"Gear fear" is a very real thing in video games where you have a permanent loot stash, especially extraction shooters, such as Arc Raiders and Escape From Tarkov. Essentially, it refers to players who have successfully acquired rare items — either through lucky loot finds, grinding for resources, or by killing other players or tough PvE enemies — but have become too afraid of losing their hard-earned equipment. So it sits in their inventories, unused and unloved, acting as a private trophy.

Problem is, that's quite boring. Using rare weapons and gear is fun. These things are rare for a reason, which means they’re usually extremely powerful, so while you could be caught unawares by someone with a free loadout solely looking for PvP fights, you're going to have the upper hand in the majority of fights if you play cautiously. Unfortunately, now that we know more about how expeditions work in Arc Raiders, it turns out players are being rewarded more for hoarding their loot and not using it. That feels antithetical to the spirit of the game, and poorly rationalized by Embark Studios.

To keep players on a level playing field, extraction shooters often perform server wipes, where every player........

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