Now this may result in the tomato's being thrown but I have to ask:

What's the deal with sniping? Why do 90% of FPS players take the role on so often and think they're the bees knees cos they're capable of doing it. I'm in the military (British) and deal specifically with reconnaisance work and know exactly what sniper teams endure. The real thing is, frankly, rubbish. Well from an insiders point of view it is - as I appreciate the skill involved.

So anyways, this gripe comes from my Halo 3 session last night, naturally. I play 8 - not joking - 8 games of shotty/team snipers in a row. And I'm a little hacked off because I'm not as naturally gifted as our other analogue spinners. I can kill, rack up a good score but that jumping around looking for headshots malarkey is nonsense and especially frustrating when you're as naff as me at it.

But I've played countless games of COD4 where most of the lobby choose the sniper role, I've played Ghost Recon 2 and been pinned down by 5 snipers in an opposing team and even been running around in RB6V's terrorists hunts to find players carrying snipers into buildings and the mechanism is awful in that game.

So if you're a mouth-frothing FPS bloke like me and have played these games (or the countless other examples) can you please explain the sniper obsession to me!?

Yes, everyone's a sniper,and we're all out to get your ripe, ripe melon... uh, head, I mean head. **shakes head**

Anyways, I think the main attraction is that sniping involves killing enemies from far away, reducing risk of getting oneself killed. For me though, and for quite a few others, we just prefer sniping to regular combat, and it's fun for me.

I love the sniper role mainly for the reason it takes more skill to kill a player. Sure i can run in with a shotgun or SMG spraying bullets in the hopes of hitting someone but i find it more fun sniping cause its all about accuracy, timing and well stealth tactics. If you miss your in big trouble. It takes time to get another shot off or reload. That makes it more fun for me.

In case the camping argument comes up. Just remember there is a difference between good snipers and campers. Campers do not move, while a good sniper will move the moment his position has been compromised. It just makes the game fell more real sniping.

i just like doing the ridiculous shots then watching them in slow mo on halo 3 going how the fuck does that work it seems to happen the most with halo 3 like they shoot you through the rock.......

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.70729

Look, this one has a poll!

Ugh... Don't even get me started how annoying it is...

I quit playing online shooters just because every frigging enemy was a sniper and shot me in the head from somwhere I couldn't see. It's just ANNOYING.

I don't hate snipers in regular, just the fact that everyone wants to be one. It's just annoying when 3-4 shoot you the same time. Geez...

And I admit, I use rifles and snipes in shooter games in particular, they just are more acurate, and you usually need just one shot to the head to kill. So, why waste ammo from Thompson when you can just rifle your enemys brains all over the dude behind him?

End post.

No, I am ok with snipers, I do it alot becuase I prefer it to the fast paced game most guns require, but I don't like the halo style sniper, run and gun, you know. What get on me is grenades, especialy call of duty 4, "just aim high and throw 3!" that and martrydom "yeah I get points by dying!"

Yeah I appreciate the whole "more skilled" argument, I really do. Whether you apply that to the actual rifle OR the game pad lol.

But sniping should be a limited thing, in my opinion. Team Slayer and Sniper games would be better off seperated in the Matchmaking list so you either play one or the other. That way the sniper is still available to dominate certain areas of the game in Slayer but you are vulnerable to a wider array of weapons that some twerp (i.e. myself) who can't snipe back! So you generally have to be better at what you do.

Same goes for COD4 and all the rest of them, only x amount of people should perhaps be allowed to choose the sniper role - fastest fingers first :)

What is everybody's best sniping moment if you can name one?

Um, play TF2? It has spies. The most fun way to humiliate, then kill (not exactly in that order) snipers.

I am an excellent sniper if the need be, but I prefer not to. I like the 'up close and personal' approach, where I just run in and go full vigilante on them.

As for shotties, they're fun to use, but campers are excessively annoying.

All in all, bunny hop and zigzag all over the place, and you should be fine against snipers.

