PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds: The Terrifying Thrill of Passivity

You're by yourself, your teammates are dead, your health is low, you're running out of ammo, and you're only barely managing to outpace the giant blue wall of death encroaching on your position. So, why are you having so much fun?

It's not difficult to see why PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has become such a smash hit in recent weeks. The format encourages competition but toes the line between genuine skill and luck, with prospective players dropped into a large island zone where they participate in a Battle Royale-esque fight to the death against ninety-nine others. Everyone starts out with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their fists but, over the course of the match, will find everything from bulletproof vests to motorcycle helmets to assault rifles to dune buggies. The competition is fierce and it can be frustrating when you're one of the first ones to get taken out during the match, while everyone else can be there for thirty-plus minutes.

There's something unique about Battlegrounds that, I think, can help explain its popularity. Indeed, one might wonder just why exactly this game is as popular as it is. Just as with anything, the learning curve can be a drastic one and the game almost actively encourages malicious behavior on the part of its players; there is no sportsmanship to be found here. Yet, people continue playing it and enjoying it in spite of that. So, why? Why continue playing it? Because of the same reason by beating someone at hide-and-seek is so much fun: the thrilling terror of passivity.

If you're playing Battlegrounds correctly, you will hardly run into any other players over the course of your stay on the island. Ideally, you will find yourself a nice corner where you will camp before moving further inland in order to avoid the wall of death. For the most part, you will not be doing anything... and yet tension will remain high. The game has no markers for enemy combatants, no gamertags that will appear above their bodies if you point your crosshair at them, no identification aside from their physical presence. As such, the game hones your senses to believe that every sound, every odd shape in the distance, everything that makes your stomach churn the wrong way might end up being an enemy combatant. Thus, Battlegrounds enables the player to "feel" what it's like to be stuck in a situation where they are constantly at risk, constantly at threat of certain death.

The "wall of death" feeds into this quite well. By limiting the environment that the players can interact in, the developer ensures that the game cannot get old. They force the players to confront each other which, as we've established, should be the last thing they want to do. The worst thing a player can do is actively go and seek out other players; it will likely end up with one or two of you dead... and a third can come out of nowhere to pick off who remains like a vulture. This is the same reason why vehicles are considered something of a death trap unless you have a group and why traveling in open spaces feels like you're constantly under threat... mostly because you are.

By being passive, the game enforces the idea that one is constantly under duress, under siege, and in danger. The early game is designed in such a way that being sneaky and avoiding conflict will allow you to survive, while the late game severely limits these securities - which makes the ensuing conflict that much more driven by tension ensuring that the player gets that adrenaline rush of terror that makes them feel like they're totally out of their element. It does all of this, of course, with no extraneous features. The game is exactly what it is.

In thirty minutes or less, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds manages to create an exciting experience that is largely unmatched by its Triple-A peers, all by relying on players' innate fear of others and forcing passivity only to take it away when the going gets tough.