Poll: Can the lack of iron sight in an FPS be a deal breaker for you?

[Irriduccibilli]

Meh, I dont really mind if a game doesnt have iron-sights, one of my favourite games of all time is still Unreal Tournament (Unreal 1999), just check this video out, you don't find carnage like this in a game with iron-sights
(Deck 16, best deathmatch map... of all time)
(Also check out Facing Worlds, best CTF map ever, this game has it all, play it)
Iron-sights just slows everything down and makes everyone camp-happy. I miss games like Unreal Tournament, I still play it alot

 

[Biodeamon]

no, but it can quite annoying sometimes with games like left 4 dead.

 

[fix-the-spade]

From a purely gameplay perspective, what's your view on iron sights?

Pointless waste of time.

I've yet to play a game where they actually did anything but slow you down.

In Battlefield games your cone of fire gets wider in iron sights, so you have more chance of killing just from the open crosshair. The BC spin offs are more forgiving in their hitboxes, spray pays.

Since CoD4 the hitboxes have been so massive that you don't need them. Granted the accuracy becomes laser like with them, but I make most kills from just running and whacking the left mouse button when someone stands in front of me.

Halo series has never used them, thank goodness.

STALKER games are no different with or without.

CRYSIS multiplayer is more about the powersuit than the gun.

Useless crutch for bad players, Valve actually toyed with them during CS:Sources development. They found that even making the spread massively reduced in iron sights, the guy who could shoot without them usually won the fight as he got his shots on target a quarter to half a second before the other guy. So they just didn't bother.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Manshoots? Read a lot of RPS, eh?

And why wouldn't I?

Still trying to shoehorn in 'cars wot go fast' in one of my posts.

Oh, man! If you do, then please let me know. Cars wot go fast may just be my favourite bunch of words in a long time.

 

[valleyshrew]

Iron sights are extremely limiting in videogames. In real life you can still see pretty well through an iron sight, but in a game it blocks most of the screen and it stops you getting headshots. Games like black ops don't bother giving much of an advantage to headshots (unlike counter-strike or MGO) and shooting people in the legs is just as viable. If you try to aim at the head you wont be able to see the player anymore unless so they're standing still you will miss.

 

[The Apothecarry]

Iron Sights make the game feel more realistic and they help with aim, but I play enough Halo that I could care less if a game does or does not have Iron Sights.

 

[Wicky_42]

Iron sight games are nice when inter-mingled with straight-forward shooters, but too much of one or the other means you're missing out on different style of gameplay. I like variation, hence why I've been playing Serious Sam a lot recently So nice just to point and spray hundreds of bullets whilst circle-strafing random monsters after a few years of generic 'hide behind cover, popout, regen, repeat' shit - though again too much of a different thing makes it generic too.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

*plays Halo*

*plays halflife*

Umm nah. I think I'm okay
but really, Does it really matter that much? It's just a gameplay element, it's not required.

 

[razelas]

Yes, because markmanship is a skill worth learning and using. "Pray-and-spray" feels sloppy and amateurish.

Iron sights take a lot of skill out of "marksmanship" because it's easier to hit people that move slowly around with your 100% accurate auto aimed assault rifle.

By that logic, telescopic sites are the equivalent of auto-aim.

Or you could know what the fuck you're talking about when it comes to firearms and how to use them correctly.

 

[dyre]

Iron sights (and no crosshairs when not aiming) are a plus, but they're not deal makers/breakers

 

[exampleAccount]

Yes, because markmanship is a skill worth learning and using. "Pray-and-spray" feels sloppy and amateurish.

Iron sights take a lot of skill out of "marksmanship" because it's easier to hit people that move slowly around with your 100% accurate auto aimed assault rifle.

By that logic, telescopic sites are the equivalent of auto-aim.

Or you could know what the fuck you're talking about when it comes to firearms and how to use them correctly.

We're talking about games. Aiming down the sights only takes skill in real life, doesn't automatically make it more skillful in the game world.

 

[razelas]

By that logic, telescopic sites are the equivalent of auto-aim.

Or you could know what the fuck you're talking about when it comes to firearms and how to use them correctly.

We're talking about games. Aiming down the sights only takes skill in real life, doesn't automatically make it more skillful in the game world.

Last time I checked, using the sites on a gun takes hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills (among other things), both in video games AND real life.

