obvious, I believe that Escape from Tarkov has a subtle anti-war message buried beneath its military-simulation-shooter exterior. This thesis is conveyed, primarily, in the mechanics it lays out and gameplay loop it creates. It is further reinforced by the loose narrative that surrounds the setting.  Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s explore both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heads you lose<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In its current (Beta) state, you are never told that you won a game of Escape from Tarkov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That may seem like a strange idea, as many players finish rounds of this game (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153raids\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) with a euphoric rush of victory and accomplishment. Before we interrogate the end-state of an Escape from Tarkov raid, first let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s look at some peer FPS games to see how they compare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These are the end-game screens from Counterstrike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Warzone, Battefield 4, and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds.  Notice the terminology being used.  The feedback to the player is unambiguous; you won.  It is celebratory and congratulatory, which is intuitive considering the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153win\u00e2\u20ac\u009d state is the goal of any game.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s look closely at how the possible end states of an Escape from Tarkov raid are presented to the player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This one I see more often than not. Simple enough. You died. Everything you brought with you is left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And this is the screen you get if you successfully extract. Note again the choice of wording here. You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153win\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t achieve \u00e2\u20ac\u0153victory.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d You get no chicken dinner. You just survived<\/em>. Your reward is that you get to keep trying, and maybe came out of the raid richer than you went into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this internal contradiction continues to play out over time.  It may be a symptom of the game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perpetual \u00e2\u20ac\u0153beta\u00e2\u20ac\u009d state, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no end to Escape from Tarkov. You can level up, complete all the quests, and your rewards are access to better guns and better gear.  Which you then take into increasingly dangerous locations to seek out harder fights.  The loop persists, but as many have noted, the only way to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153escape\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from Tarkov is to stop playing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacifism Rewarded<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The above \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Survived\u00e2\u20ac\u009d screen is not<\/strong> the most common outcome for the average player. Even competitive streamers, at the top of their games, tend to boast approximately 50% survival rates. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no pro gamer, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been playing this game on and off for years.  At last check, I’m sitting at 46%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason for these low survival rates is the sheer merciless brutality of the game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s damage model. Escape from Tarkov sports an extremely low \u00e2\u20ac\u0153time to kill\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for most weapons. As such, that the first player to see their opponent in any engagement is probably the winner. Fights often end in a single shot. Since players move about the maps freely in any direction after spawning, they will often be dispatched by an enemy they never saw. Therefor, death is not only deeply consequential as a setback, but often simply unavoidable.  Plenty of games have unforgiving damage models, but few also take progress away from the player when the player is killed.  The combination of the two is famously demoralizing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also worth noting that, besides the potential loot or quests, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no guaranteed reward for killing another player. It is frequently a better choice to avoid combat rather than seek it out. A player can extract, with piles of loot, after completing multiple quests, without actually having fired a shot<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A game that wants to celebrate violence would go out of the way to encourage it. It would reward the player for any successful engagement. Escape from Tarkov does neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is my weapon. There are many like it, but this one is not mine<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Escape from Tarkov is a love letter to modern firearms, with a commitment unmatched by any game I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever played. It undertakes a level of customization that maintains fidelity both visually and mechanically to real world weapons and equipment. The variety of platforms is massive, and the options for tweaking and altering them are countless: gas tubes, receivers, magazines, rails, tactical lights, scopes, and optics can be mixed and matched to create a weapon that is unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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