.J.a.T.:
Ugh... Don't even get me started how annoying it is...

I quit playing online shooters just because every frigging enemy was a sniper and shot me in the head from somwhere I couldn't see. It's just ANNOYING.

I don't hate snipers in regular, just the fact that everyone wants to be one. It's just annoying when 3-4 shoot you the same time. Geez...

And I admit, I use rifles and snipes in shooter games in particular, they just are more acurate, and you usually need just one shot to the head to kill. So, why waste ammo from Thompson when you can just rifle your enemys brains all over the dude behind him?

End post.

What you're saying is this:

I love to snipe, because it lets me kill easier. But I hate being sniped.

Isn't that a bit hypocritical?

In most games the sniper rifle is immensely powerful, often 1 or 2 hit kill.
Learn to wield it reliably at close range and a sniper rifle is often the (or one of) best weapons in a game. It leaves a precise player with practically no weaknesses, unless they miss.

You'll often find the highest scoring snipers behaving in an extremely unsniper-ish manner, charging around like a madman. It certainly works for me.

I can see how this would be extremely frustrating to someone who prefers shorter range weapons like shotguns or machine guns, being nailed from across the map is one thing but carefully sneaking up on another player just to have them spin round and blast you twenty feet out must be immensely grating.

I've been playing games for decades but only recently started with the whole online FPS thang and this is how it goes down:

Snipers (and campers for that matter) care more about winning than having fun.

It really is that simple.

Well each game is different with the technique in all approaches.

Call of Duty takes cal-coding into effect. A round from any rifle takes time to travel and therefore you must draw a bead on your target and anticipate his/her path before firing. That takes skill so I'll give you COD4 obsessives a round of applause.

Halo on the other hand is a case of snap-shot instant brain-explody-fun. You hit the target bang on which is where I struggle.

It's a satisfying feeling, like when you sink a pool ball into the bottom corner and it slides in easily, I know that because I have - I think - managed the occasional head shot lol and potted plenty of pool balls.

But why is it considered skillful? I don't understand why people think a long range kill with a close-range scope defines your skill. I think standing twenty or thirty foot away and firing at an enemy who is firing back takes a lot more patience and wit.

Any thoughts?

I for myself try to be a sniper from time to time, but i am either not precise or patient enough (or both) to enjoy that for longer than a round.

For me it's much more thrilling to be quick on your toes with some automatic gun (SMG's in COD4, for example), flanking enemies and generally try to use the current situation to outwit my opponents.

Yes, that means i steal kills quite regulary, but i can't wait for you getting your small shootouts done to see if there is someone left for me.

poleboy:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.70729

Look, this one has a poll!

I would suggest that that was impolite.

As for me, I do not play sniper often because it does require a vesicon of skill when playing against people who know better. I have not got that skill. I do think people enjoy it because it is a little bit the griefer / bully position. The knowledge that someone is a little confused at the sudden interruption of decent game-play and probably uber gratifying for a lot of players.

It's because you are in that mid not noob but not advanced player section that you're seeing a lot of them. Once you start developing and perfecting strategies for players that think they are the sniping shat and a bag of doritos you will definitely notice them less (because you'll be getting rid of them quicker so they will change team roles so that their not dead as much)

As for actual sniping being rubbish. I always thought being a qualified military field sniper required a lot of skill. Maybe it is because so few are needed in the contemporary world that it is turning into a bit of a "shove the chaff out of the way" place in military culture?

It's effective and it's easy and it's overpowered because for some reason game designers can't bring themselves to introduce a realistic sniping model so people will never know that it's actually freaking hard.

For all those reasons it is both hated by some and loved by the many.

Snipers don't take extra skill as far as I'm concerned, if I can run in on a match of Halo, COD4 etc, and mow down three enemies that are all shooting at me, then that's skill.
I think people have missed the point of the thread, it's not saying snipers are BAD, just saying that it's a bit stupid when you get a 5v5 match and 4 of them are snipers. I don't mind good snipers, say two that pull off a headshot real good, but when there is a multitude of people that spam rapidfire "point in general direction and click away" more then I spam commas, then it gets a bit stupid.
If everyone else uses them, then you have to use them to take them out.
People usually use snipers because they like to think it gives them an image...

