Arc Raiders' matchmaking isn't 'binary', says design lead: 'There's no such thing as a friendly lobby or an aggressive lobby'

One of Arc Raiders' most contentious topics is how it weighs your approach to PvP in order to decide what sort of lobby to place you in. Some people just want to shoot clankers and make friends, while others want to steal Bobcats and drink tears. Neither is technically the wrong option, but it's hard to get both crowds to coexist when they're at such far ends of the spectrum. Embark's solution: to separate the playstyles, at least somewhat.

Soon after launch, players started to notice a trend in how friendly or violent their matches were. During an interview with PC Gamer late last year, art director Robert Sammelin admitted that Arc Raiders looks at player behaviour as one of many criteria during matchmaking. Later, Embark's CEO, Patrick Söderlund, expanded on the idea, saying Arc Raiders "matchmakes based on how prone you are to PvP or PvE". Say hello to aggression-based matchmaking (also known as ABMM), which has swiftly become the hottest of topics in the community.

Last week PC Gamer's Tim Clark chatted with Arc Raiders' design director, Virgil Watkins, and ABMM was a major topic. Although Embark isn't about to explain exactly how the algorithm works, as that would enable players to manipulate the tech more easily, Watkins told us that the comms team is preparing to publish info on the topic. He also noted that behind the scenes, 'aggression-based matchmaking' isn't a term the developer uses. "It's not nearly as binary as people think", Watkins explains, "there's no such thing as a friendly lobby or an aggressive lobby, the system is still mixing everybody".

"I think people do feel as though it's incredibly binary, and even shooting one raider, one time, just automatically puts you into an aggressive lobby. But that's not at all how it works."

It's fascinating to see how much superstition has spread related to how ABMM works. Many players will tell you that if you want friendly lobbies, you should never return fire in any circumstance. Only last night, one of our editors was told that you shouldn't even loot dead bodies you find. But according to Watkins, the system is nowhere near that sensitive and instead tracks longer-term habits. "Your engagement with PvP is part of the situation, and it's not as though one action does it. It's a series of rounds together and things like that."

And for what it's worth, no, those post-match surveys don't have any impact on the flavour of your lobbies: "Those are just to help us gauge how players felt about the round. They have no mechanical change on what happens to you. It is solely based on your actions in the round."

While Watkins rightly points out that Arc Raiders "needs that element of tension and risk from other players to be good", he acknowledges that "people are having a lot of fun with these safer lobbies."

"I think it kind of surprised us in exactly how many people [did] latch on to and are having fun with these elements of the game. So it certainly encourages us to lean more forward into giving opportunities to have friendly and fun interactions … but of course, we still need to cater to the PvP audience," says Watkins on the topic of Arc Raiders' PvE and PvP tightrope walk.

Arc Raiders' friendliness is certainly very unusual for the extraction shooter genre, but that's not due to the developers pushing players in that direction. "Everything's down to human motivation," says Watkins. How Embark walks the line between keeping both communities happy, especially in a world in which, even in the safest lobby, there's nothing to stop a player from heel-turning into a psycho, is going to be fascinating. But for now the message is clear: committing the occasional murder will not instantly send you to the pits of PvP hell. Do with that info what you will.

Read our full interview with Embark's Virgil Watkins tomorrow.