'Embark better not be giving streamers a pass on cheating': Tfue gets unbanned from Arc Raiders in less than 24 hours, and ordinary raiders aren't happy
Another day, another exploit in Arc Raiders. Well, actually, there's nothing currently on the table (that I know of), but the last few weeks have seen a couple of exploits found and then patched. One of which allowed players to change to first-person, brighten the map, and remove visual obstacles like shrubbery, but has since been one reason why a few players have been temporarily banned.
One such player is Tfue. For those who don't know, Tfue was a Fortnite streamer, and a very popular one at that. He decided to retire or take a break back in 2023, but has since popped up again solely to stream Arc Raiders.
The sin that Tfue committed? He was one of the many raiders who accessed the console command exploit. During a stream, Tfue's chat was pointing him towards this exploit that could remove any shadows from the map, which he then tried out in the training range and on Stella Montis. From what I've seen, that's all Tfue did—he just walked around Stella Montis, talking about how bright everything looks and then dipped. It's nowhere near as outrageous as some have made it out to be, but it has divided some players.
On one hand, some believe that Tfue just did a service for the rest of us by highlighting just how easy this exploit was to use and just how unfair it can make matches: "Honestly, I'm glad he did this because it likely wouldn't have been fixed nearly as quickly had a 'high profile' streamer not brought attention to it."
But others aren't so forgiving. "Today, you realise that companies cater to streamers and they live under different rules," LSCNatureWalkHikes says. While other players land on the idea that streamers are treated differently from regular players. Which is true no matter what the situation is, but the issue here is that the masses don't like the idea of a streamer being let off the suspension hook just because they get loads of views.
"Embark better not be giving streamers a pass on cheating," another player adds. "Nothing will make me quit this game quicker, purely out of principle."
The reality? Somewhere in the middle, where these things normally are. Tfue has since said he only did it to "bring awareness to" the exploit and that he thinks an issue with his new PC is what led him to being banned. But regardless of why it happened, the clip is a pretty mundane reason to get got. And while it may warrant a 30-day suspension, it's not something I'll get my pitchfork out for now that the ruling has been overturned.
Regardless of the intent, one thing is for sure: this is certainly a fast unbanning. Tfue posted about his ban on January 13 at 1:59am GMT, saying: "30-day ban?!?!? For What!?!?" He then posted #FreeTfue on later that day at 4:10am, and then announced he was unbanned on the same day 17 hours and 29 minutes later at 9:39pm. Meanwhile, all I did during that time was write a couple of news stories, make some pasta, and get knocked out on Stella Montis. Rookie plays.