Difference between revisions of "Apex Legends (game)"

Revision as of 12:33, 17 April 2021

Apex Legends

Apex Legends text Type Video Game Launch Date February 4. 2019 [1] Status Active Product Line Apex Legends Platform Origin on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Website https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends

Apex Legends is a free-to-play, online multiplayer battle royale game. It was developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts (EA). Since its release on February 4, 2019, Apex Legends is currently in its eighth season. ^[1] However, the game’s popularity has raised potential ethical issues regarding gambling, cheating, and cyberbullying.

Gameplay

Apex Legends is a game where up to 20 three-player-squads or 30 two-player-squads enter a battle royale and fight each other to be the last team standing, the champion squad. The player will select which specific ‘legend’ they wish to play prior to entering the game, however, the same legend cannot be chosen more than once per team. Through a combination of gunfighting and tactical usage of each legend’s unique abilities, players will need skill and teamwork to knock down and eliminate the legends of the opposing teams. ^[2]

Legends ^[3]

When Apex Legends was initially released, there were only eight legends on the roster. But, with a new legend being released alongside every new season, there is now a total of 16 unique and playable legends on the roster. However, legends do not just have unique abilities, as their looks and play-style are also reflected in their stats. Smaller legends have a smaller hitbox and also move quicker, thus making them harder to hit, but they will also have less health. ^[2]

Portrait	Name	Role	Portrait	Name	Role	Portrait	Name	Role	Portrait	Name	Role
	Bangalore	Professional Soldier		Bloodhound	Technological Tracker		Caustic	Toxic Trapper		Crypto	Surveillance Expert
	Fuse	Bombastic Explosives Expert		Gibraltar	Shielded Fortress		Horizon	Gravitational Manipulator		Lifeline	Combat Medic
	Loba	High Society Thief		Mirage	Holographic Trickster		Octane	The Adrenaline Junkie		Pathfinder	Forward Scout
	Rampart	Quick Witted Modder		Revenant	Synthetic Nightmare		Wattson	Static Defender		Wraith	International Skirmisher

Ethical Concerns

Gambling

Apex Legends has a loot box system where players are awarded certain items like legend or weapon skins, charms, special animations, statistics trackers, etc. Loot boxes also have the possibility of obtaining a rare item, however, the chances are very low. Because of the rarity and the aesthetic appeal that some of these legendary items offer, people tend to spend a lot of money to increase their chances of opening a loot box with rare or legendary items. As a result, people tend to "gamble" their chances and spend a lot of money on this free-to-play game. However, this sort of loot box system may be introducing young gamers to gambling, many of whom may not even be of legal age to gamble. ^[4].

Cheating

What a hacker would see in Apex Legends

Cheating and hacking are well-known problems within the Apex Legends community. In this free-to-play game, the repercussions of being caught cheating are very low. Once caught, a cheater simply makes a new account. As a result, people are more tempted to use cheats to win the game, which in turn incentivizes people to create cheats to sell for profit. To help minimize cheating, the developers added a reporting system. However, the effectiveness of the system is still unknown, as players are still using cheats and hacks in the game to this day. Some common cheats include ‘aimbots’, programs that help the player constantly lock on to their target, allowing them to shoot with 100% accuracy. Another common hack in Apex Legends is speed hacking. Speed hacking is when a cheater has a program that enables them to move at very high speeds, much faster than the speed at which legends are supposed to move at in the game, to find targets quickly and also dodge incoming bullets ^[5]. Cheating not only leads to negative effects among the players and users but for the entire gaming industry too. As some players start to believe that the only way to beat cheaters is by cheating, and the other players who refuse to cheat stop playing the game, game publishers and developers lose player traffic and eventually lose revenue too. ^[6]

Cyberbullying

The level of cyberbullying and toxicity varies for each game in the gaming industry. However, in Apex Legends, cyberbullying and toxicity is especially prevalent because of the competitive nature of the game. In video games, many players play under a pseudonym, a "gamer tag”. However, this anonymous nature allows players to be toxic and to harass opposing players or even teammates without consequence. Due to the availability of an in-game chat option in Apex Legends, if a player is teamed up with a toxic player, that toxic player has the ability to type or say whatever they want to in the game. ^[7] "Tea bagging" is another common form of harassment performed by many players in the Apex community. Tea bagging is when a player who has won a fight crouches up and down over the dead opponent’s body in the game. This form of harassment is done to make fun of the player who has lost the game. ^[8]

References