I play COD4 quite a lot online through my xbox (PC having been clear out of my price range for a good long time) and don't hate snipers but never choose it.

I like them because they give me good sport to run around and get easy kills. Nothing is more satisfying than running at a sniper and awkwardly side stepping so they waste shot after shot then 'slotting' (that's the military jargon isn't it?) them with whatever I'm using.

I play more free-for-all than team deathmatch though, so it's not a regular complaint. To be honest I'm very impressed when snipers can keep up the kills speed with me! In fact, thinking back, one of the reasons I stopped playing the team based games is that I was the only with an assault rifle pushing forward! Damn, you're right.

I remember the early days of Counter-Strike, where most people I knew on LAN games used AWPs BOTH on long and short to mid range (very unsniper-ish). Apparently they use the Quick-change trick to line up shots.

A VGcats webcomic was made for this. It pretty much sums up what the thread starter stated: FPS's are fun until everyone suddenly wants to become a sniper.

Black yeoman:
What get on me is grenades, especialy call of duty 4, "just aim high and throw 3!" that and martrydom "yeah I get points by dying!"

Same here, the grenade spamming in COD4 is beyond belief and as for martyrdom *shakes head*
I refuse to use it on the principle that I think it's just so damn cheap. This is a pretty stupid way to look at it though because ironically the only person who is really affected by this is me! Sigh

Day of Defeat: Source deals with this very well. Three of the classes, by default, have limits of either one or two people per team. There can only be two snipers on each team. To avoid whining about having poor snipers, though, there is an unlimited class which has a rifle capable of psuedo-sniping. It means that in effect you don't get sniped as much.

My brother is a very fastidious person (did I just make a word up?) and he *loved* his sniping, particularly in Unreal Tournament. He just did it to the point of where it no longer became a game, just boring. He was frightened of the big wide world, and never played online, and his games of Unreal Tournament would consist of him playing on Facing Worlds, sitting atop one of the towers and sniping everything that appeared over the rise. It was literally unbelievable that he could take pleasure in doing that. I would sit in my room and listen to 'm-m-m-m-m-monster kill!' echoing from his room.

He finally stopped when he realised he'd just been sitting there doing that and nothing else for about an hour. He looked at his kills - 666! Freaky stuff. Anyway, snipers annoy me too. It's not more skilled to be a sniper. You say you need to move when your position has been compromised; when you're going forward your position is compromised ALL THE TIME.

Actually the way it sniping should be done is like in Americas Army where you had to be in prone position and have your bipod deployed to shoot with any accuracy.(crappy game but had some amazingly good ideas)

Edit: How come a bunch of snipers in video games fire trace rounds?

mark_n_b:

poleboy:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.70729

Look, this one has a poll!

I would suggest that that was impolite.

As for me, I do not play sniper often because it does require a vesicon of skill when playing against people who know better. I have not got that skill. I do think people enjoy it because it is a little bit the griefer / bully position. The knowledge that someone is a little confused at the sudden interruption of decent game-play and probably uber gratifying for a lot of players.

It's because you are in that mid not noob but not advanced player section that you're seeing a lot of them. Once you start developing and perfecting strategies for players that think they are the sniping shat and a bag of doritos you will definitely notice them less (because you'll be getting rid of them quicker so they will change team roles so that their not dead as much)

As for actual sniping being rubbish. I always thought being a qualified military field sniper required a lot of skill. Maybe it is because so few are needed in the contemporary world that it is turning into a bit of a "shove the chaff out of the way" place in military culture?

