So what is Camping?

[Zannah]

So we all know, the word "camper" is the only insult, used more frequently than "noob" in online fps-playing.

Recently, while playing Cod4 (Underpass) I was under fire, ran into one of the houses and up the stairs. for the next minute or so, round about twenty players rushed up those very stairs, leaving me with out even the chance to reload, emtying my Ar clip, my pistol clip and a picked up M4's clip in a really hasty streak. After which I was accused for camping by someone whom I shot at least three times over the last minute.

So I'd like to ask - what is camping, and why are people so mad about it?

Is lying in the high grass, or on high ground (read easy to spot, and easy to be spotted) with a ghillie suit and sniper rifle camping? You don't move much, but then what person in their right mind would expect a guy with a sniper rifle to sprint to the frontlines, spraying bullets with his five-round bolt-action gun?

Is defending a strategic post, like say holding the middleground on cod6 Skidrow, pinning one team down in a small third of the map, or aiming at chokepoints camping? Well again, you don't move, but getting into a position offering certain advantages is not camping, it's called strategy...

Is what I described earlier camping, where you run into so much trouble, that you find your self stuck, unable to move just barely fending off the people rushing you?

Is sitting in a Room with only one entrance, aiming at the only door with a shotgun, camping? That situation is probably what I would find the most fitting, but then - you can just nade those guys out, or blody ignore them - they can't get out of their room, and nobody forces you to charge into that very same spot five times in row... (besides most maps, in most "good" fps' don't have such rooms, but always offer two routes to acces a camp spot. And the guy is probably going to get bored really fast himself, unless you keep jumping into his face, and will come out eventually (or score no kills).

So what do you think fellow escapists, what is this "camping" we've been hearing so much about, and why are people getting so worked up about it?

 

[Iconsting]

Any time you stay in one place and never move is considered camping. It's acceptable for snipers, that is, unless you play one on one, to camp because that's their job. Any other type of player who camps is just being a rookie who can't play the game properly.

 

[TheTim]

Sniping is not Camping because well its pretty ineffective to use it close range whilst running and gunning.

But if you are intentionally sitting in a stationary spot waiting for someone to show up and shooting them in the back then yes.

camping is just what many people use to accuse someone to make themselves feel better about the rape the just took. Given the right opportunity, 99% of people will camp

 

[Kollega]

Spoiler: Camping?

[HEADING=2]But only with a sniper rifle.[/HEADING]

Otherwise (if you are just sitting with a shotgun in one place for an entire match) camping is simply cheap. But nowadays, like "noob" or "gay", it's more of an insult than a descriptor in online games.

 

[grimsprice]

What would you do in a real warzone?

And don't even start about "its just a game, wah." the "game" is called "modern warfare" for a reason. Its supposed to be as realistic as possible without being unplayable. Get over it.

If you're playing halo then i'd say "all is fair in love and war". If they're out to win, they'll do whatever works. People ***** at mean when i hop on a Ghost and the game ends with me having 25 or 50 points, and everyone else less than 10 or 30 respectively. Of course i can still win other ways, but its a game. If it works in the game, then its a legitimate strategy, unless of course its a glitch, glitches aren't supposed to be there so yeah.

 

[Grampy_bone]

I love it when you're playing CS and people accuse you of camping when you're DEFENDING YOUR OBJECTIVE. Like it's somehow not fair to win.

If you can do it in the game, it's not cheating. People only ban tactics which are effective against them.

 

[Delock]

It's more often an accusation by people who don't either A: Check their corners, or B: Don't learn from the first time.
It's only a problem if the person is waiting near a spawn point, or is defending a position that gives them too much of an unfair advantage (say if you are in a game without grenades and they are waiting right around the corner from the spawn point and there are no other routes.

It is staying in one place though it is talking more about one place that gives you an advantage. However camping is not sitting in one room and defending it, that's reasonable defense tactics. It isn't standing at the top of the stairs waiting to attack, that can either be defense or just ambushing. However, using your brain is often considered a "hax" by losers and is interpreted as bad sportsmanship by the lemmings who rush to their death without learning.

