On "The Video"

 No doubt, anyone following Tarkov has seen the video from Goat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5LfGcDB7Ek

If you've read my blog before, you know I've tried tracking cheaters in the past by checking all my kills and killers in the in-game chat tool over time. I made several posts, the last of which was this one: https://itarkovpoorly.blogspot.com/2022/06/counting-cheater-part-4.html

My take on the video?  The reason it's called "The wiggle that killed tarkov" is because if cheaters are signaling each other via wiggling, it means there is a CULTURE of cheating and cheaters. And that's the shocking thing. It's not just "some people cheat", it's that there is a whole CULTURE of people cheating, with their own set of spoken/unspoken rules, behaviors, norms and manners. And if you've got a whole culture around something, then it's likely widespread and endemic. And disappointing. 

Someone made the remark on Reddit that watching the video feels like when you find out your friends have a mean nickname for you that they use behind your back. And that's spot on. That what it feels like.

Lately I feel like the cheating has only gotten worse. If I step back and think scientifically and analytically, my instincts say about 1 out of 5 players are cheating - using ESP and/or texture hacks at minimum. Many worse hacks than that. That's at least one or two cheaters every single raid. I notice a lot of player scavs using cheats. If you are a PMC hanging around late in raid, then a not-infrequent occurrence is a player scavs making a bee-line to you, even when you are hidden and not making noise. I suspect they farm you for the increased scav rep.

In my more dour moods, I darkly suspect the ratio of cheaters to players is actually closer to 1 out of 3.

Update

BSG made an announcement today with a list of banned players ( 4000 today ): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRutocKkK3nk91ORmArC4_sOWGFpipL1hNPYytEpdQ-70WkQnVQJlxMmULIaViqpm31J_I0_pIBVTlN/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

I gathered up the names of all my killers so far in Wipe 13. None were on that list.  

I gathered up all the names of the cheaters Goat found in his video. None were on that list.

I think this is because, as Goat says after chatting with the first one, that these guys change their name all the time. 

When I have some time I'll check both lists in the in-game chat tool and report back. 

Update #2

These are the names I pulled from the Goat Video. Each of these is someone who we can see cheating in his video. Most are still in the in-game chat tool. (X) means they are not in the chat tool. Which means they've either changed their name, or been banned.  (N) is their current level as reported today in the chat tool

• (X) trip-theredcoat  ( aka D4ddayGamer, also not found in the tool)
• (X) sshidoka
• (25) WP_Almedi
• (33) nCoV_MoonSnake
• (28) Mozzzi
• (X) TTVTRENCH
• (18) You_Killed_Me
• (X) GarlicMonkyballs
• (X) jshoota90
• (42) NuklearCowboy

There were maybe one or two other names in the goat video that I couldn't make out.   Goat confirmed ALL 10 of these guys as cheating, and 5 of them are still in the in-game chat. The other 5 have either been banned or changed their user name (because apparently cheaters change their user names a lot, for whatever reason).

In contrast, I checked my own killers this wipe.  Some of these deaths were suspicious, but most were not.  All of those who killed me in the last two weeks are still in the in-game chat tool. That's normal.  From two weeks ago going back to the beginning of this wipe, 1/3 of them are no longer in the in-game chat. Which means they have changed their username and/or been banned.  This tracks with what I observed a year ago. The bans come in waves, lagging about two weeks behind.