camping, why does everyone hate it

[MetallicaRulez0]

Camping is not fun for the person camping nor the person being camped on. Games are supposed to be fun. Sitting in a corner waiting for people to walk by is not my idea of fun. It's also cowardly. The only reason it's a "tactic" in real life is because you DIE if you get shot in real life. You don't die if you get shot in a video game. Play to have fun.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

People hate campers because it's an easy technique that tends to slow down gameplay to a crawl.

I once had a pub game where EVERYONE camped. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. It was the most boring game I've ever played. The only time anyone was ever killed on either team was when they got tired of no one coming to their spot, and decided to move. Seriously, the game ended with less that 2000 points for either team, in a TDM game that goes to 7500.

That's why everyone hates campers.

I've had games like that before, you aren't kidding about how boring it gets.

OT: I think it's a hold over from the old arena style FPS's, where everyone spawned with a melee weapon and a really weak gun. Spawn camping in those games was incredibly cheap, because not only were you disoriented from spawning, but your guns were useless in a stand up fight. Fixing that part of getting spawn-camped is really the best thing about the game design change from the old arena style shooters to today's class-based shooters.

The most recent game I've played where spawn camping was a serious problem was Half Life 2: Deathmatch, which is still very much an old style game, and also over half a decade old at this point. In modern games, the temporary disorientation still makes it annoying, but it's not anywhere near as bad as it used to be, since the guns you start out with are the ones you chose in the first place. Heck, if you play TF2, spawn camping isn't cheap at all -- the enemy team can't kill you as soon as you spawn, they can only box you into the spawn area, which is a perfectly legitimate strategy.

 

[elcamino41383]

Clever camping like what you've said OP can be fine, but when you have a guy just sitting in the corner of a room for the entire match waiting for someone to come by, but even after killing someone, never moves. It's annoying because that guy isn't in the fray he's just in a corner on the map.

This is the type of crap people pull in Plunder Matches on Uncharted 2 multiplayer. This mode is basically a capture the flag mode. I've played quite a few matches where the other team goes to my base and just waits for my team to show up and kill us so we can't manage to get the treasure(flag) in our base. This team also never attempts to get the treasure and bring it to theirs. They basically just kill farm, which is not all that beneficial in this game mode because you get so much more money for capturing the treasure and so little money for kills. This is the type of camping people hate.

 

[Grey_Focks]

depends on the situation. spawn camper? go fuck yourself, or more accurately, fuck the devs who made a game where this can happen. The camping you described in a gametype where it's appropriate? Go for it, seems like a fine strategy, but don't you go complaining when someone who knows what they're doing flanks you and shoves semtex up your pooper. Camping in games where there isn't much point, or if your camping in games where it COULD make a difference, but your just in a random spot getting kills? Again, go fuck yourself, you're not contributing anything to your team and are just being a pest.

anyway, I always expect campers in CoD games, and they can be annoying, but not too much unless they fall into a "go fuck yourself" category. I think most of the resentment towards camping that doesn't fall into one of those categories exists because it's a pretty easy strategy, and it honestly doesn't require much, if any, skill. I don't share that sentiment, but meh, live with it I guess.

Knifers can go burn in the special hell, though.

 

[PeePantz]

Clever camping like what you've said OP can be fine, but when you have a guy just sitting in the corner of a room for the entire match waiting for someone to come by, but even after killing someone, never moves. It's annoying because that guy isn't in the fray he's just in a corner on the map.

My camping is short, I'll run to a spot, look around, wait for a minute and run off. If I kill someone I'll stand up and move on. Most of the time I have a shotgun and am running around point blanking people in the face.


It's the same problem when you play Rush in Bad Company 2, your entire team is snipers and you gotta set the bombs, but they're just on a hill sniping. How does that help your team? It doesn't.

And that's where camping becomes a problem, when you're not helping your team. You're just worried about your K/D and cowering in a hole hoping to pick off a few unsuspecting people so you can brag to your friends about your 3.1 KD.

I agree almost 100%. However, with your definition of "clever camping", I don't agree with because I don't view it as camping. Camping initially meant an asshole who would stay in one spot regardless of the action, and hide. Occasionally, they would get a kill or two, but they would have zero impact on their team. In games like Counter Strike, where you had to hunt down the very last player, this got so annoying and tedious when they were just sitting behind a crate.

The term, which is most certainly negative, became overused by inferior players who would cry about anything. A legit tactic like baiting? Fucking campers! Defending an object? Fucking campers! Sniping? Fucking campers! Taking cover? Fucking campers! None of these are camping and it really attributes to the fact we don't want to take blame for our own downfalls.

