Everybody's a Sniper...

[fedpayne]

My brother is a very fastidious person (did I just make a word up?) and he *loved* his sniping, particularly in Unreal Tournament. He just did it to the point of where it no longer became a game, just boring. He was frightened of the big wide world, and never played online, and his games of Unreal Tournament would consist of him playing on Facing Worlds, sitting atop one of the towers and sniping everything that appeared over the rise. It was literally unbelievable that he could take pleasure in doing that. I would sit in my room and listen to 'm-m-m-m-m-monster kill!' echoing from his room.

He finally stopped when he realised he'd just been sitting there doing that and nothing else for about an hour. He looked at his kills - 666! Freaky stuff. Anyway, snipers annoy me too. It's not more skilled to be a sniper. You say you need to move when your position has been compromised; when you're going forward your position is compromised ALL THE TIME.

 

[BaronAsh]

Actually the way it sniping should be done is like in Americas Army where you had to be in prone position and have your bipod deployed to shoot with any accuracy.(crappy game but had some amazingly good ideas)

Edit: How come a bunch of snipers in video games fire trace rounds?

 

[MrNeil]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.70729

Look, this one has a poll!

I would suggest that that was impolite.

As for me, I do not play sniper often because it does require a vesicon of skill when playing against people who know better. I have not got that skill. I do think people enjoy it because it is a little bit the griefer / bully position. The knowledge that someone is a little confused at the sudden interruption of decent game-play and probably uber gratifying for a lot of players.

It's because you are in that mid not noob but not advanced player section that you're seeing a lot of them. Once you start developing and perfecting strategies for players that think they are the sniping shat and a bag of doritos you will definitely notice them less (because you'll be getting rid of them quicker so they will change team roles so that their not dead as much)

As for actual sniping being rubbish. I always thought being a qualified military field sniper required a lot of skill. Maybe it is because so few are needed in the contemporary world that it is turning into a bit of a "shove the chaff out of the way" place in military culture?

The task is arduous and for most units, particularly the commando's and US equivalance, the training is almost unbearably tough but the role is primarily reconnaisance. A modern sniper in the field will most likely only fire three shots per tour. Yes that's three confirmed and those watching TV think you look cool but you probably spent 6 days on a hill before you pulled the trigger and after you did, the strike group will have moved in and done the rest of the work where the action is.

It pays the same as infantry and you rarely see the same action. Yes there is skill in the role and I have respect that as I do all my colleagues but in the end it is not the fashionably sleek and cool job that others view it as.

 

[MrNeil]

So nobody has any incredible one shot-5-kill sniper stories for me?

 

[Wargamer]

From my point of view, I like my action to be as calm and retard-free as humanely possible. Being on the other side of the level helps in that regard.

Plus, the whole "Run around like a spaz" thing is about as original as Halo. Sniping is (dare I say it) more realistic - real soldiers don't bounce up and down, spam grenades and spew bullets in every direction like some drunken Yank in an action movie. People seem to want Realism these days, and I don't blame them. Sniping feels like hard work (it often is), and that gives a sense of achievement. Yeah, it might not be fun for the poor sod who got head-shot out of nowhere, but nor is it particularly fun when I get ambushed by a shotgun point-blank and splattered across the wall. Being shot isn't fun. Deal with it.

 

[Slycne]

So nobody has any incredible one shot-5-kill sniper stories for me?

Do shooting a heli pilot in BF2 causing it to crash count?

I did nail 3 in a row in old 1.4 Counter Strike. 3 CTs picked the wrong time to all follow each other down the ramp.

As was said before I think Americas Army and Day of Defeat made good strides in limiting this, and for the most part any game that throws vehicles into the mix makes trying to only snipe less effective.

Arguments of skill aside people gravitate to sniping because it's a logical conclusion to wanting to maximize damage( sniper rifles are almost all ways the highest rated in damage for any given game) while minimizing risk.

As for the question of it being fun, I find knifing someone to be a lot more enjoyable then a head shot at 1000 yards.

 

[L3G10N]

My only problem with sniping is that effects Team based gameplay mechanics. In team based games, having more than 2 snipers is counterproductive for the team. When I play on a team with 6 snipers and 2 other w/assault weapons, it's painfully obvious that the others merely care only abut THEIR score and could care less about the overall outcome of the match. I cherish the rare occasions when I can find a balanced team to play with, because we are virtually unstoppable! I'll pick up a Sniper Rifle occasionally, , and I find that there is not much skill involved in lining up your shot from 180 meters (or whatever the case may be) away. And then moving to the next position. I just don't get the same thrill from sniping as I do from shoving a shotgun in someones face

 

[Heroic One]

Sniping is boring gameplay that I cannot comprehend people enjoy. Wee, I don't have to fight people... just click and blam. Isn't fighting people the reason for multiplayer? Why not just shoot AI then?

I don't like what it does to people, too.
Generally... bad snipers are utterly worthless cocky bastards, mediocre snipers are loud cocky bastardsand good snipers are smug cocky bastards.
Bleh!

That said, it's fun to bug the crap out of them as a Spy in TF2. Which is the only online shooter worth playing anyway.

 

[cainx10a]

I really don't have anything against 'Sniping whores', being able to use your environment properly would put them at a disadvantage, specially if they are on the offense team. Defense, well, that's what tools like the smoke nades/flashes and nade spams are for, to root out those pests

In any competitive match I have played in CS, a 'good' sniper can make the difference between losing and winning a round.

