A former pro gamer is hunting people for "entertainment" in Arc Raiders

It was not long ago when our Keith Langston lamented at just how easy and profitable being terrible can be in the extraction shooter hit Arc Raiders. He was only taking the typical match shenanigans into account. But now Taylor "Thump" Humphries, a former pro in games such as Apex Legends, is griefing players of lesser skill because well, he can.

IGN was the first to report on this spectacle. In Arc Raiders, players can choose to work together or be adversarial right from the get-go. They can also pretend to be friendly and then stab other players in the back. Arc Raiders is as much social experiment as it is game.

It was probably a matter of time before some pro figured out there was content and thus profit in hunting down weaker players and destroying them. It's the same energy as "Bronze to Grandmaster" streams in countless games. Those certainly can add some educational value, but even Thump would probably tell you he's just being a troll right now:

This clip has been viewed almost 5 million times, so there's demand for this content. To be clear, many of the people who watched it have done so to leave comments telling Thump he' s a horrible human being. I'm reminded of the study once done on the controversial Howard Stern radio show.

They found the people who say they hated Stern listened to his show twice as long as people who were fans. Both had the same reason: "I want to hear what he's gonna say next."

Heck, you could argue that me writing this article is part of the problem as it will inevitably draw more eyes to his content. But it's my job to cover gaming and the numerous controversies that pop up. It's also my job to point out when one of our writers is spot on talking about a problem created by a game.

The imitators will surely follow, making Arc Raiders a more miserable experience for those who would try to play it casually.