Snipers get a bad rap in gaming?

[TheAceTheOne]

Strange thing is, I never really enjoyed sniping until Left 4 Dead.

 

[Superior Mind]

My main issue with sniping isn't that they camp, or anything like that, it's just that, this is mainly just me, but if you're a sniper, you're ideally going to be too far away from your target for them to be able to actually fight back, and this is where I have an issue. What's the point of killing people online for fun, if there's no challenge?

This is a good point but I would argue that adding snipers to a game adds another demension to the playing experience. If you know a sniper is out there watching you you're going to pick your cover, plan your movements strategicly, perhaps even draw the sniper's fire while someone gets into a vantage point so they can take the sniper out - or even jus staying alive long enough so you can pinpoint the sniper's position and take him out yourself. I've had some really fun times when opposing snipers.

I see where you're comming from, and I wish things were like that in online FPS games, but I have very VERY rarely seen a game where people were that strategic or team based, save from maybe Team Fortress 2. Which particular game were you talking about?

I'm playing quite a bit of BF:BC2 at the moment so that's the game I had in mind. I think it's a good sniping game, probably because I think the levels were created with snipers in mind, giving them few places to really exploit their edge, (good positions equalling easily being spotted, covered positions giving you very little area coverage.) TF2 is another game which takes the impact of Snipers and what they do seriously and both still lets Snipers keep their combat edge but stops at making it too easy for them, never really giving them the ideal situation to sit in a corner and blat away for hours on end.

 

[Oh That Dude]

I would like sniping if it wasn't such a mindless experience in most shooters.
A real sniper has to constantly move, hide, fire, watch his ammo, call in enemy positions, account for distance when firing and hope beyond hope that taking a shot doesn't sign his own death warrant by bringing a tonne of soldiers down on him.

In CoD, it's sit in a corner with stopping power until you can't scav any more claymores to cover your ass.

I hate how boring the "standard" gaming experience with sniping is, really.
I want the game to beat me into a pulp when I fuck up, god damn it! I want to have to constantly move, to think about what I'm doing, to be tactical.
Not some lone-wolf praying my K/D goes positive!

Played Bad Company 2? Try it. That game forces you to snipe well, because there are some damn good counter snipers; and after you kill someone they see exactly where you are. You move, hide, fire, watch your ammo, account for distance, call in enemy positions and hope that that guy you just killed hasn't just told his four man squad exactly where you are.

 

[Bradley Desborough]

Sinpers are the best weapons to use in any game. For example in Call of duty games snipers take skill, waiting for the enemy laying traps with care packages and claymores and picking off the enemy, While with automatic weapons you hold down the trigger till all organic matter is fused with the wallpaper (Yahtzee) so i think snipers get bad rap from the people who cant use them.

 

[jaing1138]

My main issue with sniping isn't that they camp, or anything like that, it's just that, this is mainly just me, but if you're a sniper, you're ideally going to be too far away from your target for them to be able to actually fight back, and this is where I have an issue. What's the point of killing people online for fun, if there's no challenge? This is why I enjoyed games much much more when I was younger, I relish challenge, just not "Braid" level challenge. If I do something over and over and over and over again, and am forced to a walkthrough, I just don't enjoy it.
While I enjoy a challenge, I still prefer a game that's way too easy over way too hard.

Anyway, my point is, that yes, theres little challenge for a sniper, at least in comparison to more in-your-face roles, but also that the person you're killing has absolutely no way to fight back, unless THEY become a sniper, which really doesn't help matters. I am one of those people who really believesw in fairness. For example, I read on GameFAQS not too long ago, that a guy shot someone 5-8 times in the upper torso and head, with a semi-auto shotgun, then was killed by a single revolver bullet, and that he would go back to MW2. Now, you may find this ridiculous, but if I was shot that many times by a shotgun, in those areas, and I knew it, and didn't die, I would put my gun away, walk up to him and let him kill me, because he HAD killed me, it just didn't register and give him points for it. I guess I'm just old fashioned.

