Apex Legends (game)

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Apex Legends

Apex Legends text Type Video Game Launch Date February 4. 2019 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. 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 special abilities, players will try to knock-down and eliminate the legends of the opposing teams.

Legends

Portrait	Name	Role	Portrait	Name	Role	Portrait	Name	Role	Portrait	Name	Role
	Bangalore	Professional Soldier		Bloodhound	Technological Tracker		Crypto	Surveillance Expert		Gibraltar	Shielded Fortress
	Lifeline	Combat Medic		Mirage	Holographic Trickster		Octane	The Adrenaline Junkie		Pathfinder	Forward Scout
	Revenant	Synthetic Nightmare		Wattson	Static Defender		Wraith	International Skirmisher

Casual vs. Ranked

The main difference between the casual and ranked game modes is the use of an rp point system. In the casual mode, the main objective is to fight other teams and win to be the last player standing. However, with the ranked games, you receive rp from eliminating or assisting in eliminating opponents as well as getting points from placing at a higher placement than other teams. The more rp you obtain, the faster and higher rank you are able to climb. The rank system is: bronze, silver, gold, platinum, diamond, masters and Apex predator. Another difference between casual and ranked games is the play style. In casuals, teams are less pressured to win as there is no penalty. As a result, teams engage more earlier on in the game and have a more aggressive play style. However, in ranked games, you will come across many "campers" (teams who hide in buildings) and a more passive play style.

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 in 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. .

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 . 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.

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. "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.

Stereotyping Ethnicity

Apex Legends has legends from many different ethnicities. This can be seen through the difference in voice accents, skin color, and other features of the legends. The effort Apex Legends developers put into making the game as diverse as possible can be seen. However, some of the qualities and characteristics some of the legends have has been a topic of controversy about being too stereotypical or even racist. For example, Crypto, who is a Korean legend is very intelligent. However, his voice lines have a very thick Asian accent. Although Asians whose first language is not English may have some sort of accent based off of their native tongue, the accent that Crypto holds is very stereotypically an asian accent that you may hear from someone trying to imitate the Korean accent. Another legend that has been brought up regarding this topic on some platforms like Twitter and Reddit is Octane. Octane is of Hispanic ethnicity based off his accent in the game as well as the common "ole" voice line. However, a recent update revealed an heirloom (additional add on) to Octane. A butterfly knife with some sort of drug inside. In the game, Octane uses this drug to move faster in the game as one of his abilities. However, with the negative stereotype of violent culture in regards to the Hispanic ethnicity, the addition of a butterfly pocket-knife on top of the drug use raised many eyebrows with some people who play the game. The stereotypical characterisitics of the legends in Apex Legends may affect the way players view different races in real life.