What better way to incentivize players to help keep the community clean than by offering them a reward? Many online video games have a cheating problem, but developers sometimes need players’ help to track it down. Escape From Tarkov developer Battlestate Games is doing just that by offering players in-game currency as a reward for reporting cheaters they encounter while trying to play the game.
Battlestate Games exposed it in the latest Escape From Tarkov release noteswhich explain that players will receive compensation in in-game currency for a report that leads to the offender being blocked. Those who successfully report will receive an in-game message confirming that the person they reported has been blocked and will find in-game money in their account. The patch notes do not specify how much counterfeit currency players will receive.
As PC Gamer points out that fans have suggested Battlestate Games implement this system before, including in places like Redditover a year ago. Reaction to the idea was mostly negative, not because the idea was bad, but because some in the community had little faith in Battlestate Games to implement something that would improve the health of the game. After years of feeling like the studio had been unresponsive to player concerns about the game, there was little faith that this would be handled well. Well, it finally happened, so time will tell if this will actually make a difference for cheaters.
Escape From Tarkov has been in a bit of a pickle lately after Battlestate Games added a new PvE mode to the game that was paid for behind a $250 The Unheard Edition. Things got worse when the studio implemented a discounted upgrade path after some players had already paid the full $250, then only gave players refunds in the form of an in-game voucher. The team continued to fumble when it became clear that odd logistics meant that if you bought something for $30 with that voucher, the remaining $20 would just go up in smoke.