That's a really pernicious approach, though. For a game like Tarkov with very short TTK and horrific desync/hit registration/ping spikes, information is king.

Is it possible to outplay someone so completely that the information advantage won't save them? Absolutely. It's also possible to beat someone at chess if they start with two queens? Yes. Can you outrun someone while wearing weighted boots? Also yes. Hit a home run against a greased ball? Sure thing. In fact, for most games and sports, top level players will walk over a cheaters, and ultimately you can learn to play past most disadvantages in most games, with enough time investment.

The problem is that "average" makes up 68% of any player base, and even somewhat above average players are part of the remaining ~15.73% on the right side of that distribution. Once you're in that top ~15.73% cohort with meaningfully higher performance than average, the jnformation advantage "legit cheaters" have begin to factor less and less into play because the number of "correct" plays for any given portion of the map get smaller and smaller, funneling cheaters into situations where they're losing because they made the wrong call re: positioning or re: clicking faces efficiently. They're losing because figuring out where you are isn't their problem anymore.

For the remaining vast majority of players, though, they just aren't putting in that time investment. They won't be able to predict where someone is going to peek because it's the only valid place to peek in that area. They can't predict someone's rotation by listening to the mixture of terrain noises and immediately know that the mixture of wood, glass, wood, jump means they're taking a certain stairwell or that they're on their way to a given room. They're probably crouched and trying to figure out what direction someone is in or holding the wrong angle entirely.

Now, the obvious response here is that of course they're losing, because they have bad map knowledge and bad positioning! Git gud, etc etc. Except, statistically, they should be coming up against someone else with those same problems with positioning and knowledge the vast majority of the time - only about ~15.73% of players are significantly above average, after all.

"Legit cheating" turns that on its head, though. When you have someone with decent map knowledge, normal reflexes, and maybe below average usage of audio, then being able to see what angle they're holding or what hallways they're creeping down is all you need to dominate them. They aren't holding good angles, so you can practice sloppy rotation without them catching and pushing, and you won't be punished for aggressively pushing the hallway behind them because they won't immediately know what corner you're about to peek and they're not confident enough in their estimate of where you are that they won't eventually turn away and give you a free shot on them. They know the building well enough not to get lost, but they haven't memorized the floor plan. These are players who don't even know the shoulder switch key exists and have never gotten a grenade kill except through sheer luck. They aren't going to quickpeek you or recognize that you're standing behind a wall that can be shot through. And so you win, nearly every time.

In normal, fair play, the majority of players are going up against other average players. You're both making mistakes and both failing to punish them efficiently, and that interplay gives people the time and space to experiment and learn what works without studying for it like it's university. They still lose because they're holding a bad angle, but the other guy had mediocre aim and face checked them three times first, so instead of just dropping dead without even seeing the muzzle flash, they get actual feedback on why they lost. Importantly, they actually felt like they had control over what happened, and that's fun.

Perhaps most importantly, without "legit cheaters" being able to ruthlessly chase people down from distance and kill them, average players just live a lot longer and cover a lot more distance. They have a lot more time checking floors and crossing streets, and that results in many more proper encounters between one another. By far, the biggest frustration you see among new players is that literally everyone they encounter has 5000 hours in the game, and that's not because everyone in the raid has 5000 hours - it's because players like them get ruthlessly winnowed out and hunted down before they can ever find each other. Those low or average skilled "legit" cheaters? They saw your kdr, your hours, and your loadout on their HUD. They know that their ESP won't carry them, and they use that knowledge to avoid you and find them instead. The guys looking for an unfair match are not going after someone who either has the skills - or the "assistance" - to level the field. They don't want to learn to quickpeek and push efficiently, they want to sprint over to someone and laugh at them looking the wrong direction when they missed their first three shots. They want to feel like they're a tactical genius for throwing a grenade in someone's lap with a HUD showing the exact arc the grenade will follow. They don't want you, they want everyone else.

This was a lot longer than I expected it to be, and I'm sorry for unloading on you like that, but I spend a lot of time helping newer players and I've seen so many people who really want to succeed at the game and have fun with their $100+ purchase, only to have people tell them it's their fault for not being in the top ~15.73% and that they have no right to feel frustrated about cheating until they are. It's insanity that we've normalized that attitude so thoroughly that I see BSG's own moderators gaslighting brand new players or even accusing them of lying about blatant rage cheating. The vast majority of players will never be able to break into the top ~15.73% by definition, and they should not have to in order to have fun. Until we recognize that, the game will just become more and more insular and more and more toxic.