The sniper rifle or anti-material rifle: The ultimate small-arms level "stand off" weapon. From considerable distance, the skilled sharpshooter can score devastating one or two hit kills against unwary enemies. Dig in somewhere, keep your cool, and play your hand only when the opportunity knocks. Far as I've always known, the sniper rifle is a weapon that requires precision handling, extreme discipline, knowledge of physics and Earth effects, and Job-level patience. So what went wrong? Putting sniper rifles in a fast-paced video game...that's what went wrong. Again, I am going off of "far as I know" stuff regarding sniper rifles/anti-material rifles. The sniper rifle/anti-material rifle is not a run and gun weapon. But many game developers have taken that factoid and got around it with a simple "solution". Make the "aim down sight" function lightning fast. Honestly....that sucks. Starting all the way back with Halo (perhaps even earlier), the ability to raise a 20-30 lb. sniper rifle to your eye, precisely onto a target way in the distance with lighning speed has removed the strategic/distance tactical aspect from these rather cumbersome weapons. In a game like the Call of Duty series, especially starting with the Modern Warfare series, a player can just point their sniper rifle at a target with the on screen reticle, pull the ADS trigger (Aim Down Sight) and within a split second, aim and fire and generally score a headshot, often resulting in a 1HK (One Hit Kill). Some such players would call it "mad skillz". I call it "bullshit". To be able to raise such a weapon that quickly in real-life, and score such a precise hit would be extremely difficult. It's one thing to be able to do it with assault rifles and sub-machine guns...they are far lighter in weight and easier in handling. Sniper rifles? I doubt it. Bringing up the scope is one thing....leveling it on your target while standing still, or prone, is patience taxing enough. To do it while on the move? That could cost you precious seconds in real-life combat...and I doubt that any sane infantryman/sharpshooter would dare try to use a sniper rifle as a close quarters weapon. Alas, it is video games we speak of, and the "mad skilld" snipers can take down their targets with seemingly superhuman accuracy and speed. And it really gets annoying when you see your death in the enemy's kill cam, how they brought up the sniper rifle scope (while on the move) for just a split second, and scored a headshot. (If a .50 caliber weapon, a shot just about anywhere should kill you. So, I call further bullshit when I do try to score a center mass hit with a .50 cal sniper rifle, and the target survives!) Wanna know where these gamers get their "mad skillz"? Some players have resorted to creating little cheats like placing a small piece of Scotch tape on the center of their tv screen (after determining where their bullets go in a hip fire shot) so that they don't even have to raise the scope, and can score a "from the hip" 1HK. It also enables them to get a read on their target to bring up their scope and score a more guaranteed hit/kill. Alas, there is little to nothing that can be done to mitigate this problem. If you slow down the ADS time to something more akin to real life, (and then account for target acquisition in-scope) the sniper rifle fanboys will go into a rage that would be the envy of the most hardcore Trekkie/er complaining about what they think is an asspull. Some games have removed the hipfire reticle from sniper rifles, which, ideally, should make it impossible for a run'n'gun sniper player to score a precise hit on a target, no matter how close the target is. Again, some gamers place a small square of Scotch tape on the center of their tv's to take care of that sore little inconvenience. To do this, they'd have to go to the game's virtual target range, or play a botz game where they can almost safely "zero in" their sniper rifles for hip-fire so they can place the Scotch tape. Some games like Destiny and the latter Call of Duty games have added "lens glint" to their multiplayer so that players being targeted by a sniper can see the sunlight glint off the sniper's scope in the distance (assuming the players have line of sight in the general direction of the sniper). At least in the Battlefield: Bad Company games, snipers are relegated to more real-world limitations, but that is because the nature of the Bad Company games are more goal oriented rather than just twitchy, run'n'gun gameplay. Sadly, at this point, the poison has worked its way so far into the body of gaming that anything that is done to mitigate the overwhelming advantage that "twitch" snipers have will be met with fanboyish resistance. "Hey, you took away my best weapon and skillz!" Anyhoo....that's my rant.
My favorite thing to do in the Team Fortress games was to play as the Spy, masquerading as a Medic, and then stab Snipers to death while they hid in their nests. It was fun.
Cowards have to be represented too, not everyone can play the game properly. Spies, snipers, campers etc
For as long as action shooters don't impose penalties while using/carrying Sniper rifles like significantly reduced Speed or turning rate (or even a mandatory Scope shooting where it takes a second or so to actually bring up the scope) players will abuse quickscoping. So accept the fact that there will be no change to Call of Duty & Co. and look for some good tactial shooters (are there any on the market right now?)
