FAQ: How bad is the cheating situation in Tarkov? I've read it's unplayable!

This is quite a sensitive and widely discussed topic in the Escape from Tarkov community.

Unfortunately, no one can deny the existence of the issue and the fact that, in a game like this, cheaters “hurt” more than in others.

Getting killed by a cheater in a regular shooter is one thing—at worst, you press a button and respawn at your base. It’s an entirely different matter when a cheater kills you after playing 30 minutes of a raid that had gone perfectly until that moment, and you're loaded with loot. Or when you die two minutes into the raid, instantly losing the kit that took you 10 minutes (or more) to put together in your stash. Plus its value.

In an Escape from Tarkov raid, the stakes are high. And the most valuable thing you lose—the one that hurts the most when taken by a cheater—is your time.

Because when you lose a fight against a fair enemy, it's always said, rightly so, that at least you learn something, which will hopefully help you in the future.

Against a cheater, it's just wasted time, frustration and anger.

I won’t dwell on how disgraceful it is to stoop so low as to become a cheater in an online game, but I think my choice of words makes it clear what I think.

Is it unplayable?

No, it’s not.

Opinions vary on this, but based on my personal experience—and because I believe that people who say this have likely given the issue more thought than others—I side with those who say the game is absolutely playable.

And also very fun.

Frustrating, difficult, buggy, flawed… but fun. A lot of fun!

Otherwise, I’d have to consider myself crazy for the amount of hours I’ve spent playing it.

And even more so those who have reached and surpassed 10,000 hours in the game.

So, are there no cheaters? Is it all a lie?

Of course, if you argue with what I just said in the previous paragraph, you're often accused of being a “denier.” But I say cheaters exist—absolutely.

Unfortunately, I’ve experienced the problem firsthand.

However, maybe because I do fewer raids than others, in five years of playing and a few thousand raids, I can say I’ve encountered only a few cheaters—certainly far fewer than some claim.

There may have been cheaters in my raids without me knowing or being affected by them—entirely possible—but I’m talking about how many negative experiences I’ve had due to cheaters. Few, negligible, certainly not enough to make me say the game is unplayable.

Maybe I’m lucky, maybe I’m on the right servers while others have it worse, but that’s my opinion.

So, are people who say it’s unplayable and full of cheaters crazy or lying?

I don’t think so. What I do think is:

1. Everyone has different tolerance levels. Some people might take it less dramatically than others, either because of their personality or because they have bigger things in life to worry about.

   
   

2. It’s possible (and plausible) that cheaters are indeed more numerous in other parts of the world.
   

3. Since there’s no kill cam, it’s hard to determine whether someone who killed us was using cheats or simply outplayed us, or was camping in a spot we didn’t know about. Often, especially for less experienced players, you don’t even know where you were shot from because you die instantly. Sometimes, there’s also desync or other bugs. I think it’s quite common for someone to believe they were killed by a cheater when, in reality, that wasn’t the case.
   

All I know is that, in the vast majority of cases, when I analyze how I was killed, the situation, and what I was doing—with the humility to question myself—I realize that what was fatal to me was my own mistake or my opponent’s superior skill or better choices (or luck).

Is BSG doing anything to solve the problem?

There’s a somewhat conspiratorial theory that Battlestate Games and Nikita not only don’t fight cheaters but actually profit from them because more accounts are sold (since banned players have to buy a new one).

Honestly, I don’t have the evidence to rule it out, and I don’t want to be a staunch defender of Buyanov. But what I think is that, most of the time, the simplest explanation is the right one.

I think BSG is doing what they can.

Could they do more? Could they invest more resources into it? Could they manage the problem better? Probably. Almost certainly. Things can always be improved. And BSG has proven to be fallible—sometimes very fallible. However, I have also seen many situations (especially recently) where it is clear that they are making an effort and listening to the community. I wouldn’t say they are pure evil.

But we know that the cheating problem exists in all online games because it’s a business—thouhg it usually is for those who make cheats, not for game developers, who have to spend money, time, and energy to fight them.

Nowadays, there are too many spoiled brats with too much money who can rent cheats from a website in two minutes, complete with customer support, just like any other legitimate service (and unfortunately, it is legal—not morally, but by law, since no regulations prohibit it).

And those who create cheats take full advantage of this.

A game like Escape from Tarkov, which is difficult, frustrating, and probably infuriates many of these spoiled kids who can’t accept being humiliated by better players or even admit to themselves that they made a mistake, is naturally a prime target for those who create and sell cheats to these spineless individuals, making loads of money.

My 2 cents

Folks, I still have an absolute blast playing Escape from Tarkov, and in the end, that’s what matters.

I don’t think I’m crazy or a masochist, so I believe my opinion is rational and reasonable.

If I run into a cheater, sure, I get mad and feel bad. I rage quit. I’m not made of stone.

But then I move on, and more importantly, I realize it’s worth it, because no other game gives me the same emotions and satisfaction that Escape from Tarkov does.

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