What's bad with camping ?

[Drake_Dercon]

Camping has a bit of a clouded definition, so for argument's sake, let's say it's this:

A camper is a player who sits in a single position, virtually invisible and immune that can easily take advantage of other players with virtually no risk to themselves. (Halo had the problem of the anywhere camper, what with stealth and swords)

That is bad.

Playing stealth or sniper I have no problem with (in fact, I enjoy it more than mindless action), but when there is some feature in the game that allows a player to avoid trouble and rack up kills at the same time, it is a design flaw.

The stealth player is at a risk because someone might witness the kill or decide to play counter-stealth. They are never immune because it should always be possible to find them. (I haven't played many stealth MP games, so I don't really have an example to draw from)

The sniper is not immune because they are constantly vulnerable. Most can easily be knocked off from behind or counter-sniped (it becomes camping if you can't). A strategy-friendly game will have an open field where run n' gunners have at least a couple of seconds within sniper range, but there is a relatively covered route (though not totally immune) to taking out the sniper. Crysis 2, for example, is relatively good for this, but is inherently flawed because most sniper posts aren't out of the main combat zone, or at least not enough that people have to detour by much or risk themselves at all to kill snipers and a smart player can stay immune no matter where they want to go.

 

[Flames66]

Hiding as the TF2 spy is not camping at all or at least not my definition's.

I am talking about staying in one place for most of a round waiting for the perfect kill.

That type of play isn't rewarded heavily in any game though. Most of the time you can chalk them up to noobs just trying not to die.

I play that way because it is more fun for me than running and gunning reflex tester gameplay.

 

[SIXVI06-M]

I remember playing BF2- and then kind of stopped.

32 player map- 16 vs 16 - while virtually 14 of the opposing team was running around pushing their front-line and capturing points. 12 of my team were all camping happily everywhere waiting for kills that occasionally comes. They don't care about objectives - they only care for points.

Win the little battle for yourself. Lose the war for everyone else. Real realistic there.

Camping may be legit and realistic - but realistic isn't always fun. I remember when CS first came out, and NO ONE knew wtf they were doing except thinking how all these guns from real-life is cool and going all soldier-like with no actual idea what going soldier-like is (it's the pretending that's fun) - everyone was having so much fun... running around, spraying all over the place, trying to dodge oncoming fire, escorting hostages, planting bombs, killing hostages, defusing bombs and failing to defuse bombs, and just... the general novelty and collective sharing in a new experience made the whole thing so much fun.

Until some months down the track... everyone thinks the AWP is the only weapon worth buying in the game, and it then becomes the most drawn out and painful experience for a game ever.

 

[TheGroovyMule]

I havn't read a thing in this thread, but I have to post this:

 

[Croix Sinistre]

I really don't like the strategy of camping; hiding in a corner cowardly putting yourself in the least amount of danger to get off a few cheap kills. Like others here I don't have so much a problem with snipers, they sacrifice awareness of their immediate surroundings to gain their advantage, plus snipers typically move to actual beneficial areas to do their damage. Campers...no so much. And it's not like I have a problem taking care of them, bullets through walls, grenades, hell I love simply doing exactly what they want and coming right in front of them to simply out skill them when they have the most advantage.

But really, I don't think it's the actual act of camping I despise, but more so the players who actually think they're skilled for doing it.

EDIT: I know in real life you wouldn't be running and gunning in a modern battlefield, but I find it funny that the same people who say that camping is 'realistic' also complain that games that claim to be realistic, are not.

 

[Karma168]

Very few multiplayer games actually have large enough maps to accommodate snipers properly. For that a map would need to be about the size of a large town and have alot of cover.

Try wastelands on MW2 (used to be a good sniper map back when i played it) or Array on Black-ops. Though i would recommend playing hardcore as those games are usually more tactical than regular run and gun games.

That or games with larger maps like Battlefield 2 or homefront (not played either so not sure if they're any good) those maps are large enough that a sniper should be able to play properly quite easily.

The tactic you mention in your second paragraph is pretty much what I do. I hide in a position where I have an immense tactical advantage over my enemy because I intend to be the one who is still breathing after we cross swords (or guns). If they were more cautious and checked around that corners as they advanced, they would probably kill me most of the time, but They don't so I kill them instead.

See that's the problem, nobody checks corners; the control system is to slow to allow you to do it quickly, by the time you've turned to look either a person hiding there will have shot you or someone will come in the opposite direction and shoot you while you're facing the wrong way. Plus if everyone checked every corner they came to rather than running through areas they thought were safe the game would take 5 minutes just to get the first kill.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Camping is a legit strategy, but it makes the game less dynamic. Yeah, you might be able to kill the camper, but soon he'll be back at the same position, possibly killing you over again. Wasn't one of the key principles of online FPS games that no two games ever play out the same?

And besides, camping is just fucking boring. I just can't for the love of Christ understand how someone finds enjoyment in sitting in one position, aiming at exactly the same (maybe a few) spots over and over. Or maybe they don't, they just want to get kills.

The only useful purposes of camping are getting kills and defending objectives. The first one is OK in TDM or something like that, but even if you decide to defend your flag in CTF by camping next to it, it isn't exactly moving the game forward. In fact, quite the opposite.

Camping is selfish and against teamwork IMO.

 

[wooty]

Camping in terms of sniping or using an MG is ok in my book, as anyone whos plays FPS knows, trying to fire machine guns effectively while running/standing is just frustrating at times.

I dont get the people who camp with assault rifles, the clue as to what to do with those weapons is in the title of the thing, hiding in the corner of small room which is claymored to hell is just pathetic really.

 

[Flames66]

See that's the problem, nobody checks corners; the control system is to slow to allow you to do it quickly, by the time you've turned to look either a person hiding there will have shot you or someone will come in the opposite direction and shoot you while you're facing the wrong way. Plus if everyone checked every corner they came to rather than running through areas they thought were safe the game would take 5 minutes just to get the first kill.

Because of that, I can still have fun in shooters. If everyone as cautious and slow paced as me, I would lose most of the time because it would again come down to reflexes and quick aiming, which I am not very good at. As it is, most people are running and gunning, not checking around themselves, meaning I can act outside of that and actually kill some of them. I am glad that not everyone camps because I would be out camped and unable to play.

 

[Rhaff]

Oh, and another thing. Campers do not contribute much if you're supposed to capture an objective.
"But we kill the guys that are attacking the objective you know!!" you say. In games like Bad Company 2, where the maps are larger and a lot more challenging then the regular shooters, you have to be one hell of an effective sniper to get kills at all.
And from what I've seen, the vast majority of snipers suck ass. Not once have I, who charge objectives and uses assault rifles and just plain old skill, had lesser kills than the 'best' snipers in the match.

If you play regular Team Death match, camp all you want. If you want your team to lose in a team-oriented objective-based game, camp all you want.

You obviously haven't played against me

But yeah, like it has been said, camping and sniping are two different things. A good sniper should serve as a support for his team, picking of enemies during an offensive, so the others have less trouble completing an objective. While in defense they should be able to cover what ever they are protecting. Camping however is when someone picks one spot and waits for enemies to come by, so he can kill them without them having any semblance of a chance.

I don't really see camping as cheating, it's just anoying, but nothing a few well placed grenades can't take care of.