I used to love hunting snipers in Battlefield: Bad Company/Bad Company 2. Sometimes I would detect them by chatter over headsets...other times, I'd catch them if they had been spotted by a sensor ball, or if they moved slightly. When I could, I'd sneak up behind them and knife 'em. Very fun. The camping issue (and to some degree, the snipers) have been dealt with in current games where, when you die, you are shown the location of your killer. (That generally should discourage camping.) However....see below. \/ Agreed. The big thing is, the game companies seemed to think: We have to make sniper rifles tasty for players to use, because if we make them based on real-world handling, no one will pick them for use. Thus the quickscopes. Like I said, the well has already been poisoned. Until there are some good tac-shooters out there that appeal to folk who are a bit more grounded in real-world play, we'll just have to grin and bear it. (I always take a bit of pride in whenever I do kill a sniper that thinks he got the drop on me. ) And no idea if there are any good tac-shooters available right now. I used to love playing Rainbow Six Vegas. I don't think there were any sniper rifles in that game. Eagerly awaiting the next R6 game. As I said before, I did like how sniper rifles were handled in the BF:BC series.
And carrying around 9 different weapons like in Doom is realisitc? At the end of the day it's just a game and the more futuristic ones might have advanced tech that makes them easier to use
I agree the realism shouldn't matter too much, but the sniper rifle has been annoying pretty much forever. Even if it couldn't be fired from the hip it still means you wind up playing a game of staring down a scope to pick off guys at long distance. Not exactly fun if you are the sniper, and a lot less fun if you are the sniped being shot by something you can't even get near. One of the many reasons I do not play games online at all,ever, anymore.
I liked how Star Trek: Elite Force/EF2 addressed that particular nit... Portable pattern buffers that stored the information of whatever weapons you carried/acquired.
ARMA, been thinking about giving that a try. Honestly, I love the fast paced, unrealistic shooters as much as anyone. Eventually, I've gotten to the point where I can deal with (redacted) snipers, but the quickscope abuse still gets annoying. The ones who do it call it skillz. I call it exploiting a technical oversight....almost akin to "glitching". Ah well... I scores my killz and takes my deathz like anyone else. (And thank God I don't have my mic on during Crucible or other deathmatch games, because the string of curses I let fly would make a priest think there was no hope for my soul.)
I played it back when it was Operation Flashpoint, there were so many exploits in that game to mess with the ragdolls and vehicles it was insane. Hitting a logistics ship with a slight tap could send it 60 knots in the direction but dump it, prow or not, even send it inland, and god if that thing hit a tree, it went airborne. The guns were useless, so explosives were the best bet, and those just messed with the map even worse.
If you want realism-realism (as opposed to "realism"), enlist. If you have a problem with quickscoping and auto aim abuse, play a traditional PC FPS.
Yeah, that always seem to be the problem, when a new ARMA game comes out. They always screw up the physics. Then it gets better after a few patches. Yep. I remember killing myself with an enemy UAZ in one of the attack helicopter missions. I shot at a convoy, UAZ was launched into the air and it fell on my helicopter.
I did my time, thank you. 8 years, with pride. Ah, yes, the old "if you have a problem with it, go play something else" tack. Never said it stopped me from playing. Also, to my knowledge, auto aim is disabled in multi-player. (Some gutless hackers might be able to get auto-aim happening in PC versions of such games, but in console versions, auto-aim in multiplayer is usually disabled.) In truth, I suppose I can't really say too much about people taking advantage of a glitch, or rather, playing the game in a way that the developers may not have intended. When I play Elder Scrolls Oblivion or Skyrim, I use the "wait" feature as a means to let me know if enemies are nearby. If the wait feature cannot be used, it means an enemy is close by. Same thing with the VATS system in Fallout. Sometimes when walking through an open, yet cluttered area, I'll keep trying to trigger VATS. If the VATS engages, it means someone (not necessarily an enemy) is in extreme range. Of course, this is PvE, so that doesn't bother me, and I doubt the AI NPC's have much to say about it.
I was (mostly) being facetious. Default assisted aiming (and/or actual auto aim in some cases) in console based shooters, multiplayer or not, is a thing and it's here to stay. It's the mainstream way to play. It's possible to seek out games without or with optional aim assist, sure, it's just not the norm in the AAA space with controller based input, lead dev platforms being consoles.
Yeah....it's fodder for those who like to brag about KB/M control on PC's. Now, if they could integrate KB/M control on consoles...that would be something. PS3 once had a keypad/mouse controller, but it didn't handle so well...still felt more like a right analog stick rather than a mouse. Maybe I didn't have the sensitivity set right. Ha ha.... I've had that one twice. Stripped the first one down for parts and Ex Shard. Working on the second's ADS Camouflage perk as we speak. Even though I rarely use snipers in PvP.....I mostly use it in PvE...especially Prison of Elders against the end bosses.... my favorite is Ice Breaker. (Regenerating ammo)