What I'm trying to say is, if you play against a sniper, unless you get close, there is no effective way to fight back, which pisses me off. I hope you can kind of understand my point.

I've seen this kind of thing on ranbow 6 vegas 2 i put an entire magazine of automatic pistol rounds into someone i'd snuck up on, he calmly turns turns towards me and kills me with a single bullet WHAT THE FUCK?! The game whilst providing you to actually plan rather than run and gun your way through multiplayer has the most unbalenced where if your new you wont last 2 minuites whilst if you're at elite level then you might as well be a god for all the damage you can take.
My view on snipers: to quote rvb "It's a legitamate strategy" both camping and non-camping types. It's as legitamate as equiping a machine gun and suicidaly charging an enemy firing all the time hoping you'll kill him when you are close enough or to take him out when he tries to counter attack, its crude not very skilled but can be pretty damn effective if ur good at it, though sniping does equire more skill.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

Sinpers are the best weapons to use in any game. For example in Call of duty games snipers take skill, waiting for the enemy laying traps with care packages and claymores and picking off the enemy, While with automatic weapons you hold down the trigger till all organic matter is fused with the wallpaper (Yahtzee) so i think snipers get bad rap from the people who cant use them.

I actually don't like snipers sometimes. I'm a fairly decent sniper myself (I like to think that, anyway). Just bugs me when people use them too well, and make it crazy unfair for their opposition.

 

[Accountfailed]

inb4: Sniping's a good job, mate.

The problem with sniping is, like Yahtzee said, the game you're playing is a point/click adventure where the only action is "Use Gun On Man".

There's rarely any interaction between sniper and snipee, which is where the "fun" comes from. That's where the bad rap comes.

I actually disagree, who's to say the "fun" is only there with direct interaction? I have lots of fun calmly aiming for my enemies heads, the problem with sniping is it's not fun for the "snipee". And of course I'm sure calculating drop and generally avoiding being raped by the unimaginative soldier class doesn't come into adventure games

that being said, snipers are very hard to get right. most of the time the rifle is overpowered, leading to a "noob-stick" effect with others players, examples of this include modern warfare and Bad company. other times the rifle is a bloody useless piece of junk. (section 8, I'm looking at you)

I play Sourceforts, to me they did the "sniper rifle" (it's a crossbow xD) perfectly, you have to be careful where you aim because the bolt drops down over time, only headshots are fatal (as they fucking should be!) body shots just knock them back loads and do lots of damage, the bolt can also ricochet off certain materials leading to a fun mechanic where you can hit people hiding behind barriers if you're skilled enough, and the crosshairs doesn't disappear when not in scope like in most fucking games, which is retarded, like snipers are blind when not in scope >_>

and yes, you HAVE to agree with me *aimes crossbow* or else >

 

[peduncle]

sniping is one of those things that you can't truely complain about, because a 'correct' sniper is one who holds p in one hard to hit location, and (who in real life) has to stay there for days on end. they, by job description, are a 'camper'.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I actually disagree, who's to say the "fun" is only there with direct interaction?

As you caught later, it's the "snipee" (I'm gonna trademark that ) who doesn't have any interaction in this, so no fun.

and yes, you HAVE to agree with me *aimes crossbow* or else >

I think not

 

[Eliam_Dar]

I use to snipe a lot in BFBC2, and if you don't change your position often, you are dead meat. But I recon that in other games camping is the way to go if you are a sniper, which I don't like much.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

I actually disagree, who's to say the "fun" is only there with direct interaction?

As you caught later, it's the "snipee" (I'm gonna trademark that ) who doesn't have any interaction in this, so no fun.

and yes, you HAVE to agree with me *aimes crossbow* or else >

I think not

Sniping in TF2's ok... but I actually DO prefer the spy.