 

[Zannah]

Any time you stay in one place and never move is considered camping. It's acceptable for snipers, that is, unless you play one on one, to camp because that's their job. Any other type of player who camps is just being a rookie who can't play the game properly.

So I am not playing the game properly, when getting into cover, fighting of a constant stream of rushers, because I use an Ar, rather than a sniper rifle?
In how many situations, in about every single game , with the exeption of battle royale, where your collar explodes when your camping in the wrong spo, are there no situations where staying where you are, holding your ground is not more effective thatn blindly pushing forward? Even games like Unreal Tournament etc, which play rather chimpansee, have those moments, where playing the game properly means holding your ground, even in game modes that do not make you defend certain positions.

 

[Grampy_bone]

Camping is also pretty dangerous. Against any competent player it only works once. I recall countless times in ETQW I'd get sniped by someone who flew up to an inaccessible hilltop. I'd respawn and they'd still be sitting there in the same spot, so I'd shoot them and move on. Then I'd check the spot later and they'd be there again. Exact. Same. Spot. Dumbasses.

 

[Iconsting]

Any time you stay in one place and never move is considered camping. It's acceptable for snipers, that is, unless you play one on one, to camp because that's their job. Any other type of player who camps is just being a rookie who can't play the game properly.

So I am not playing the game properly, when getting into cover, fighting of a constant stream of rushers, because I use an Ar, rather than a sniper rifle?
In how many situations, in about every single game , with the exeption of battle royale, where your collar explodes when your camping in the wrong spo, are there no situations where staying where you are, holding your ground is not more effective thatn blindly pushing forward? Even games like Unreal Tournament etc, which play rather chimpansee, have those moments, where playing the game properly means holding your ground, even in game modes that do not make you defend certain positions.

Camping is not the same thing as taking cover, if you continue to sit in that room then yes, you are not playing properly. If you hide in the corner by the entrance, waiting for other people to get enter the building to score a kill then yes, you're a camping whore. If you are wounded and are waiting behind cover for blood to fall off your face then that's perfectly understandable.

 

[SirDeadly]

Laying around with a sniper is not camping (unless you are in an unreachable position). Camping is when someone stays in the one place for most of the game and it is difficult to kill them.

 

[Shanecooper]

In most instances I've come across, camping's fine (defending a position, sniping, etc). It's only a problem when the player is getting cheap kills in a way that poses little risk to himself, making him nearly unkillable.
I have no problem being killed by someone, being killed a few times by the same guy is frustrating, but if he earned it, good job to him. If I get killed by the same guy, sitting in the same spot, over and over, I'll try to avoid him, but half the time, I will need to get by him, and that just takes all the fun out of the game.

 

[Desaari]

the "game" is called "modern warfare" for a reason. Its supposed to be as realistic as possible without being unplayable.

This made me laugh. Heartbeat sensors and dual-wielding shotguns is realistic? Modern Warfare 2 is far from realistic; check out games like ARMA and FPS realism mods if you want realism. I agree with your sentiment however; anyone playing defence seems to get called a camper these days.

The original meaning, and in my opinion the only real meaning, of camping is to wait for something to respawn, usually power-ups, at the place that it does so. In a more modern gaming sense this would mean sitting around at your team's main base waiting for the vehicles or sniper kit or whatever to respawn instead of actually playing the game normally in the meantime, which isn't even necessarily a bad thing.
Worse, however, is spawn camping and/or base camping where you sit at the respawn point of enemy players and their team's assets and kill them as they respawn. This is not only unrealistic (as is respawning, but whatever), but it unbalances the game by not allowing the opposing team to even play.

The bottom line is that if you can't kill someone defending who is sitting in the same spot then either you're bad at the game or the map is poorly designed.

