Camping

Recommended Videos

RYjet911

New member
May 11, 2008
501
0
0
We all know what camping is. That fun activity of setting up a tent, drinking a few beers around a small fire/barbeque with friends, generally having a good laugh.

So why is camping in games, FPS games in particular although other forms of it exist in other genres like turtling in RTS games for example, seen by most as such a horrible tactic to do?

Please excuse me if this topic has cropped up numerous times, I just decided to make my own thread for a change, and couldn't see anything in the first few pages before posting this.

Let's use Counter Strike as an example, a game which to me camping would be one of the most used tactics. Instead, if anyone stands still for more than point 2 of a second they'll be kicked for camping. This is a game which involves sneaking around a level attempting to either find and disarm a bomb or rescue hostages, yet people get pissed at campers.

Now, I hear people claim it as a 'noob' or 'cheap' tactic, and true, walking a long distance only to get killed by someone sitting round a corner is particularly infuriating, but isn't it more the fault of the player who got killed for not checking for 'campers'?

Using CS again, the terrorist's job in a hostage match is to prevent the counter terrorists from rescuing the hostages. Yet what I normally see is the terrorists attempting to get into a firefight with the CT as soon as humanly possible. Surely the sneaky, waiting for the CT to approach tactic would be the best option given their objective?

And it isn't just Counter Strike, as anyone who's played a first person shooter game will know. The term camper is used in almost every FPS available, along with the terms 'hardcore', 'noob' and 'teabag' but those are seperate issues. Looking at Unreal Tournament, people can be called a camper in that if they remain within the same square mile of ingame territory for more than twenty seconds, even moreso if they're using a tank to defend a point. Again, defending is a time when camping is the most likely of used tactics, so why don't the affected players learn to check corners before poking their heads round?

Even worse, in Team Fortress 2, I saw one person complaining that the enemy snipers, demos, engineers and pyros were camping the final control point. At that moment I felt a small part of me die inside. I decided to then switch to go from construction to demolition and own the shit out of the guy stupid enough to make that comment multiple times.

But my ultimate question is this, Escapist: What do you think of camping as a tactic? Bad all round? Perfect whenever? Depends on the situation? Hopefully my comments point towards the last answer, it being a perfectly valid solution towards helping defend a point, although if you should be attacking, camping is the last thing either you or your teammates should be doing, considering you're SUPPOSED to be pressing forward.
 

Jumplion

New member
Mar 10, 2008
7,873
0
0
I remember I made a sort of "definition" of camping in a long ago thread before, hang on I'll dig it up.

BEHOLD!

Jumplion said:
I think we should esablish "rules" for these things, and I feel like doing some right now.

Infact....

CAMPING: The act of staying in one spot for an excessive period of time, often for a whole match. Not to be confused with Defending or Sniping, Camping does not have an objective to justify the act of said Camping. Motivations of Camping include, raising Kill:Death ratio, being a dick, knowing that people usually come in the area of the camper.
EXCEPTIONS: Game modes requiring camping (which would be considered Defending), Games that encourage Camping (Metal Gear Online), a newbie at the game at which until said newbie gets good enough to go out on his or her own, a maximum or 2 kills and if streched 3 kills while camping. An enemy chasing you and you quickly hiding and poping out will be considered escape and defense and not condemn you of camping. Camping in a key building or structure that is essential for winning shall not be considered Camping but be considered Outsource Defending
EXAMPLE: A man staying in one spot with a shotgun the whole entire match in Call of Duty 4. This man popped out every time someone was near and quickly rushed back to his "heaven". His spot was the perfect place to throw back grenades and sheild himself from bullets. As a result, this man ranked up the most kills. This is considered camping as there was neither a mode or objective to justify this behavior.

DEFENDING: Although similar to Camping but not to be confused with it, Defending requires an objective to justify the player staying in one spot often for an entire match. If however, you have a shotgunner far away from the actual objective and staying in one spot, that shall be considered Camping. As a result of this, weapons must be in reasonable fireing range for this to be considered Defending. Examples of this would be, Snipers on high ledges or other appropriate spots facing the objective or entrances (either outside or inside of the objective) of said objective, shotgunners near objective or possibly near entrances of said objective, Assault rifles near shotgunners or near entrances, etc... Defensive spot can be anywhere near or outside while still within reasonable distance of the objective.
EXCEPTIONS: A single or possibly group of people far away from the objective. What constitutes as far away from objective is debatable, but usually accross the map is a bit to far. Men/Women on the other side of the map staying in one spot instead of near the objective shall be considered camping.

SNIPING: While very similar to Camping, it must not be confused with Camping but can be a result of Defending. A Sniper is a person who chooses a Sniper Rifle type weapon for medium to long range attacks. Depending on the type of Sniper Rifle (Semi-Automatic, Bolt-Action) the person weilding said Sniper Rifle cannot move too much for fear of being caught in CQB which is the Sniper Rifles weakness in some cases. A Sniper can stay in one spot for an entire match provided that he or she does not exploit glitches to give the Sniper and unfair advantage.
EXCEPTIONS: Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifles in some cases, staying in one spot not suited for a Sniper Rifle in an attempt of getting "No Scopes" and "One-Shot-Kills" while staying in that one spot shall be considered Camping, an enemy coming up behind the Sniper and the Sniper using his Rifle for CQB for defense.