And yes, using the sites does involve more skill when compared to the alternative of using a crosshairs, since we're talking about video games. Or are you trying to argue that crosshairs takes more skill than using an iron site?

 

[exampleAccount]

By that logic, telescopic sites are the equivalent of auto-aim.

Or you could know what the fuck you're talking about when it comes to firearms and how to use them correctly.

We're talking about games. Aiming down the sights only takes skill in real life, doesn't automatically make it more skillful in the game world.

Last time I checked, using the sites on a gun takes hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills (among other things), both in video games AND real life.

And yes, using the sites does involve more skill when compared to the alternative of using a crosshairs, since we're talking about video games. Or are you trying to argue that crosshairs takes more skill than using an iron site?

Ever played an old school FPS like Quake, Enemy Territory or Counter Strike that lack ironsights, or even Halo? They take much, much more skill than any of the games that are overly reliant on them such as CoD of BFBC2. It's not the actual act of aiming down the sights that sucks the skill out, it's the way everyone moves slower with them up and can't hit anything without them.

 

[Akiada]

By that logic, telescopic sites are the equivalent of auto-aim.

Or you could know what the fuck you're talking about when it comes to firearms and how to use them correctly.

We're talking about games. Aiming down the sights only takes skill in real life, doesn't automatically make it more skillful in the game world.

Last time I checked, using the sites on a gun takes hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills (among other things), both in video games AND real life.

And yes, using the sites does involve more skill when compared to the alternative of using a crosshairs, since we're talking about video games. Or are you trying to argue that crosshairs takes more skill than using an iron site?

Ever played an old school FPS like Quake, Enemy Territory or Counter Strike that lack ironsights, or even Halo? They take much, much more skill than any of the games that are overly reliant on them such as CoD of BFBC2. It's not the actual act of aiming down the sights that sucks the skill out, it's the way everyone moves slower with them up and can't hit anything without them.

The claim of "taking more skill" is an entirely arbitrary one. Where's the evidence to back that up? The studies that conclusively prove that claim? What areas are you measuring skill on, etc. etc. etc.

I could easily say a highly-tactical realistic shooter like America's Army or ARMAII requires more skill than any of those games because you need to utilize tight communication and squad tactics or get destroyed. Is it true?

Yes, no, maybe so!Who's to say whether it takes more skill to think tactically, advance as a team and take out targets while suffering a minimum of friendly casualties takes more skill than the twitch-reflexes needed for leaping around like a rocket-launcher wielding crack-bunny In UT2K4?

 

[Dalek Caan]

Iron sights in Half life? Not going to happen. As for he topic in hand, no iron sights is not a deal breaker. If its there its there, if its not its not.

 

[exampleAccount]

stuff

The claim of "taking more skill" is an entirely arbitrary one. Where's the evidence to back that up? The studies that conclusively prove that claim? What areas are you measuring skill on, etc. etc. etc.

I could easily say a highly-tactical realistic shooter like America's Army or ARMAII requires more skill than any of those games because you need to utilize tight communication and squad tactics or get destroyed. Is it true?

Yes, no, maybe so!Who's to say whether it takes more skill to think tactically, advance as a team and take out targets while suffering a minimum of friendly casualties takes more skill than the twitch-reflexes needed for leaping around like a rocket-launcher wielding crack-bunny In UT2K4?

Okay...

We can assume that the skill we are talking about is aiming weapons in FPS games, as that is the one relevant to the inclusion or exclusion of ironsights. You can't compare two entirely different games like ARMA and UT and then talk about skill in general.

Lets define what we mean by the inclusion of Ironsights vs Non-Ironsights:
-Ironsights: Guns are inaccurate while not aiming down the sights, aiming down the sights slows the character by a variable amount.
-No Ironsights: Guns accuracy is either constant or based on movement.

Using the ironsights model players are less mobile while shooting. Which makes it easier to compensate for your own movement, and easier to compensate for your targets movement).

Using the non-iron sights model players are generally more mobile, or if movement degrades accuracy they must show a little more discipline to not run about while shooting. So either it's harder to compensate for movement, or it's harder to restrain yourself and fire accurately.

 

[Raddra]

I'm not fond of Iron Sights. Sometimes they're so badly designed and zoomed up so large on the screen they get in the way.