 

[Accountfailed]

I actually disagree, who's to say the "fun" is only there with direct interaction?

As you caught later, it's the "snipee" (I'm gonna trademark that ) who doesn't have any interaction in this, so no fun.

and yes, you HAVE to agree with me *aimes crossbow* or else >

I think not

Sniping in TF2's ok... but I actually DO prefer the spy.

Crap... you got me there.... oh wait >

 

[Booze Zombie]

Played Bad Company 2? Try it. That game forces you to snipe well, because there are some damn good counter snipers; and after you kill someone they see exactly where you are. You move, hide, fire, watch your ammo, account for distance, call in enemy positions and hope that that guy you just killed hasn't just told his four man squad exactly where you are.

I like to call that game the exception, most games don't bother do that sort of stuff, they want it arcade-style, because that's how CoD does it and CoD sells well...

 

[mooncalf]

There's a kind of sniper I respect, which generally involves knives, explosives and pistols just as much as a scoped rifle (though with that they are sublime) and especially a talent for keeping one's location concealed even when on the move.

However there is another kind of sniper that floats around the battlefield like a mangy vulture, too untrained to cope with anything as frantic as a close quarters firefight which is why they choose to stay far away from the fight. They accumulate kills in an utterly pedestrian fashion of shooting, missing, waiting, shooting again, missing again, lucking out when someone stands still for too long, feeling pleased because they've only died the few times people bothered hiking out to them or spawning counter-sniper for a revenge kill. You get what I mean, right? That's what people complain about, because you really don't improve when playing the games like that, in fact I'd think sniping atrophies your core FPS skillset of rapid, accurate movements and tactical anticipation.

 

[hawkeye52]

i usually snipe on tf2 if theres less then 2 of them and i like the map for sniping e.g. goldrush 1st stage and with the sniper i usually go to the top of the server and when im constantly picking off the people on the cart you can hardly call me useless.

also on the camping issue (which is mainly for the cod series) it isnt bad because if you know where they are and where they are gonna be then all you need it a well cooked nade and their dead. i am probably one of the most active people in terms of moving through the field as i tend to go shotgun or SMG and tbh the more campers there are the higher the score i get because of it. so in short dont complain just cook your nade

 

[Jet_02]

if they suck at sniping it pisses people of because they will not get any kills or be productive in any objective (BFBC2 is the game ima referencing). However if said person is an good sniper they will provide cover for teammates, scout for enemies and get a lot of kills without giving the opposite team any deaths.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

There's a kind of sniper I respect, which generally involves knives, explosives and pistols just as much as a scoped rifle (though with that they are sublime) and especially a talent for keeping one's location concealed even when on the move.

However there is another kind of sniper that floats around the battlefield like a mangy vulture, too untrained to cope with anything as frantic as a close quarters firefight which is why they choose to stay far away from the fight. They accumulate kills in an utterly pedestrian fashion of shooting, missing, waiting, shooting again, missing again, lucking out when someone stands still for too long, feeling pleased because they've only died the few times people bothered hiking out to them or spawning counter-sniper for a revenge kill. You get what I mean, right? That's what people complain about, because you really don't improve when playing the games like that, in fact I'd think sniping atrophies your core FPS skillset of rapid, accurate movements and tactical anticipation.

I think I'm going to make a new thread specifically about "Snipers: Mangy Vultures?" sometime later today. I agree with you on the respecting snipers that actually use gear other than just their handy-dandy rifle. I'd get sick of looking out of a scope all day, gotta switch it up from time to time.

 

[thegamermn]

Here's something I tell anyone who complains of camping snipers:A good sniper won't camp. A good sniper will follow the rule of "Shoot, then relocate." And even if they don't relocate:A litttle creative thinking (I.E:not charging headlong along the same path you just took, thus giving the sniper another easy kill) will get you to the sniper. And then the sniper is screwed.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Moved to Gaming Discuussion

--Zombie