Multiplayer RPG Outriders is in the news for outrage yet again, this time from players who are getting kicked from expeditions right before receiving their rewards. The game is the latest looter from publisher Square Enix, following the disastrous launch of Marvel’s The Avengers. Outriders released on April Fool’s Day 2021, and the game has since been under constant criticism for numerous bugs, glitches, and design flaws.

Since the game’s launch earlier this month, the game has seen everything from long-running server issues to players getting their inventories wiped. It’s a frustrating experience for players who have purchased the full-price game at launch and still haven’t been able to enjoy much of it, even as many fans praise the gameplay itself. Developer People Can Fly has been struggling to play catch-up while issues with the game have been piling up from all directions, and it appears that the list of problems just keeps getting bigger.

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The latest development for Outriders involves an outbreak of griefing in high-level gameplay that’s ruining the experience for many players who party up with strangers. In Outriders‘ case, this griefing comes in the form of taking people’s hard-earned loot away from them, as reported by Eurogamer. Players are partying up with strangers to take on expeditions, an end-game activity the game provides for earning powerful loot, but an oversight in the system allows for the host of these parties to kick players out at the very end of the expedition before they can claim that loot. This means that players are doing all of the hard work of the expedition and getting nothing in return, creating a serious problem in the community. A YouTube video posted by Redditor u/TxDieselKid shows the practice in effect and why it’s so frustrating for fans of the game.

There’s no benefit for the players that kick their partners before they can get their loot; the toxic behavior is only for the sake of being toxic. TxDieselKid asks, “How is this even a thing? I actually do not understand why someone would do this. How do people enjoy doing this?” These feelings are shared by a large portion of the player base, who are calling for a speedy change to the system. Players have proposed several easy solutions to the problem, ranging from putting the loot directly into someone’s inventory to just adding a timer before players are allowed to be kicked at the end of expeditions. Until this is fixed, many are understandably choosing the difficulties of solo-play over joining other people.

This event marks yet another stain on the reputation of Outriders and its publisher Square Enix. While not as bad as the troubles the game went through at launch, the series of mistakes and oversights is creating a chain reaction within the community, causing people to put it down or going to the store to refund the game entirely. The developers have promised apology packages to fans who stick with the game through this troubling launch, but unless they can stay on top of issues like this there might not be anyone left to receive them.

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Source: u/TxDieselKid, Andrew Bell (via Eurogamer)

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Ryan Moos
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Ryan Moos is a writer for Screen Rant’s gaming news section. His main passion is horror and he spends his free time creating 3D artwork for Twitter and Instagram (@misspelledmoos). Ryan also runs an occasional Twitch stream and a YouTube channel under the same name dedicated to gaming content.

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