A request for a new flair sits at the top of the subreddit: videos of rats failing their ratting. It has 847 points, a 0.94 ratio, and 93 comments. u/Catstronautilusrex wants a dedicated tag for the genre. The accompanying clip is one of many.

The top comment, from u/JuanDeChuj, calls one clip "peak stupidity" for losing to a Ferro in close range. It's the kind of post that makes the front page feel light.

But the second and third posts tell a different story. One is u/DickiJ's report that Denuvo Anti-Cheat accessed their webcam mid-raid. Another is u/FadedThanAH0e420's warning that duping is ruining PVP, complete with a streamer receiving a fresh drop of Volcano 4s with kinetics.

Both threads sit above 500 points. The first gets a reply: "Woah, not good. Not ok either." The second gets a weary "They will fix it in two months. Just wait."

That's the subreddit right now. On top, the communal joy of watching rats get what they deserve. Just underneath, the sense that the game's competitive layer is compromised in ways that make people close the client. The rat-flair thread is a laugh because rats have become an inescapable part of the experience. But the duping thread is a warning that the PVP loop itself is breaking down.

u/GernotReinhardsen's clip of a raider asking "Why you shoot me first" after barging into a firefight captures the audacity. The top comment, 538 points, explains the tactic: he said it hoping others would hear and come to his rescue. It's a classic rat maneuver, and the subreddit knows it. Rats are part of the ecosystem. But the duped godcats are something else.

The duping problem isn't just a handful of cheaters. u/FadedThanAH0e420 writes: "Every second team we run into is either running fully kitted tempest 4s or bobby 4s." A comment from u/jburnelli hits the contrast: "lol, what a shit show this game has turned into, meanwhile the PVE lobbies everyone makes fun of are still relatively great experience." PVE is the refuge, but PVP is what the sub argues about.

The free-kit exploit thread adds another layer. u/Specialist_Rule4182 posts a video of a free kit using an augment exploit to get tactical smoke. Even the budget loadouts aren't safe from manipulation. It's a small thing compared to duping, but it reinforces the feeling that the rules are bent.

Then there's the webcam. u/DickiJ's post has raiders covering their cameras. "Get a cover for your webcam, no matter what its on," writes u/AgainstTheEnemy, at 313 points. The thread doesn't explode into mass panic, but it sits there, an unease that Embark's anti-cheat is looking where it shouldn't. Whether it's a false alarm or not, it feeds the narrative that the game's technical underpinnings are shaky.

All of this, and the mood score barely moved. 54, same as yesterday. The subreddit is used to this. The rat videos are fun, the duping complaints are routine, the webcam scare will blow over. But the gap between the surface fun and the structural rot is where the tension lives. The rats are funny because they're beatable. The duping isn't.