Poll: The whole point of iron siting...good or bad?

[Nomanslander]

Just about every shooter now has it, but with every shooter the point of iron siting can either be essential or pointless. Now in reality of course its essential without question. If a game really wanted to simulate as close as possible on how it feels firing from the hip they would take away the reticle completely and see how the player manages without it.

(Unless your Rambo or Schwarzenegger in an 80s action flick, expect to die really fast running around shooting from the hip..lol)

But games are and will always be (??? In the year 3000, games will play US!!) a world onto themselves. As long as there's a reticle during hip firing there is no point in iron siting unless it percentage wise increases accuracy (especially while moving which in some games decreases accuracy), damage, control recoil, or is used for snap targeting a la CoD single player.

But for some people iron siting seems to be a nuisance (Yahzee of course), a split second wasted holding the left trigger button/right mouse clicker when you could just be, well....killing your target!

So, question is what do you think about it? Is iron siting really needed? Is it a nuisance, or is it only pointless when like in some games (Bioshock 2) it doesn't do anything at all, just there for decoration.

 

[Saelune]

Ofcourse it is. I dont run around staring down my sight, but I run, but the quickly use iron sites to actually aim, then fire.

 

[Gaiseric]

I like using the sights in shooters. In some games it just makes sense to have the feature in some FPSs.

 

[Phlakes]

It works when it fits. For the relatively more realistic games, it fits, because in real life soldiers are trained to use the sights. But in things like TF2, there's really no reason to have it if you can just make it accurate from the hip. Which you can.

One thing I want to bring up for the "iron sights are terrible and should never be used"- Battlefield. With maps that big and therefore enemies as far away as they are, you need a decent zoom and a very accurate reticle to hit them, and instead of arbitrarily zooming in DNF style and changing the crosshair, sights work sooooooooo much better.

Plus, it's always nice to have the decreased sensitivity so you can line up a shot better. But still, only in games where it would be strange without it.

 

[KarlMonster]

I missed the part where Yahtzee said iron sights were bad.

However, Yahtzee plays games on X-BoX, PlayStayShun, and the Wii. The last time I played a FPS on the Wii, I said, "No, I can't stand the frikking dodgy aiming, get this crap away from me!" I wasn't insisting that iron sights are bad. I meant that its a big crock of shit for the game to let me aim, but without giving me much finer control of what I am aiming at (like mouse and keyboard games).

The real problem with iron sights is that it pales in comparison to reality. In FPS MMOs you have a bunch of lads trying to shoot at each other whilst running around. It just isn't done that way. Real firearms are much harder to aim. Iron sights are a way for games to 'enhance' the feel of a combat simulation, because its fairly easy to model the in-game weapon skins on the real firearms. That extends to red dot reticles, telescopic sights, etc etc etc. They add to the ambience and immersion of the game.

Hip shooting... well I don't want to confuse the issue too much (more than it was before I said anything). I'll just venture to say that what is being called hip shooting is realistic, but that its within game developer's attempts to keep the games fun. The real point is that you have to slow down to aim carefully. The more time invested in aiming, the better target you are for others. In principle, this should work well for game balancing.

 

[Adam Galli]

I perfer irons over optics but then again I am used to shooting real weapons that don't have a 3x zoom ACOG or red dot sight on them.

 

[Jfswift]

I kind of like the feel of iron sights in games. For me anyway it helps with the overall 'feel' of immersion seeing sights in front of me, like I'm actually holding something, instead of just seeing nothing in front of me or a glowing cross hair.

 

[DJDarque]

I don't get why people dislike iron sights. It's not like games force you to use them to shoot. All they do is the exact same thing they do in real life: help you aim better.

 

[aaronobst]

I kind of like the feel of iron sights in games. For me anyway it helps with the overall 'feel' of immersion seeing sights in front of me, like I'm actually holding something, instead of just seeing nothing in front of me or a glowing cross hair.