 

[Zannah]

Snip

Camping is not the same thing as taking cover, if you continue to sit in that room then yes, you are not playing properly. If you hide in the corner by the entrance, waiting for other people to get enter the building to score a kill then yes, you're a camping whore. If you are wounded and are waiting behind cover for blood to fall off your face then that's perfectly understandable.

And why is laying an ambush (as long as your not ambushing a spawn-point anyway) not playing properly, in a game where your objective is to score kills?

And again, if anybody can provide examples I'll be convinced, but I don't know any map in any fps i ever encountered, where you can camp, without being a sitting duck yourself, on a chokepoint that absolutely cannot be avoided. If someone in a Ffa or Tdm is sitting in a room with only one entrance, aiming for the door, nobody forces you to go jump in. (Unless it's a 1v1 ofc, in which case sitting in a corne would be kind of cheap, though laying ambushes would still be a totally viable tactic.

 

[Jaed]

Those who refuse to ignore strategy refuse the truth.

 

[grimsprice]

the "game" is called "modern warfare" for a reason. Its supposed to be as realistic as possible without being unplayable.

This made me laugh. Heartbeat sensors and dual-wielding shotguns is realistic? Modern Warfare 2 is far from realistic.

For the life of me i have no idea why you can dual-wield shotguns. But you missed my point entirely. Realism is a spectrum. And its near the realistic side when you compare it with other games like Half Life and Halo, Gears and Section 8. If they made it much more realistic it would be unplayable by the demographic they're pitching it to. That was my point. Its supposed to be "real combat!" ......[small]for 12 year olds[/small].

 

[Trivun]

Any time you stay in one place and never move is considered camping. It's acceptable for snipers, that is, unless you play one on one, to camp because that's their job. Any other type of player who camps is just being a rookie who can't play the game properly.

This is the kind of mentality that I absolutely hate regarding campers. Camping is always a legitimate strategy provided you aren't using glitches or aimbots. I always play FPSs realistically. I use realistic tactics like the ones used by the actual military, and I expect to be treated by other players as if it is a realistic scenario. I understand not everyone will play realistically like that, but that's up to them.

In an actual military scenario camping would be an extremely useful defensive strategy and is used anyway. And so in a game, whatever weapon I have, wherever I am on the map, I will camp. And I will not cheat by using glitches or aimbots, and if I die then that's fair enough (again, provided no cheating is involved). I am not a novice either, I use other strategies and I often win games or are on the winning team when I play online. Generally I find that people who complain about campers are the novices who can't find any of the simple ways of avoiding them. Again, this is just from my gaming experience, though.

Camping is not cheating. It is a perfectly fair strategy. Deal with it.

 

[Desaari]

snip

For the life of me i have no idea why you can dual-wield shotguns. But you missed my point entirely. Realism is a spectrum. And its near the realistic side when you compare it with other games like Half Life and Halo, Gears and Section 8. If they made it much more realistic it would be unplayable by the demographic they're pitching it to. That was my point. Its supposed to be "real combat!" ......[small]for 12 year olds[/small].

Oh I understood your point, I just took that statement somewhat out of context because I found it funny.
I concede that we are in agreement here now though, however insulting your above statement is to 12 year olds.

[small]Edit: I just realised that we were discussing CoD4, not CoD6. My mistake, I guess I just jumped to conclusions...[/small]

 

[johnthenerd]

I got what you were saying grimspice. I'm kind of disappointed that they decided to allow dual wielding shotguns, since nobody even dual wields pistols in real life. But MW2 is on the realism side of the spectrum. I recently went back to playing a little Halo 3, and was shocked by the glowing suits of armor. It's hard to believe I ever played a game like that now.

As far as camping goes, it's part of the game. Players have plenty of tools available, from flashbangs to FMJ rounds, to defeat campers. Camping is a viable strategy, but campers have to be smart. Get a kill in one spot and scoot to another. Otherwise they're vulnerable to reprisals. Back in the Goldeneye era, it was a lot harder to deal with, and presented serious game balance issues. Nowadays, in a well designed game with well designed maps, it's much more balanced.