 

[PeePantz]

This is the type of crap people pull in Plunder Matches on Uncharted 2 multiplayer. This mode is basically a capture the flag mode. I've played quite a few matches where the other team goes to my base and just waits for my team to show up and kill us so we can't manage to get the treasure(flag) in our base. This team also never attempts to get the treasure and bring it to theirs. They basically just kill farm, which is not all that beneficial in this game mode because you get so much more money for capturing the treasure and so little money for kills. This is the type of camping people hate.

So they're defending a flag? If you owned a jewelry store in Detroit, would you hire a security guard?

I think it's just team strategy. Yeah, they could individually get more money by being a runner, but if they all were like that, they would all lose and probably make a lot less money in the long run.

 

[Benny Blanco]

There's some confusion between Snipers and Campers here- a truly effective sniper (both IRL and in FPS games) gets mobile fast after shooting people from anything under a quarter of a mile.

Remember that story about the guy in Iraq with a scoped AK47 and a pushbike who kept a platoon of US Marines pinned down for ages? He'd pop a couple of them, get down from his spot, pedal to a new one, then hit them from another angle while they wondered why the hell they were taking fire from a completely different direction.

That's a skill.

Most campers are just mooks who like to sit in a spot with restricted access where they can see passing enemies. As previous posters mentioned, this is OK (admirable even) if you're defending an objective but otherwise incredibly cheap.

 

[Lonan]

I prefer to camp because it covers my flanks, rather than just running out and shooting at people who have far more experience than I do.

 

[Nicarus]

I don't really hate camping, but it's annoying when people camp somewhere that gives them an uneven advantage (spawn points, landing areas you can't automatically react to, etc.). A sniper picking a roost to snipe from is one thing, but going behind a spawn point where no one can fight back is another subject entirely.

 

[CarbonEagle]

Well what your describing isn't camping, i'd say thats strategy. If you can kill them again cause they're assuming your camping more power to you.
It may be a little underhanded but apparently alls fair in love and war. (Its probably also hilarious)

 

[bassdrum]

ive decided to come out the closet about being a camper. infact let me rephrase that, ive decided to stay inside the closet about being a camper, everyone knows us campers like to hide.

basically im a camper/ambusher, in blackops i have ghost pro with a silenced weapon, i hide somewhere plant a motion sensor, lure people into my sights with a decoy and shoot them like fish in a barrel. i then hide facing my original location and when they come back to get me they get a tomahawk in the back of thier head

this is camping at its worst it manipulates enemies and draws them into a trap ALTHOUGH camping is such a natural technique look at a mantis, a mantis will wait until its prey comes to it, likewise a spider sets up his web and awaits his prey. it works because its worked for millions of years. evolution is giving us campers a helping hand

just remember dont hate the player, hate the game

There's a difference between this and camping. Camping is an asshole with a shotgun waiting for people to come around a corner and not doing a damn thing to earn his kills. This, while I'm sure you've frustrated more than a few people, is ambushing--you EARN your kill by subverting your enemy's expectations and using it against them. Granted, I'm not going to enjoy getting killed by you any more than I enjoy getting camp, but I at least have to tip my hat to you for the cunning with which you pull off such maneuvers.

 

[blankedboy]

Well, I get called out for camping in games that require you to defend an objective, I thought that was my role?

It's better to actively defend multiple points. That's also alot more fun than just sitting in one place filling up the chat.

 

[Snotnarok]

Clever camping like what you've said OP can be fine, but when you have a guy just sitting in the corner of a room for the entire match waiting for someone to come by, but even after killing someone, never moves. It's annoying because that guy isn't in the fray he's just in a corner on the map.

My camping is short, I'll run to a spot, look around, wait for a minute and run off. If I kill someone I'll stand up and move on. Most of the time I have a shotgun and am running around point blanking people in the face.


It's the same problem when you play Rush in Bad Company 2, your entire team is snipers and you gotta set the bombs, but they're just on a hill sniping. How does that help your team? It doesn't.

And that's where camping becomes a problem, when you're not helping your team. You're just worried about your K/D and cowering in a hole hoping to pick off a few unsuspecting people so you can brag to your friends about your 3.1 KD.

I agree almost 100%. However, with your definition of "clever camping", I don't agree with because I don't view it as camping. Camping initially meant an asshole who would stay in one spot regardless of the action, and hide. Occasionally, they would get a kill or two, but they would have zero impact on their team. In games like Counter Strike, where you had to hunt down the very last player, this got so annoying and tedious when they were just sitting behind a crate.