Yep its even better once you turn the crosshairs off, especially in games like arma

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Back when I used to play Day of Defeat: Source iron sites were a godsend. Why? Because it does exactly what you're talking about with the lack of crosshairs if I remember correctly. Iron sights were the only way to bloody hit anything.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Iron Sights are cool, but sometimes necessary.

I use the Console Fallout games as the examples.
Fallout 3: Tini crosshairs, best way of hitting target was V.A.T.S. Really hard at hitting targets.
Fallout New Vegas: Iron sights help the accuracy. Sometimes buggy but it still helps.

Of course, then you have the games with or without iron sights.
Valve games: No iron sights but still works with recoil, moving, and ducking for improved accuracy.
Activision Call of Duty: Always has iron sights but basically terrible hip fire. Iron sights are essentially needed.

It's all in the devolpers intentions, though. I can't complain.

 

[Nomanslander]

I missed the part where Yahtzee said iron sights were bad.

Watch ever or any Yahtzee vid where he "reviews" (some people will argue calling them that..lol) an FPS game. =/

 

[ajofflight]

I have to say, I DO like iron sights in video games. In New Vegas (which I haven't completed yet), I like using the iron sights, and I try to stay away from the V.A.T.S. system, just because I feel that much more badass, almost like I myself am aiming, instead of looking at the center of a television screen, whilst sitting alone in my basement.

 

[Merkavar]

i dont have an issueth iron sites? do people haissues with snipers scoping?

arse hatted keyboard

 

[Nomanslander]

I don't get why people dislike iron sights. It's not like games force you to use them to shoot. All they do is the exact same thing they do in real life: help you aim better.

Well you can argue especially with console shooters and having to play with a controller (sine buttons on a controller compared to a keyboard a WAY more limited) that it takes up an important button (left trigger, even the right mouse clicker) to do an "arbitrary" task when the button could have been used for alternate fire or what ever that can be left to the developers imagination that could be more useful.

Personally I like iron sites, but it's function needs to have some importance over just the whole aesthetically feel of holding a gun down the center.

With some games it increases the accuracy or damage output, other's it's used for auto snapping to a target near by. But then again I hate auto snapping or targeting because I think it defeats the purpose of playing a shooter (the whole skill of twitch aiming)...but I'd leave that whole argument up for another topic..

 

[LuckyClover95]

I'm slightly ashamed to say, I'm USELESS aiming from the hip. I rely entirely on iron sights.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

I don't really mind them in games where they're there, too much, but the only two games with ADS that I've played were Call of Duty 4 and Hydrophobia. And I can safely say that Gordon Freeman is a lot more badass than Soap Mactavish, because the latter has had years of military training and still can't hit the broadside of a barn at point-blank without the gun right up against his nose.

So, yeah, single player protagonists look kinda stupid and in multiplayer, it's just another step between seeing someone and killing him.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

The iron sights annoy me in games like Call of Duty, because they're basically an 'I win' button that give perfect accuracy with no recoil and snap onto enemies. Iron sights shouldn't work like that. I like the Half-Life 2 system where you can fire from the hip and hit a tiny target from 200 feet away. It's simpler.

 

[Continuity]

I love iron sights, always have. Just added to the immersion and realist of the gunplay... and lest face it, gunplay is a pretty important aspect of shooters. Plus it adds an extra skill mechanic to the game i.e. when and how you the iron sights... though that's not much different to the "press right mouse to aim" system that CSS has for example.

I think its especailly important in historic or military games, after all these games are going for a certain degree of realism and even simulation in some cases... it makes sense to use iron sights there.

 

[Vinny Albrecht]

Its pretty damn important. Hip-fire isn't gonna get you a kill from a distance, hell I find myself getting most of my kills because of iron-sighting and barley use hip-fire at all(that usually belongs to my shotgun class.) The only place I can say iron sighting is pretty awful is pc shooters. That can get pretty touch and go when your trying to mow down someone.