Snipers get a bad rap in gaming?

[etherlance]

Frankly I love snipers.......

.......and yet i cannot snipe for shit myself.

I find it funny when i watch the kill cam as they line my head up and spray my brains on the wall behind me like a waterbomb full of lasagne meat.
i laugh it off and try again.

most people actually get pissed with me for making a stealth character that wont show up on thermal or UAV, has silent running a silenced weapon and a fetish for putting a knife in peoples brains.

 

[Slangeveld]

The games "Battlefield Bad Company 2" made sniping enjoyable for me. I never cared for it in previous games. Still gotta try out "Sniper Ghost Warrior" but I hear this game gets kinda dominated by the PISTOLS. 0.o (huh)

Also: I approve very much of the post above me xD

 

[ohgodalex]

A whole lot of people get pissed at snipers because a skilled or semi-skilled sniper like myself can take them out before they even see us, or get in range. I've had one guy say something along the lines of, "You're a coward for not fighting face to face!"

Honestly having a sniper or two on your team is almost essential for taking out that machine gun turrent, or that heavy eating his sandvich.

turrent is not a word.

OT: I consider sniping to be a "dick move" because I rarely enjoy being the target in some guy's game of Duck Hunt.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

Snipers deserve every once of hate they get. They were the reason i quit online gaming, and converted to single and co-op only.

why? what did snipers do to you?

Glad to see some discussion on this. Yes, do tell us, why DO you hate snipers?

Okay, let me put it this way:

I like shooting people. I don´t like getting shot in a fair fight, but thats blows you gotta take. I don´t like getting shot by an enemy i couldn´t see in the first place, and even if i could, he would be to far away shoot, and thats not blows i feel (Or felt, rather) i need to take. "Well then change your strategy then" says elite #1. Well heres the thing:

I DON`T WANT TOO CHANGE MY STRATEGY FOR SNIPERS. I like running around like a chicken killing all noobs in sight. I like getting in a coverbased, tactical fight with someone whos just as skilled as me. I like getting shot up by a superior opponent only to learn their ways and take them down. But i don´t like having to slowly inch my way across the map taking cover every 0.5 seconds and pray to the gods that some dickhead sitting in a tower 10000 yards away doesn´t decide to blow my nuts off. I don´t feel thats fun, i guess. And i wouldn´t have a problem with snipers if they weren´t in every single online shooter ever made ever.

"Well whats diffrent about this singleplayer thing you´re talking about?" asks elite #2.
Well there, a (hopefully) compelling story keeps driving me forward no matter the challenges, unlike online, where the only thing driving me forward is how much fun i have, and i don´t have fun with snipers in the game.

Also, this would be a good time to mention that im hosting a group for people who hate snipers, where you can set up sniper-free games with other like-minded people!

Snipers seem to be an integral part of gaming, whether they're intended to be or not. If you can't adapt to playing with them, perhaps another style of game is for you. Try some... Bejeweled maybe? Sarcasm aside, you don't have to be rude to snipers. "Some dickhead sitting in a tower 10,000 yards away" probably spent hours upon hours upon hours (Like I did), practicing their technique and attempting to do what they like. While I appreciate the sentiment of moving inch by inch and praying you're not assassinated, adaption is the key to life. Deal with unpleasant, don't insult it.

Thats what i have done. From now on, i never play competetive online, since theres a sniper in pretty much any game. So i have dealt with it.

That depends on what you consider "Dealing with it." In your method, it seems that eliminating snipers from everything, and then bad-mouthing them on forums, you ARE dealing with it. However, by "deal with it", I meant acknowledge the fact that snipers exist, respect the fact that some of them DO spend hours upon hours honing their skills, and maybe bad-mouth them a little bit less. But to each his own. I'll keep my scope, thank you very much.

 

[Audio]

*snarls*
It's not the camping that bothers me, it's the lack of interest of team mates are doing. They seem quite happy looking down a doorway while everyone else does the work.
One headshot is nothing compaired to what the rest is doing for the team.

 

[chaos order]

Is it really so difficult to understand why people don't like snipers?