The term, which is most certainly negative, became overused by inferior players who would cry about anything. A legit tactic like baiting? Fucking campers! Defending an object? Fucking campers! Sniping? Fucking campers! Taking cover? Fucking campers! None of these are camping and it really attributes to the fact we don't want to take blame for our own downfalls.

I like the guys who call you a [weapon]-noob. Shield noob! Shotgun noob! MP5noob! Backburner noob!

So what gun do I have permission to use? Which one is the pro weapon? The BB gun?

 

[The Stabilo Boss]

People hate camping because nobody likes dying without even getting a chance to see the other guy, when they have no chance to fight back. Does this mean you should stop camping? No, no-one's forcing you to stop. Just don't be surprised that people don't like it.

This effect is compounded when the dead player feels that the person who killed them isn't skilled at the game, and that, in a "fair" fight, they could win. That's why people hate campers more than snipers.

The other thing to consider is a case of the free rider effect, whereby campers don't contribute to achieving team objectives or to the game being fun for others. If everyone camped, nothing would happen, and every FPS would be awful - because of this, campers are relying on non campers to have fun, but not contributing anything themselves (ie. they are having fun at the expense of non-campers.)

So yeah, you have the right to keep camping, because it's a legitimate strategy. Other people have the right to get pissed off at you, because it's an annoying strategy.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

What you do is fine, since you actually lure people to your position. Not like other people ho hide in a corner for the whole game, and getting 5 kills. Because only 5 people walked past their corner. Now lets say you camp in a Highly populated area, where everyone walks by, thats fine since your camping in a strategic area. And Spawn camping is well LAME!!!

 

[Judgement101]

Well I just don't understand it, it seems like it would be boring to just sit there, I always thought of it as "FPS Trolling" but I could be wrong.

 

[brunothepig]

Camping is not a problem. As people have said, it's a legit tactic, people just get angry cause they were killed. I get a spectacular across the map shot with a rocket launcher, I get yelled at for using a noob tube. I knife someone, I get yelled at for... well, knifing. I headshot someone, I get yelled at for camping/sniping. You can't win in online play. People will *****.
Spawn camping however, is a cheap, pathetic tactic. Setting up shop one hundred metres away, go for it. I have nothing about that to say that people haven't. Shooting people as soon as they spawn, not cool.

 

[wizard_joe88]

hmmm... I don't know, I've never camped because I'm more of a run around kind of guy when it comes to online games, I guess it just feels kind of unfair to most people who play online games to get shoot in the back or meleed by some guy just standing behind it, of course, I can't really gauge my hate of campers cause I get mad at my deaths on a game no matter what(which is also the reason I'm never playing a non co-op mode on a video game with a microphone on)

 

[Valiance]

I generally play FPS games where camping is not rewarded. Standing still will only get you killed, and sniping is, while powerful, isn't usually the optimal course of action.

For example, there might be a few advantageous positions on the map that might work better for a long-range weapon to hit other key positions, but you need to leave your sniping position or else you lose the game. Like, in Quake Live, you can sit and camp all you want, but your armor and health slowly tick down from 200/200 to 100/100, about 1 each second. Armor respawns in 25 seconds (red, yellow, green, shard = +100/+50/+25/+5), and the Megahealth (+100) respawns in 35. If you want to win a duel, you will be attempting to control the armor and health on the map so your opponent cannot get it.

If you sit in a good sniping position, they can stay on the other end of the map, stock up on armor while your armor slowly decays, and eventually they will have a larger health/armor stack and be able to rush your position while you have less effective health than them.

Same thing in UT without the armor decay. But they'll eventually get the same 200/200 you have and ALSO grab the damage amp (90 second respawn I think? been a while since I did a UT2K4 duel). So if you're dicking around waiting for them to come, an intelligent player will get EVERYTHING they possibly can, and THEN come and mop the floor with you because you don't have the resources they have.

That said, if you aim incredibly well and dodge incredibly well, it doesn't matter if they have everything. You can negate their stack with a couple well-placed shots. However, if they are equally skilled as you, two of their shots will kill you instead of taking your armor down a bit.

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However, in a FFA or public game, people are terrible so you can just sit and camp and spam nades and probably win.

 

[Johnny Reb]

ohhhhhhh. ima dumb-ass. i thought you guys were talking about real camping. like out in the woods. now i know we all love that.