Arc Raiders players need to be studied according to prominent neurologist

Embark Studios boss Patrick Soderlund has revealed that a professor of neurology has urged him to have Arc Raiders scientifically studied.

In an interview with IGN, the CEO was discussing the elements of Arc Raiders outside of the looting and shooting, such as the musical instruments that can be played while on run. He expressed a desire to introduce more of these features before describing the game as a “social experiment.”

“That’s been, frankly, our biggest surprise with this game,” he explained. “I’ve read a bunch of articles saying the Arc Raiders is almost like a social experiment, and it kind of is, and I love that.”

Clearly, he’s not alone either, as he went on to say the popular extraction shooter has even caught the eye of scientists.

“I genuinely love the fact that that’s what it is. I actually had a conversation at dinner three days ago with a very prominent professor in neurology that had gotten to know about the game, and said, ‘Listen, you have no idea what you’ve built.'”

Arc Raiders boss urged to send game to be scientifically studied

In fact, the professor apparently urged him to reach out to scientists and study the weird and wonderful behaviour demonstrated by players, continuing:

“From just the whole idea of psychological experimentation and social experimentation, and what this game can be. She, a good friend of mine, basically said, ‘You should go and do a collab or work with people from the medical field to study what behaviors are triggered in Arc Raiders.'”

Although Arc Raiders has PvP enabled by default, meaning players have the option to shoot any other raider they see and take their loot, the game has actually become fairly cooperative. If you play nice and don’t anger the aggression-based matchmaking, you often find yourself in friendly lobbies.

It’s not uncommon to see groups of strangers teaming up to take down The Queen, sharing loot, and, in some cases, serenading each other with flutes or guitars.

We’ve also seen entire sub-sommunties form, including a group of ‘Rescue Raiders’ who go around helping players in need and combatting overly bloodthirsty players.

When it comes to scientifically studying the game, Soderlund ultimately admitted that the team “may not go that far,” but feels that this unique behaviour is a “big component to why the game has been successful.”