You're going along, playing the game, and you die. No gunfights, no shootouts, no explosions or action, you just hear a plink, or a puff, and fall down.

Being killed by snipers is frigging boring. Especially when there's lots of em, and it happens over and over and over again.

And you can say "oh, it's easy once you know where they are/can get behind them" but:

a) Not everyone can, either they're not very good at the game or they're just impatient, and
b) Decent snipers don't just sit in one place, they move around, they have several familiar spots with good views, so it's not always a simple matter of going left instead of right.

Note that I don't mind sniping in games, don't mind the occasional bit of sniping myself actually; I'm just saying, it's easy for me to see why people hate em.

THIS THIS O GOD THIS. this is y i dont like being a sniper or playing a BC2 match with ppl who all are snipers. i mean the occasional sniper is good, since it adds a flare of danger to both sides even when theyre in theyre own base, but when everyones a sniper its ridiculous.

Also i h8 this sniper elitist mentality alot of snipers develop since they always get a positive kill to death ratio (well no sht, if ur on a rok half a mile away shooting at ppl ur gonna get at least one kill even if u suck, and still not die) most arguments i hear from snipers is that "O it takes skill and patience u have to line up just right, thats why it sooooo much better than runnung in with a rifle." and im not gonna deny that ya it does take skill and patience but snipers make it sound like anyone who isnt sniping is a gun totting berzerker with no skill and just fires (although that can be said for some medics in BC2). personally i love the shotgun, and ill say that it takes alot of patience and skill to be able to get a positive kill to death ratio with a gun that CANT use a scope like most guns in BC2 and is only used for medium-close range.

 

[Rylingo]

*snarls*
It's not the camping that bothers me, it's the lack of interest of team mates are doing. They seem quite happy looking down a doorway while everyone else does the work.
One headshot is nothing compaired to what the rest is doing for the team.

This is down to the player. When i use a sniper on objective missions i try and support the team and i see a lot of snipers playing like this. Don't generalize. Theres nothing more useful than a sniper holding enemies off your position in a sabotage mission.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

They probably piss people off so much because of situations like these:

You're at a high point right now. The other team seems unable to kill you and you're racking up an impressive kill streak. You've busted out your best weapon and are right now showing the rest of the players your amazing skills. Your dodging incoming fire like a maniac, killing enemies with the last round of your pistol, meleeing like a madman, and generally surviving by inches. You can hear the moans of your victims as the bodies of the fallen pile up around your killing zone. You are a FPS god and nothing can stop you.

Suddenly you're dead. WHAT?!?!? You only heard one shot?!? The killcam rolls and... it was a sniper from across the map who patiently set up a single shot to end your reign of destruction. The lack of intimaticy in the kill makes it sting all the more.

I figure that's a big part of why snipers are generally held as scum of FPS. People are doing crazy-ass antics right next to the other team just to stay alive, while Mr. Sniper is comfortly sitting back at the base picking off random enemies will little danger to himself. And he's top of the leaderboards.

I respect snipers though. I'm horrible at sniping. I lack the skill (or maybe the practice) to set up a nice headshot on a moving target from across a map. But then of course whenever I play with friends, I'm the sneaky bastard who randomly jumps people from nowhere. I generally don't get the most kills, but I usually die the least.

So I say let the Rambos have their bum-rushing fun. I know their are other, just as satifying ways to get your kills.

 

[crazypsyko666]

Because sniping is easily the best job in these games. It's pretty easy once you get into it, and it's arguably one of the most difficult situations to deal with (barring ridiculous stories people tell me, like playing against an entire team of engineers in TF2... who were extremely good at their job.)

 

[TheAceTheOne]

It just makes the target feel small if they weren't expecting it. Which, in a game with snipers in it, should never happen. There are so many ways to avoid them, and the fact that they play in a different way to you should not mean that you can't beat them if the game is well enough designed.

As you may or may not have noticed, I'm a devoted sniper, and I love doing it in games.

Agreed. Devoted Sniper = Good Sniper.