The task is arduous and for most units, particularly the commando's and US equivalance, the training is almost unbearably tough but the role is primarily reconnaisance. A modern sniper in the field will most likely only fire three shots per tour. Yes that's three confirmed and those watching TV think you look cool but you probably spent 6 days on a hill before you pulled the trigger and after you did, the strike group will have moved in and done the rest of the work where the action is.

It pays the same as infantry and you rarely see the same action. Yes there is skill in the role and I have respect that as I do all my colleagues but in the end it is not the fashionably sleek and cool job that others view it as.

So nobody has any incredible one shot-5-kill sniper stories for me?

From my point of view, I like my action to be as calm and retard-free as humanely possible. Being on the other side of the level helps in that regard.

Plus, the whole "Run around like a spaz" thing is about as original as Halo. Sniping is (dare I say it) more realistic - real soldiers don't bounce up and down, spam grenades and spew bullets in every direction like some drunken Yank in an action movie. People seem to want Realism these days, and I don't blame them. Sniping feels like hard work (it often is), and that gives a sense of achievement. Yeah, it might not be fun for the poor sod who got head-shot out of nowhere, but nor is it particularly fun when I get ambushed by a shotgun point-blank and splattered across the wall. Being shot isn't fun. Deal with it.

MrNeil:
So nobody has any incredible one shot-5-kill sniper stories for me?

Do shooting a heli pilot in BF2 causing it to crash count?

I did nail 3 in a row in old 1.4 Counter Strike. 3 CTs picked the wrong time to all follow each other down the ramp.

As was said before I think Americas Army and Day of Defeat made good strides in limiting this, and for the most part any game that throws vehicles into the mix makes trying to only snipe less effective.

Arguments of skill aside people gravitate to sniping because it's a logical conclusion to wanting to maximize damage( sniper rifles are almost all ways the highest rated in damage for any given game) while minimizing risk.

As for the question of it being fun, I find knifing someone to be a lot more enjoyable then a head shot at 1000 yards.

My only problem with sniping is that effects Team based gameplay mechanics. In team based games, having more than 2 snipers is counterproductive for the team. When I play on a team with 6 snipers and 2 other w/assault weapons, it's painfully obvious that the others merely care only abut THEIR score and could care less about the overall outcome of the match. I cherish the rare occasions when I can find a balanced team to play with, because we are virtually unstoppable! I'll pick up a Sniper Rifle occasionally, , and I find that there is not much skill involved in lining up your shot from 180 meters (or whatever the case may be) away. And then moving to the next position. I just don't get the same thrill from sniping as I do from shoving a shotgun in someones face :)

Sniping is boring gameplay that I cannot comprehend people enjoy. Wee, I don't have to fight people... just click and blam. Isn't fighting people the reason for multiplayer? Why not just shoot AI then?

I don't like what it does to people, too.
Generally... bad snipers are utterly worthless cocky bastards, mediocre snipers are loud cocky bastardsand good snipers are smug cocky bastards.
Bleh!

That said, it's fun to bug the crap out of them as a Spy in TF2. Which is the only online shooter worth playing anyway.

I really don't have anything against 'Sniping whores', being able to use your environment properly would put them at a disadvantage, specially if they are on the offense team. Defense, well, that's what tools like the smoke nades/flashes and nade spams are for, to root out those pests ;)

In any competitive match I have played in CS, a 'good' sniper can make the difference between losing and winning a round.

Yes, yes, it's not real-life, the same amount of talent and endurance shouldn't be in a game, because remember, game are supposed to offer an escape, and are supposed to be fun.

I hate game trying to mimic realism.

BaronAsh:
Edit: How come a bunch of snipers in video games fire trace rounds?

It's so they give away their position every time they fire, much like the way TF2 warps to the person who killed you when you die. Very helpful against campers.

IDK about it taking more skill to kill some one when your a sniper. Your shooting at people who cant see or sometimes hit you. Would that not make killing a sniper a better test of skill?

Sigh......I know how you feel. i guess people like the idea of ruining someone's day by putting a bullet in their brain when they're not looking. It's a cheap but effective way of killing people, plus it really pisses people off......