XDefiant is handing out participation trophies, and it should be a feature in every online FPS

In children’s sports, participation trophies are handed out to emphasize teamwork and fun and place less importance on winning. But in the cutthroat servers of XDefiant, these badges of shame are handed out with savage ruthlessness. So, the goal of Ubisoft’s FPS is not only to dominate the competition but to do so while contributing to the cause. Because if you suck, the game will call you out using various demoralizing labels, as shared by some players on social media.

Over on Reddit, u/marshmellow277 shared an image of their character on the post-match screen. Now, typically, the panel at the bottom displays your biggest contribution during the match, whether it was an abnormally high KD ratio, the number of kills you got, or the score you earned. Theirs, however, simply read “helped.” Yes, if you’ve ever received this label at any point, that means your match contributions were so meaningless that the game had trouble picking out even one redeeming quality.

But “helped” isn’t the only soul-crushing participation trophy that XDefiant can hand out to players. Some also commented getting one that said “ran around,” “tried,” “moral support,” and my personal favorite, “showed up.” That’s the in-game equivalent of being marked present for a class. Now, even though these labels can knock the confidence out of any new player, they still give the game a touch of novelty that any online FPS could use.

Of course, it’s hard to imagine CoD, Valorant, or CS2 devs employing this feature in their game because most fans would probably call them out for copying XDefiant. However, it’s at least something to keep in mind for any future FPS (maybe Black Ops 6?), especially since it could potentially lower toxicity in lobbies. After all, the game would practically be doing all the trash-talking for you once a match ends.

Before you hop back in, check out our guides on the best XDefiant loadouts and class setups and the best XDefiant factions ranked. This way, you can play with the ideal builds that won’t get you labeled with these participation trophies.