 

[secretsantaone]

A. In team based games, they usually contribute very little, solely focused on killing the opposition rather than helping out.

Fair enough, you said 'usually', I always talk with my team mates and my most repeated question is "where do you need me?". Then I position myself where they need a hand and defend the flag, help them take down the guys near the enemy flag, etc. Camping =/= sniping, there's just as many guys sitting behind cardboard boxes with AK's waiting to empty their magazine in you.

B: Being killed by a sniper is infuriating, because you were killed in one shot from far away and thus were unable to react or prevent it.

Most good games make snipers so they take at least two shots to take down your whole health. Unless it's a headshot and in that case, either the sniper is not very far or you should go over to the guy with a smile and shake his hand for the amount of skill, try catching headshots with a sniper from miles away and see how 'easy' it really is.

However, yes, psychological part is a big part of the sniper's job (IRL as well), one of the more amusing ones when you hear the opposition raging over a game . However, you should look up the number of machine guns vs the number of snipers in WW1... as that was the most psychologically f-d up war. And as far as gaming goes, I've seen people rage from others coming out of corners emptying out their 100-bullet machine gun into the surroundings and scoring 'lucky' shots, not much difference in how often in happens from my xp.

C: Snipers appeal to the mindset of the 14 year olds who think that they have L33t sk1llz. Hence you get kids running about not being team players and screaming about how they owned you with a quickscope rather than capping a point.

Awesome argument. Think I've heard it for just about anything, in any game, where people whine about any aspect of the game that annoys them or, more often, they're not good at. And gee, I sure as hell can't think of any time where I walked past a 9-12 year old kid with a machine gun, damn those are rare (want me to bring you an album full of 50 pics when I walk next to a 'gameroom' (big places with LAN connected PCs for MP games)?

Alrighty then.

A: You are a rarity in modern FPS games.

B: That doesn't remove the problem of being shot out of nowhere and instantly killed in the first place. If someone is shot at but able to shoot back and attempt to counter it, they accept it more when they die as they know that it was partially their fault they died. With snipers, if you don't know they're there, you get killed instantly without warning, evoking the 'Bullshit!' reaction out of most people.

Oh, and in WW1 trench warfare was what led to vast amount of snipers, not the psychological effect (though there's no doubt that helped).

C: I never said all snipers were like that, all I said was that the idea of being a sniper attracts a lot of people like that and so I'm afraid they all get tarred with the same brush. I've seen enough usernames along the lines of EpIc_Sn1PeR_14 to last me a lifetime.

I'm not trying to have a go at snipers here, in many games they can play an important role, I'm just pointing out some of the common grievances people have with them.

 

[Notere]

I'll ruin the whole TF2 "no purpose" thing right now.

Area denial. If I'm decently on, traffic stops. There are certain places on various maps (I NEVER snipe on 2fort) where I let the engineers set up and everyone rolls in for a good time while I thin the herd. I love saving people from someone they don't notice or watching that scout who just respawned come back into the fight and die instantly.

Once I settle into my zone, it's pure zen. I run out of ammo before I notice because I'm honestly too focused and sure of each and every shot to actually -think-. As far as spies go, they're an issue sometimes. Suffice to say the first thing I do in a spare moment is look about and I'm listening to absolutely nothing else in the game except the sound of decloaking. A field of gunfire and explosions and sound bytes and taunts and voice chatter and my ears key in on a spy coming out of stealth.

At some point, we either get rolled over or they stop to regroup and slowly filter through while they change tactics because THEY ALL DIE. If a team cannot move from where they are due to the morale effect, then the sniper has won. The offense has stopped. If they're on the defense, it's all the worse because nothing digs out that tick like a steady flow of headshots.

It's a numbers and psyche game. If you have the initiative and more people, you usually win. That's what snipers do.

Also, "...challenging work..." Always love a good challenge.

 

[Mechsoap]

ahh yes snipers, im one myself, sadly i get shouted for my aim... wich is kinda bad, for others sniper you just ''try to be better'' instead of useing other means as for calling you a dastardly aimbot user (wich i do not) bad reputation doesent mean anything for me.