Yes, yes, it's not real-life, the same amount of talent and endurance shouldn't be in a game, because remember, game are supposed to offer an escape, and are supposed to be fun.

I hate game trying to mimic realism.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Edit: How come a bunch of snipers in video games fire trace rounds?

It's so they give away their position every time they fire, much like the way TF2 warps to the person who killed you when you die. Very helpful against campers.

 

[mr mcshiznit]

IDK about it taking more skill to kill some one when your a sniper. Your shooting at people who cant see or sometimes hit you. Would that not make killing a sniper a better test of skill?

 

[HardRockSamurai]

Sigh......I know how you feel. i guess people like the idea of ruining someone's day by putting a bullet in their brain when they're not looking. It's a cheap but effective way of killing people, plus it really pisses people off......

 

[MrNeil]

I'm not REALLY trying to slag off sniping lol. I wanted feedback from you all on how significant it has become in modern computer games and your average FPS online multiplayer. I also wanted to know if any of you could explain it's popularity beyond thinking it's "cool".

I still disagree with matches that are entirely sniper-based, i.e. shotty snipes etc. Not because it's unrealistic but because it's unfair to skilled players who prefer a wider selection of medium-range weapons.

Anyone agree with me here?

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I know what you mean about everyone wanting to be a sniper online. It's even worse when you find out they can't shoot for peanuts. Worse still is how people put 'sniper' in their names and change their badges to little sniper reticles. It seems to me that no matter how good you are at sniping, you're still a noob if that's all you can do.

An obsession with sniper rifles is what happens when you play on a platform which compensates for poor controls with slower player movement, less placement of targets on the Z-axis/combined axes, and gigantic hitboxes.

Play on PC instead.

Yes, but on PC you get the 'super 1337' types with their grade A mice and perfect skills that allow them to score insane kills from any distance. Over-powered sniping is a much bigger problem on PC than it is on consoles. It is pretty much impossible to nerf snipers on PC unless you actually make the weapons weak and/or inaccurate, unlike on consoles where you can make the hitbox the normal size and use autoaim for weapons for close range.

For example, try sniping on the console version of TF2, compare it to on PC and then tell me that it's easier on console.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.70729

Look, this one has a poll!

Never mind that it is essentially on a different subject, ie. comparing the problems with camping snipers who don't do much to the problems with everyone deciding that being 'the sniper' is the best position possible.

I really don't like the idea of every post on a single broad subject (eg. sniping) being lumped together into one molten mass with no real discussion.

 

[TomWhitbrook]

As COD 4 has yet to implement the "crapping into a bag, eating nothing but tinned pate and biscuits brown, and praying you don't get bumped by the 'Ra for 3 days in southern Armagh" feature, I'm guessing the field of video game sniping will retain it's glamour for a while yet at least.

 

[Surggical_Scar]

I've only really enjoyed multiplayer sniping in TF:2, because it demands tactical use, rather than simply giving you another gun.

The again, TF:2 is probably the most balanced multiplayer FPS on the market - hands down. It gives in one hand and takes away with the other. At least in this case, the Sniper can be incredibly effective, both defensively and offensively, but makes huge sacrifices in alternate combat effectiveness and total vulnerability whilst aiming.

Sounds pretty faithful to the general idea of sniping - at least to me. Minimal contact most of the time, but devastating when applied correctly.

 

[Shirahime]

Personally I think people are more attracted to the aspect of Sniping. The "Everybody is shit scared of me" aspect that is. Mainly because in the real world, snipers are considered a force to be reckoned with seeing as they can put a bullet through your head from an incredible distance away, with the downside that nobody can see where it come from. I think a lot of people like to romantisise about this and think it'd be great to do it themselves.

But this is of course the type of people who have most likely never held a real gun in their life. In games I choose which ever gun get's the job done, also depending on what map it is and how many are on my team. I like sniping in game though too, but I do distance target shooting with rifles myself in the real world as well as clay pigeon shooting.

 

[Dudemeister]

I hate it when snipers kill me but when I snipe somone, it's diffrent, they were cheating, I'm just skillful.

 

[NeedAUserName]

I dunno, I play CoD 4 on the PS3 a lot, and well snipers seem to be a dying breed in my matches. It usually only 1 per team. Although saying that on some maps most people snipe as they are set up for it. But my point stands that most maps, even the ones that used to have most of the team sniping, don't anymore, people I find generally go for the "do as much damage and make as many big explosions as possible before you die" style I find, which makes sniping so much easier should I ever feel the urge to hang back and blow some idiots head off.

Edit: Wow possibly my longest, quote less post

 

[Bobkat1252]

I agree with you, alot of people think they can be a sniper when most of them can't. A lot of people also think that being a good sniper in one game automatically makes you a good one in another. I know that I'm mediocre Halo 3 sniper but I'm a great TF2 sniper, its all in the game dynamics.

As for why everyone thinks they can do it, well its human nature isn't it? Almost everyone wants to be accepted and thought of as "cool" by other people, and a lot of people see sniping as a way to achieve that. Since sniping in a lot of games takes more skill than spraying an assault rifle all over the place, they choose sniping as their way to make everyone think they are a skilled player. 9 times out of 10, they fail, but they're persistent all right.