OUTSOURCE DEFENDING: Outsource Defending, while also similar to camping, is staying in one spot which is not near the objective but staying in a key spot for victory such as a Building or a Spawn Point. However, once you gain control of said Key Point, depending on the Key Point taken, staying in there can be considered Camping. If there are other Key Points (bases to be caputred) then staying at one can be considered both Camping and Defending which is why spotting Outsource Defending so difficult.

I love doing this! Anyone else have more?
These are just loose "definitions" of these terms, or atleast how I see them.
 

RYjet911

New member
May 11, 2008
501
0
0
Jumplion said:
I remember I made a sort of "definition" of camping in a long ago thread before, hang on I'll dig it up.

BEHOLD!

Jumplion said:
I think we should esablish "rules" for these things, and I feel like doing some right now.

Infact....

CAMPING: The act of staying in one spot for an excessive period of time, often for a whole match. Not to be confused with Defending or Sniping, Camping does not have an objective to justify the act of said Camping. Motivations of Camping include, raising Kill:Death ratio, being a dick, knowing that people usually come in the area of the camper.
EXCEPTIONS: Game modes requiring camping (which would be considered Defending), Games that encourage Camping (Metal Gear Online), a newbie at the game at which until said newbie gets good enough to go out on his or her own, a maximum or 2 kills and if streched 3 kills while camping. An enemy chasing you and you quickly hiding and poping out will be considered escape and defense and not condemn you of camping. Camping in a key building or structure that is essential for winning shall not be considered Camping but be considered Outsource Defending
EXAMPLE: A man staying in one spot with a shotgun the whole entire match in Call of Duty 4. This man popped out every time someone was near and quickly rushed back to his "heaven". His spot was the perfect place to throw back grenades and sheild himself from bullets. As a result, this man ranked up the most kills. This is considered camping as there was neither a mode or objective to justify this behavior.

DEFENDING: Although similar to Camping but not to be confused with it, Defending requires an objective to justify the player staying in one spot often for an entire match. If however, you have a shotgunner far away from the actual objective and staying in one spot, that shall be considered Camping. As a result of this, weapons must be in reasonable fireing range for this to be considered Defending. Examples of this would be, Snipers on high ledges or other appropriate spots facing the objective or entrances (either outside or inside of the objective) of said objective, shotgunners near objective or possibly near entrances of said objective, Assault rifles near shotgunners or near entrances, etc... Defensive spot can be anywhere near or outside while still within reasonable distance of the objective.
EXCEPTIONS: A single or possibly group of people far away from the objective. What constitutes as far away from objective is debatable, but usually accross the map is a bit to far. Men/Women on the other side of the map staying in one spot instead of near the objective shall be considered camping.

SNIPING: While very similar to Camping, it must not be confused with Camping but can be a result of Defending. A Sniper is a person who chooses a Sniper Rifle type weapon for medium to long range attacks. Depending on the type of Sniper Rifle (Semi-Automatic, Bolt-Action) the person weilding said Sniper Rifle cannot move too much for fear of being caught in CQB which is the Sniper Rifles weakness in some cases. A Sniper can stay in one spot for an entire match provided that he or she does not exploit glitches to give the Sniper and unfair advantage.
EXCEPTIONS: Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifles in some cases, staying in one spot not suited for a Sniper Rifle in an attempt of getting "No Scopes" and "One-Shot-Kills" while staying in that one spot shall be considered Camping, an enemy coming up behind the Sniper and the Sniper using his Rifle for CQB for defense.

OUTSOURCE DEFENDING: Outsource Defending, while also similar to camping, is staying in one spot which is not near the objective but staying in a key spot for victory such as a Building or a Spawn Point. However, once you gain control of said Key Point, depending on the Key Point taken, staying in there can be considered Camping. If there are other Key Points (bases to be caputred) then staying at one can be considered both Camping and Defending which is why spotting Outsource Defending so difficult.

I love doing this! Anyone else have more?
These are just loose "definitions" of these terms, or atleast how I see them.
That is a pretty damn good definition of each thing, and I pretty much completely agree with your statements. It just pisses me off on games when people start spamming "SO AND SO IS A CAMPING NOOB" because they got killed by them a few times in a similar place, especially during defending scenarios it just plain pisses me off.

EDIT: Also, how do I perform spoilers which have different text to click on?
 

MrHappy255

New member
Mar 10, 2008
82
0
0
Gestapo Hunter said:
Camping is a tactic. thats how ambush and sniping works
Ambush is different from camping in a game where you just sit and wait for someone to respawn. If you are in hiding and sniping that is not camping but in the real world snipers are often repositioning after each shot so that they cannot be easily found.
 

Erana

New member
Feb 28, 2008
8,010
0
0
If it ruins the fun for those with good sportsmanship, than by all means, condemn it!
 

