Helldivers 2 Players Have Begun A Violent Revolt

Arrowhead Game Studios recently apologized to "Helldivers 2" players, laying out plans for sweeping changes to everything from gameplay balance to overall performance. This new roadmap has the potential to make "Helldivers 2" better than ever, but it isn't being rolled out fast enough to prevent the rise of a new player-controlled faction. The Chaosdivers have arrived.

A sizable chunk of the playerbase is currently unhappy with the state of "Helldivers 2," and though they've been plenty vocal about their feelings online, they've now decided to take their protests into the game itself. These players have started calling themselves "Chaosdivers," and their new faction is dedicated to seeing Super Earth brought to its knees. When put against the meta-narrative of "Helldivers 2," the Chaosdivers are a genuinely interesting concept, especially because they've been created by the game's community. Unfortunately, many Chaosdivers have decided that the best way to actually stage their revolt against Super Earth is to start killing all of their teammates and ruin as many missions as possible.

The Chaosdivers are still a fledgling faction, having only recently set up their own dedicated subreddit and truly organizing. This means that most players who encounter them in a match don't know what they're walking into.

The rest of the "Helldivers 2" community is still trying to wrap their heads around why many of these Chaosdivers have started abusing the game's friendly fire mechanics and offing their own teammates. As the faction's name implies, there isn't a central authority handing out orders. In fact, over on the Chaosdiver subreddit, a moderator has pinned a post explaining, "I feel the need to reiterate that team killing is expressly banned and anyone that is found to be advocating for team killing on this sub will be banned. We are here for fun not ruin [sic] others."

The problem is that the Chaosdivers lack an overall sense of direction right now. Many just want to make their concerns about the game known, and they want to be disruptive enough to get Arrowhead's attention. Within the universe of the game, the Chaosdivers are roleplaying as soldiers rebelling against Super Earth and purposefully trying to fail some of the current Major Orders. They obviously don't all believe that teamkilling is the best way to achieve their goals, but it already looks like the faction's reputation is going to be forever tied to its most toxic members.

All the teamkilling is a serious problem, but ironically it highlights one of the issues with the latest update to the game. "Escalation of Freedom" finally added a system to deal with toxic players, including those who kill their own teammates, but the system doesn't work well enough to discourage bad behavior. Chaosdivers are mostly concerned with the balance issues in "Helldivers 2," but they've inadvertently highlighted another area where Arrowhead has fallen behind. Without a surefire way to deal with the Chaosdivers in-game, players are posting their pleas on Reddit.

If you've been playing "Helldivers 2" for a while now, then this new community-created conflict is probably giving you Malevelon Creek flashbacks. So-called "Creekers" became so focused on fighting in that one specific area that they stopped pursuing Major Orders, which caused tension in the community and generated tons of posts and memes. The Creekers eventually moved on, and the "Helldivers 2" community created new factions and conflicts, so the same thing could happen here. However, most Chaosdivers aren't just roleplaying purely for the sake of enjoyment; they're trying to send a clear message to Arrowhead about how they feel towards the most recent updates. Even though the Chaosdivers arguably aren't going about things in the right way, Arrowhead might still need to respond if it wants to win back the many "Helldivers 2" players who've left the game.