 

[nomadic_chad]

I think snipers get a bad rap for two reasons. The first is that a good sniper (a good shot who moves around and supports his team) is hard to stop. The other side usually has to make a concerted effort to remove the sniper or drastically change their plans to avoid him. The other reason is that sniper roles tend to draw in the new guys, due to the illusion that they're going to rack up some kills without having to get in the fray so much (which isn't exactly the case with new snipers as they often make mistakes that get themselves killed easily).

I enjoy snipers in games where you would actually consider them as part of the combat environment. In fast-paced CQB games where it's more of a push and shove match (like MW2) I get aggravated when people decide they're not going to help their team and instead sit around hoping for a chance to shoot at dudes. But in more realistic games (i.e. open battleground stuff like BF: Vietnam or BF:2) I think having snipers is great, and I think it's a more viable class to choose.

 

[KaiRai]

Because people are stupid. If you use cover, the sniper won't (or is deffo a lot less likely) to get you, and you can sneak up on them. Most people who hate snipers like to run around open ground yelling "RAAAAARRRRRRRRR!" and firing 315235857 rounds at people. These are the people you hope never join the army, for their sake.

 

[Theron Julius]

It's because ultimately all snipers do is kill. They're not completing objectives and aren't much use guarding. So, unless you're playing some sort of deathmatch gametype snipers are pretty damn useless.

 

[bubba145]

Well i hate them when they camo but when they move from place to place as a real sniper does. then i have no problem with them. i snipe from place to place.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

The only reason anyone would have a problem with snipers is if they're playing a multiplayer game where snipers are poorly integrated. So far, I've yet to encounter a game where they were as well-designed as Bad Company 2. From their kit selection, it's clear that their role within the game is (supposed to be) keeping their squad mates informed by providing reconnaissance from a distance (hence the name of the class), and are given a rifle that allows them to eliminate other players that are keeping a similar amount of distance from the action (not at all unlike the aerial battles of WWI, where planes were used for scouting and only really ever fought with each other).

Unfortunately, the class is rarely utilized in the manner that it was clearly intended to be, and I believe that's the result of players experiencing other games where the sniper's only role was to cheaply shoot someone from a distance where their opponent's weapon was ineffective. Snipers in BC2 are supposed to provide overwatch for their squads, not sit around waging a personal war of attrition, in the same way that you're not supposed to roll a medic just for the LMG. I'd wager that if Bad Company 2 was the first experience that gamers as a whole had ever had with the concept of sniping, playing the role of a sniper wouldn't be nearly as frowned upon.

Granted, the class is often used incorrectly, where one just sits on a hill and racks up kill after kill without ever calling in the locations of enemies, never throwing down motion mines unless they suspect someone is sneaking up on them, and never calling down mortar strikes to suppress enemy locations... but I think this is a symptom of players being totally used to the idea that snipers were simply supposed to have the unfair advantage of being able to kill others from a distance that would be hard to match by their targets.

 

[Musclepunch]

I like playing the class occasionally but they are annoying. Its the annoyance of respawning and getting shot by somebody surrounded by mines, on the other side of the map sat in a bush. I much prefer the hectic fire-fights of CQB and the fairness of them either person could win, not like sniping where just because some guy sitting out of range and with little skill decides he'll sit in a spot the entire game killing you.

 

[Tessem7]

1. Sniper get a bad rep because they are assumed to be "Camping Fags"
2. If used properly, a sniper class will not make you a "Camping Fag"
3. If you DO NOT "camp" in a corner, but instead stake out in a bush, tree, building, or some place with a good view, then you are not a "camping fag" like other player may say.
4. Snipers are dissed only because other players get mad when they get killed (fairly) from a mile away and they cant do anything about it.
5. There is a reason that there is a sniper class in video games, it balances the game and gives wanna-be snipers and recon soldiers a chance to live out their fantasies.

Sniping is always fair in every game and if you are a sniper, dont listen to the other players, you are not a "Camping Fag". You are just playing the game like those "Run and Gun Fags"