What Happened to Proximity Chat in Tarkov?

(Intro)

One of the most difficult parts of an extraction shooter to navigate is dealing with other players. Unlike say, a battle royale where the whole point is to be the last one standing; extraction shooters don’t require you to be alone to win. Whether you need to loot specific items, get some quests done, or are looking for some kind of fight, there are a multitude of ways to be successful after a raid. Fighting players were always tricky, however; sometimes people genuinely don’t want to fight, and for years there was no easy way to get that message across in the game. However, once VOIP was added, things changed for a long time. People were talkative to one another, cooperating in a raid and having some playful banter. On top of the absolute vile that was being spewed out of some undesirables. But one thing I’ve noticed for a long time now, is how people barely use this widely requested mechanic in game anymore. That desire to simply talk to your fellow player or scav has kind of been lost. People are back to their roots of shoot on sight. And to be brutally honest, I can kind of understand why So let’s break down what has or in this case I guess, hasn’t happened to VOIP, why it feels like people are using it less these days and the general philosophy behind player interactions in extraction shooters. Silence is deadly, especially in a game like Tarkov.

(When VOIP was originally introduced)

To begin, I should add for reference, VOIP was added into the game all the way back in December 2021 with patch 12.12. The same patch that gave us both inertia across the game as well as Lighthouse. It’s been almost five years since this feature was implemented. I honestly forgot it had been that long. But this was a massive moment for the game. It’s funny; Tarkov across its entire life had multiple game changing moments. And I always reference Reserve because that’s when the game got huge, but there are other’s as well. Including this one; VOIP allows players to use their microphone in game to talk to other players. What seems like kind of a novel concept actually had huge implications in a genre like extraction shooters. Now, there are opportunities to talk your way out of a sticky situation and ending things potentially amicably, instead of always ending in bloodshed. A new layer of this game had been unlocked; something that was sealed away behind an intricate albeit difficult to apply directly, communication system built into the game. Your character has tons of options for voice lines and commands to try and work together with a stranger, but it ultimately fell on deaf ears because it’s so difficult and convoluted to try and apply those lines in say the middle of a fight. Whereas it’s much easier to simply ask someone if they are willing to be friendly and work together with their own voice. The best thing about this feature is that it’s entirely optional. When it was initially added, we know there was a huge amount of worry and trepidation from Nikita because he was concerned people would abuse the mechanic by either playing music over their microphone or using it in ways that wasn’t serving the main purpose of adding it. Which I mean is a fair concern, but I honestly think people were just so excited to have it added, that the community ended up using it for its intended purpose; being friendly, talking to other players, helping them out, and the occasional playful banter. And luckily, that’s for the most part, how the community used it for a long time. The only strange quirk about it was that there was a timer on how long you could talk before there was a cooldown so you could speak again. And after what felt like only a couple of days, the developers increased the time allowed because the reception of VOIP was so overwhelmingly positive. I’m sure they let out a sigh of relief that not only did the functionality of VOIP work almost flawlessly, but people were so into it. However overtime, the desire to speak to each other in a raid, slowly but surely kind of faded away. And many of us fell back into old habits before it was added to the game.

(Why people aren’t using it anymore)

There are a lot of potential reasons why the use of VOIP has declined slowly over the years. In general, since the game wasn’t released with this mechanic, it had been years of drilling into our heads that everyone single opponent you see is an enemy. You see someone, you either engage in a fight with them, or try to work around them and keep doing whatever it is you need to get accomplished. There also were not many reasons to cooperate with other players than just for the hell of it. For a long time, there were no extractions that rewarded cooperation, and no quests that would encourage players to seek out other friendly players. All of these extra layers on top of VOIP came much later, which would explain why the decline of using this feature has become the standard. People play Tarkov for a handful of reasons, but the main one is usually fighting other people. No game comes close to the stakes, the highs and the lows that Tarkov can illicit from a player. And in order to fight, you need to be hostile. And VOIP was generally used as a tool to work together. Sure, sometimes people could be honest and say they need to fight for a quest or just because they felt like it, and there’s nothing wrong with that. At least they were being honest, you know? But in general, approaching someone and asking for help, wanting to trade items or extract together was the expectation when using VOIP.

But as time has gone on, and the player base has spread out in terms of progression through the wipe and what they are looking to accomplish, the desire to interact with people at all goes down, and just resorting back to what Tarkov has taught us so well begins to creep up more and more. I find myself doing the same just because fighting other players is so compelling. Don’t get me wrong; I love some jolly cooperation like the rest of us, but there is something so overtly interesting about the pacing of an engagement between players in Tarkov. No game is like it and when fights aren’t instant, one taps and there are tons of movement, repositioning, healing and flanking. That to me is peak Tarkov fighting. And it helps explain why player interactions are so tough but also so rewarding in this game.

(What makes player interactions so tough in this genre)

For how simple fights can be sometimes, where you either get lucky catching someone looting, completely unaware of your presence, all the way up to you’ve been in this one fight for what feels like ten plus minutes; you have no ammo left, you’ve used all your healing and your armor is totaled. It’s the wide swathe of range that comes with fighting players in this game that makes it so compelling. The levels and depth to interactions goes beyond just seeing them and shooting. Maybe you’re too far away, so you try and play stealthily; following behind them and waiting for an opportunity to capitalize on them unaware of your presence. There’s also the element of betrayal that comes with potentially teaming up with someone and wanting to strike them down once you’ve reached your destination. And as scummy of a tactic as that can be, all’s fair in Tarkov; it probably won’t feel good to execute, but it doesn’t mean it’s not allowed. But that falls more under player psyches than mechanics within the game. But what makes player interactions so difficult to navigate in this game are all the micro decisions you need to make within milliseconds sometimes. You don’t get a lot of time usually to formulate a plan when you spot someone, and even less time should they see you too. Trying to use VOIP or any kind of peaceful interaction needs to be done immediately because usually as soon as the first volley of bullets is thrown out, peace talks are more or less off the table. From there it's about making all the right decisions and hoping the game doesn’t screw you over. Because sadly, it is Tarkov at the end of the day; you can make all the right calls, the right choices and give yourself the best chance of winning, and sometimes the game will still say you lose. Which as painful as this can be when it happens, is just a reminder that this game and this genre is special. In all the right and wrong ways.

(Outro)

It’s a shame that the usage of VOIP across most of Tarkov has taken a sharp decline. Once a mechanic that was celebrated as a huge win for the game and for how well it was implemented, to something that is now more of a novelty and only really used on scav runs to chat with people and potentially trade items. It would’ve been interesting if during some of the larger events across the game the community made it a point to try and work together with the use of VOIP, but a decade's worth of shoot on sight being drilled into our brains, it’s hard to rewire that itch into anything other than hostile engagements. As someone that enjoys VOIP interactions as much as the next guy, but also enjoys a good Tarkov fight, I understand and feel this conundrum that players experience pretty much every raid. Is it worth the risk of trying to talk to someone? Or should you just trust your gut and try and take them out? Are they going to betray you if they are friendly? Would you do the same thing? All of these questions immediately pop into your head the moment you either see someone or hear a muffled hello in the distance. Maybe things can be added to have people at least try to engage with VOIP a little bit more than they already do, because otherwise it feels like a mechanic we all were begging the developers to be added, to kind of forget about it years later. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video. Let me know down in the comment section below your thoughts on VOIP usage in Tarkov, especially in the last year or so, do you try and go out of your way to use it and be sure to subscribe for more videos about the dangers and risks of trying to work together with someone you’ve never met and is just as lethal and desperate as you are. I hope to see you in future ones.