First of all let me state that I learned how to properly handle firearms before I even knew what video games were. My dad was in the air force, and is a bit of a gun nut on his own right, so he saw fit when I was six or seven to pull me into the backyard one day and teach me how to safely handle firearms. I learned on a .22 pistol and .22 rifle, both Rugers firing .22LR. I still fire that rifle to this day, oddly enough.
I've fired several weapons in my time, and never once have I ever had any accidents. I've never even had a "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" situation. The weapons I have had the (dis)pleasure of firing:
Some chinese made bolt action in .22LR. It jams a lot, but it's decently accurate.
Ruger .22LR pistol of some sort, I forget the exact name
Ruger 10/22 carbine. I love this thing for practice/fun shooting. Very little recoil, reliable, easy to handle, shoots straight.
Russel Arms Co(I think) 12 gauge damascus side-by-side from the turn of the 20th. It...well it jams. That should tell you about it's condition. A break action jamming. So yeah this one is permanently mothballed until we can find a gun shop that can restore the action and breech lock.
It should be obvious that I'm quite competent with boomsticks. This has caused me to mutter to myself in video games. CSS is a real bad one. Sometimes I'll be like "Wait a minute the spent casings don't come out the left on a right-handed gun!" or "You never cocked that!". Other games have me wondering what the hell their designers were thinking when they let you akimbo anything. Now I can understand akimbo .22LR's, because at least those will be light enough on the recoil to not shoot yourself/bystander(Your accuracy will still be shit). But Akimbo .50 Deagles?! Akimbo S&W 500s?!?! FUCK NO! That would break your wrists. As it is the recoil from those two hunting sidearms can break your wrist even when you're holding it correctly. Also, while I'm on about these two, why the hell are we using sidearms designed to take down a fucking elephant on humans?! We should need nothing larger than a .45ACP cart for a pistol used on a human, let's leave the 50 cal magnum loads for the Yao Guai kthnx.
I've also found myself complaining about how recoil is handled. VERY frequently I'll criticize game devs when they model recoil by simply firing bullets in a cone pattern from the end of the barrel, which results in bullets coming out of the barrel at funny angles. Excuse me WTF?! Even shotguns have a perfect grouping at six inches range. Bullets simply do not exit barrels at angles. This could easily be remedied by the gun itself wobbling in funny angles as it recoils. The mechanic doesn't even have to change, I'm fine with that. What I take offense with is the bullets exiting at angles. The gun itself should be flying around in that situation.
I've also noticed that firing from the hip is popular in games. Sorry but you can't hit shit this way. I've tried it with a BB gun. I was lucky to hit the broad side of my pickup truck from ten feet away firing from the hip! Yet using the sights I could puncture a cola can on the roof from 30 feet away first time every time. Well, unless the wind kicked up. Stupid low-velocity BBs.
I also tend to mutter quite a bit about reloading. Again CSS provides a good example. Reloading the AK47 in CSS involves removing old mag --> inserting new one --> shooting. sorry but that shit don't work with a weapon that fires from a closed bolt. The M16 fared even worse, the game pulls the forward assist when you should be using the charging handle. Then there's things like the Mac 10, where you can simply remove the old mag, insert a new one and expect it to fire. That weapon fires from an open bolt, so unless you tried to fire it after it ran out the bolt will be in the open position ready to fire when the new mag is inserted.
Then there's the constant slide racking games are famous for. IT comes from hollywood, and while it is a nice spectacle, it's a huge ammo waste. Stop doing this shit!
My basic tl;dr is that yes, being competent with real firearms has caused me to notice inconsistencies firing video game renditions thereof. Also, it seems I need a day job badly, because I just typed up a huge wall 'o text about video game weapons inconsistencies and I barely even scratched the surface...
Wadders said:
If you're getting bruised firing a shotgun, you're not mounting the gun correctly. Bruises are easily avoided, but having said that I've been shooting for several years and I still sometimes screw up and get a lovely purple bruise on my shoulder
Agreed. I've fired a 12 gauge side-by-side from the turn of the 20th and haven't bruised myself yet. God that thing kicks though, if I hadn't been trained how to fire guns properly I could easily see it hurting the shooter. Thankfully for me my dad was in the air force and is a gun nut in his own right so I knew from 6 or 7 how to properly handle firearms.
Super Toast said:
I've fired a Glock, a old army rifle, and a Barret .50 cal. My arms...
You lucky bastard.
Wait. M82A1 or A3? Because I would kill to have an M82A1 or A3.
