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 an online multiplayer free-to-play battle royale game. It was developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts (commonly known by EA). Since it's release on Feburary 4, 2019, Apex Legends is currently in its fourth season. Despite the game's popularity among other fps (first person shooter) games, like others, this game too could be argued to have ethical issues regarding gambling, cheating, cyberbullying and stereotyping races.

Gameplay

Apex Legends is a game where up to 20 teams of three players enter a battle-royale and face each other in order to be the last team standing. Or in other words, the champion squad. Each team is made up of a team of specific "legends" each with a special ability and purpose. The player may choose what legend to play prior to entering a game. However, the same legend cannot be chosen more than once per team. Through gun/tactical/ability fighting, teams try to knock-down and eliminate members of the opposing teams. This could mean fighting one to as many teams that may you may run into at once.

Legends

Each player has the choice to choose one of the legends they would like to play for the game. Although the players have the freedom to choose, many teams try to make sure to choose legends that work well together as a team. For example, having an offensive, shield and a scout on a team would make for an overall well balanced team.

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. Some of the loot boxes has the possibility of obtaining a rare item, however the chances of getting a rare item is very low. Because of the rarity and the aesthetic appeal that some o these legendary items offer, people tend to spend a lot of real life currency in order to increase their chances of opening a loot box with legendary items. As a result, people tend to "gamble" their chances and spend a lot of money in this free-to-play game. This sort of loot box system may be introducing young gamers who may not even be of age to gamble, a form of gambling .

Cheating

What a hacker would see in Apex Legends

Cheating and hacking are well known problems within the apex legend gaming community. In this free-to-play game, the repercussions of being caught cheating are very low. Once caught, a cheater is able to make a new account. As a result, people are more tempted to use cheats to win the game or either sell these cheats for good profit. To help minimize the cheating, the developers added a reporting system. The effectiveness of the system is still unknown. However, people are still using aim bots, and hacks in the game to this day. Some common hacking that can be seen being used are aimbots which help the player lock on to the target to not miss any shots when shooting their weapon. Another common hack seen in apex is speed hacking. Speed hacking is when a cheater has a hack where they are able to move and very quick speeds (like they are gliding) to find targets quickly as well as dodge incoming bullets quickly as well . Cheating not only leads to negative affects among the players and user but for the gaming industry as a whole. As players believe that cheating is the only way to beat cheaters, and the players who refuse to cheat stop playing the game, gambe publishers and developers lose traffic of players and eventually lose revenue .

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying and toxicity varies for every game in the gaming industry. However, speccifically for Apex Legends, cyberbullying and toxicity is prevaletnt because of the competitve nature of the game. In video games, many players play through a "gamer tag". A made up name to represent themselves in game. This name however usually does not have a substantial connection with your real life identity. This allows for people to be able to be toxic anonymously. Being anonymous is a cover and possible safety blanket to be able to harass opposing players without facing consequences in real life. Because there is a in game chat option in Apex Legends, if a player is teamed up with a toxic player, the toxic player has the ability to type or talk in game whatever they would like to .

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.