Kermi

Elite Member
Nov 7, 2007
2,538
0
41
I never condemn camping, though it can be frustrating. If I'm playing Halo 3 and the same dude kills me multiple times because he's camping the same area with the shotgun, then shame on me. I should be learning - hamsters can do it, why can't I?
I only dislike campers when they camp or snipe spawn points. There's nothing more frustrating than respawning in the path of a bullet.
 

ChromeAlchemist

New member
Aug 21, 2008
5,865
0
0
Kermi said:
I never condemn camping, though it can be frustrating. If I'm playing Halo 3 and the same dude kills me multiple times because he's camping the same area with the shotgun, then shame on me. I should be learning - hamsters can do it, why can't I?
I only dislike campers when they camp or snipe spawn points. There's nothing more frustrating than respawning in the path of a bullet.
there u go. Was going to say the same thing tbh, if they are camping in a similar place then find a way to get round it. if you sit in the same place for more than, say, a minute though without a sniping weapon then its obviously camping, but im not just going to run into the same place and moan when i get mowed down.

Anyhu i seem to play CoD 4 most of the time now, and camping is the least of my worries....its those damn random nades and hax!!
 

blood77

New member
Apr 23, 2008
611
0
0
Kermi said:
I never condemn camping, though it can be frustrating. If I'm playing Halo 3 and the same dude kills me multiple times because he's camping the same area with the shotgun, then shame on me. I should be learning - hamsters can do it, why can't I?
I only dislike campers when they camp or snipe spawn points. There's nothing more frustrating than respawning in the path of a bullet.
I agree, if a person is hiding out in a room with a rocket launcher and you happen to run in there and get killed, the basic thing for any one to do would be to avoid the room. Yet if you never get that chance to enter the room because the man with the rocket launcher kills you just as you spawn then that is just wrong.
 

Lt. Dragunov

New member
Sep 25, 2008
537
0
0
camping is fine in some games SOME. Like socom camping is ok there, but in games like cod4, camping is an auto dick move, mainly if your campin with a shootgun.
 

dnv2

New member
Nov 12, 2007
81
0
0
If I stay in the same place for more than too long without moving I tend to cramp up...oh wait that's real life... 8)
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
8,946
0
0
Hey, continue to camp in the same spot, I'll continue to toss grenades into your retarded hidey-hole until you get the hint. You'll get one kill out of me I admit, but that's it.
 

Firzen777

New member
Nov 15, 2008
13
0
0
Camping can almost ALWAYS be countered so I find it a valid tactic. There are things like spawn camping which can be really bad. If anyone has played TF2 surf before, they will know what I mean (sentries set up at other spawn).
 

RYjet911

New member
May 11, 2008
501
0
0
Firzen777 said:
Camping can almost ALWAYS be countered so I find it a valid tactic. There are things like spawn camping which can be really bad. If anyone has played TF2 surf before, they will know what I mean (sentries set up at other spawn).
Although to be fair surf games are hardly real TF2 games. CS:S Surf is better anyway.

I find it especially funny to put a sentry up at the enemies' intel capture point, especially on the Yaaargh or Vikings or whatever it's called now custom map. Just funny to watch some guy run down with his intel only to fall to the mighty firepower of my turret!
 

Sporadic

New member
Sep 10, 2008
96
0
0
I don't mind it when the other players camp, heck, I do it sometimes, but I mean, if I can, I play a sniper, i'm not gona play that class and run around.
 

NeedAUserName

New member
Aug 7, 2008
3,803
0
0
I don't like camping snipers on my team. I feel a proper sniper should fire 3/4 rounds before moving on. As more then that just gives your position away to the enemy.
 

Lukeydoodly

New member
Sep 9, 2008
839
0
0
Camping is AWESOME.

On Call of Duty 4, I would get about 25 kills and 5 deaths a game just hiding out in the same 3 meter area the whole game. Some games I even went 15-0 staying at the spawn point sniping.

The people who hate campers think everything is about running and gunning, and to be honest they should stick with playing Halo with a mentality like that.

If I always get the most kills and least deaths camping why stop?
 

crimsondynamics

New member
Nov 6, 2008
359
0
0
Camping is a perfectly viable tactic. Most times when I'm most successful is when I camp. I last longer, I get more kills, and I die less. If that works better than running-and-gunning in the game, then why would I opt for a less effective strategy?

There are games where camping is frowned upon, such as Unreal Tournament 2004 (haven't played 3 yet) where if you remain within a fixed perimeter for too long, the game will advertise your position to everyone in the game. Clearly, the philosophy behind the gameplay frowns upon camping, so it would be counterproductive camping under such circumstances.

FPSs with different classes (such as Team Fortress) have the sniper. The sniper is supposed to be camping, not running around shooting enemies at point-blank range.

In any case, the player is only using the resources, classes, strategies and tactics available within the game to maximize his / her chances of survival or frag count. Depending on the game, camping may be effective and preferred.

Kermi said:
I never condemn camping, though it can be frustrating. If I'm playing Halo 3 and the same dude kills me multiple times because he's camping the same area with the shotgun, then shame on me. I should be learning - hamsters can do it, why can't I?
I only dislike campers when they camp or snipe spawn points. There's nothing more frustrating than respawning in the path of a bullet.
I think the fault for this partially lies with the level and / or game design.