I was in the Army, and camping was like 99% of combat. Sitting quietly and waiting for the enemy to walk into your line of fire is a tried and true military mindset.
A fun target for grenades.
It’s part of the game, some people enjoy playing that way or can’t win any other way. All devs can really do is find creative deterrents for the behavior that other players can use. (Drill charge for example in MWII)
I know it’s probably been done in other games, but the drill charge solves so many issues. In past games, you can maybe get a camper with a grenade, but now it’s almost guaranteed (especially if you also run in to finish them off if it doesn’t get them). It was a brilliant addition to MW2 and I hope it stays in basically all CoD games.
Its part of the game. Some people just want to run around mindlessly rushing to get the jump on people then complain when someone was watching that door or corner
“Go into a room too fast, kid. The room, eats you.”
It depends on the game. For something like COD, it feels like it goes against the fast-paced nature of the game. However, in squad-based games like Battlefield it’s a sensible tactic. You want to observe your surroundings and do some overwatch rather than running in guns blazing. (However if you’re just sitting on a hill sniping other snipers for 30 minutes rather than playing the objective it can be annoying).
Sniping other snipers is part of the meta in Battlefield.
It was hard for me to get into GTAO, because the first week I tried to play, I got sniped as soon as I spawned in from the intro mission.
It is as viable of a strategy as any other. People who complain about people “ratting” or being “bush wookies” crack me up… its like saying that chargin a point is a dumb way to play… its not… it is just the way people play. Some people are door kickers, some people want to sneak through a window, some people will camp an exit point. It all adds to the tension in a game. I think that if you are playing a game and dont like that people exit camp, like the do specifically in extraction shooters, then you might want to try a game that is more of a TDM… Because extraction games are generally designed around chokepoints… ala EFT or Hunt to name the most dominant ones I can think of.
I have wondered if this concept of “playing the right way” stems from a generation of people who watch twitch streams. Those guys cannot really afford to play the flanking/ambush style, so people watch and think that pushing a point, or dropping into the hottest zones are the correct way to play. My old ass lacks the snap reflexes of a 15yo. I am for mid tier, or mid tier +1… So I try to play games that allow for me to push when I feel a tactical advantage, or snipe from the flanks when I dont. Which most people would never want to watch.
Complaining about campers has been a thing since before streaming became popular.
Speaking anecdotally as both the complained and complainee, most people play superficially and aggressive. This makes them easy targets for strategies that are often considered “cheap” like camping or spamming. Rather than reflect and learn how to deal with those situations, its easier to deflect and blame the other for playing wrong.
Really don’t think that ‘playing the right way’ is a new phenomenon. I haven’t played an online FPS in 20 years, but I vividly remember controversy around camping when I was playing Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena way back then.
To piggyback on this, I used to play Counter-Strike 1.5 (and later 1.6) a lot. There were servers that ran scripts to automatically chuck people into the air and deal them damage (often called a slap) if they didn’t change coordinates on the map for too long. Some would just auto-kick players for doing so. The anti-camper hate was common.
The server I frequented was far more lenient, but camping that prolonged the round(since dead players could only watch, and the rounds were 5 minutes long to make walking and crouching more viable) was generally frowned upon if they weren’t outnumbered or defending an objective.
As a (former?) camper, I did it because I was never good at moving and shooting at the same time. I also wasn’t the best camper either, that’s why I never played online.
It has its uses but I can absolutely see how it’s frustrating for other players in certain games like COD.
Legitimate strategies, regardless of variety of game or level of play. And although it’s generally not my cup of tea, if doing that is how someone has fun in their video game, then so be it.
Spawn camping in old school deathmatches or other games with spawn closets are another story. Believe it or not, straight to jail.
“It’s a legitimate strategy!!!”
Seriously though, camping a weapon drop or a busy corner and spawn camping are different beasts. Spawn camping sucks because there’s not really much if any counter play, it’s more on the devs to make spawning less predictable and exploitable. Other types of camping can be played around by being aware of the map.
I usually just get annoyed at game developers for making camping exploitable. It should be used for setting traps, rewarding good strategy, or risky setups that payoff.
I remember this one map in Killzone 3(?), where one spawn was a building with like chutes you could drop out of. Well, the other team could just walk right up to those and actually see into the spawn room so people would camp there throwing grenades and shit into the building. The other spawn was pretty inaccessible unless you spawned there.
No problem. Its a legitimate tactic. There are plenty of ways to deal with camping.
If people can do it but it doesn’t make the game fun, then it’s a poorly designed game. Find another game. It’s not up to the players to follow some unwritten rule. It’s up to the devs to put appropriate rules into the code.
I’m generally fine with it besides aggressive spawn camping
not in a shooter, but one of my favorite past times is chilling out camping a route between places with friends and “guild” mates in an mmo and just chatting and drinking while we wait for someone to stumble in. Sometimes people bring enough friends or heavy equipment to make it a fight. Its chill.
It really depends on the game. In Counter Strike, this is essentially how to play in any kind of competitive way. In a game that rewards aggression in some way it might not be viable at all. Anything people to do to win is fair as long as it’s not blatant cheating. If the best way to win at a game is doing things you don’t want to do or deal with, it’s the wrong game rather than the wrong players.
If you are defending an objective it is not camping. I am defending an objective.
I don’t care as long as your goal is to win
But in Hunt: Showdown for example you might run into players who are only doing it to farm KD and they don’t even try to get the bounty
Haven’t seen it in a year (I think they removed the leaderboard and that removed KD farming behavior)
