Camping - Brings out the worst in gamers
How did all of a sudden style of play somehow become taboo amongst video gamers? I'm talking about camping. For those that don't know, camping is a strategy where you identify key locations of a multiplayer game map and defend those locations. I'm not talking about knowing how to exploit glitches in a game that allow you to kill your opponents as soon as they spawn in the game. No, I'm just talking about playing smart. It seems lately that online gamers have grown to view this as poor gamesmanship, and for the life of me I can't figure out why.
Every game or sport has key facets that need to be controlled or managed in order to win. In football it's not uncommon to hear a commentator say that whoever controls the line of scrimmage will win the game. Does this mean that the team that does this is showing poor sportsmanship by camping the line of scrimmage? What about in soccer--is having a goalie poor sportsmanship? Why is he camping the place the other team needs to get to in order to score?
A group of my friends and I have taken it upon ourselves to learn how to camp different maps in the game Call of Duty 4 to near perfection. The same group of players plays together often enough that we all learn each others strengths and weaknesses. We know the maps enough to know what areas need to be controlled. We don't try and exploit the spawn algorithm and kill our opponents where the spawn. What we try and do is pick one half of the map and just control it.
Vacant
In the above image, I've shown a typical layout on one map, Vacant. Our strategy isn't to rush and spawn camp the other team, but it's very simple though. We stay outside of the building while trying to keep our opponents inside. By doing that, we can control where we encounter them--the exits. By doing this we only have to cover a few key points of the map, as shown above. Sure, sometimes the other team will kill a few of us, by most often we kill a lot more of them.
What I really don't get is the distaste many gamers have for this strategy. Maybe it's because they get beaten by it so easily. Instead of whining and complaining that another team beat them by a superior strategy, maybe gamers need to instead focus on ways to counter it. We've played against other teams with similar strategy and still prevailed. I think too many gamers out there know how to play first person shooter (FPS) games one way and one way only. To be a good gamer you need to learn to adapt your strategy to fit your opponents' strategy.
The fundamental tenet of a good camping strategy relies on the premise that you will be more patient than your opponent. In the above example, if our opponent knew we would stay outside the building the whole match, they could just stay inside and force a tie game. In my many hours of using this strategy, I have yet to find an opponent who will do that though. They can't resist the urge to rush out, guns blazing. This usually results in a quick death them respawning back inside the building, ready to do it all over again.
Every game or sport has key facets that need to be controlled or managed in order to win. In football it's not uncommon to hear a commentator say that whoever controls the line of scrimmage will win the game. Does this mean that the team that does this is showing poor sportsmanship by camping the line of scrimmage? What about in soccer--is having a goalie poor sportsmanship? Why is he camping the place the other team needs to get to in order to score?
A group of my friends and I have taken it upon ourselves to learn how to camp different maps in the game Call of Duty 4 to near perfection. The same group of players plays together often enough that we all learn each others strengths and weaknesses. We know the maps enough to know what areas need to be controlled. We don't try and exploit the spawn algorithm and kill our opponents where the spawn. What we try and do is pick one half of the map and just control it.
VacantIn the above image, I've shown a typical layout on one map, Vacant. Our strategy isn't to rush and spawn camp the other team, but it's very simple though. We stay outside of the building while trying to keep our opponents inside. By doing that, we can control where we encounter them--the exits. By doing this we only have to cover a few key points of the map, as shown above. Sure, sometimes the other team will kill a few of us, by most often we kill a lot more of them.
What I really don't get is the distaste many gamers have for this strategy. Maybe it's because they get beaten by it so easily. Instead of whining and complaining that another team beat them by a superior strategy, maybe gamers need to instead focus on ways to counter it. We've played against other teams with similar strategy and still prevailed. I think too many gamers out there know how to play first person shooter (FPS) games one way and one way only. To be a good gamer you need to learn to adapt your strategy to fit your opponents' strategy.
The fundamental tenet of a good camping strategy relies on the premise that you will be more patient than your opponent. In the above example, if our opponent knew we would stay outside the building the whole match, they could just stay inside and force a tie game. In my many hours of using this strategy, I have yet to find an opponent who will do that though. They can't resist the urge to rush out, guns blazing. This usually results in a quick death them respawning back inside the building, ready to do it all over again.
Labels: Call of Duty 4, Camping, Gaming, Strategy, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
~CodeMonkey at
9/15/2008 02:06:00 AM
3 Comments:
its an army game man, a first person shooter (fps) and the objective is to kill the other team, not to play hide-n-seek, the only way you gain advantage is because you hide and the others have to look/find you.
Camping refers to the act of hiding or otherwise remaining in a hidden, obscured, or safe location in order to ambush an enemy or objective, or to avoid harm.
There is much controversy over whether or not camping is a respectable strategy; some claim camping is cowardly and cheap, while others maintain that it is intelligent and strategic.
You can't compare football or soccer with a fps... its not the same. you camp, you hide.... you run the scrimmage your out in the open widely visible and destroying your opposing team....
the way you have your team set up is watching the only available doorways or entrances.... just as if you had your team setup watching the only opposing team spawn points.... when the enemy turns the corner.... he's dead just like... when the enemy spawns at his point.... he's dead....
the only victorys won this way are cowardly victorys... be a man and go rambo/terminator (guns a blazing but don't eat bullets)
Faded Delta
I stand by my opinion that the reason most gamers whine and complain about this strategy is they keep losing to it. Spawn camping and holding down half of the map are two totally different things. With spawn camping, my opponents would have no opportunity to fight back. With the strategy I described, my opponents will know where we're at from the first kill.
This isn't 18th century duels where we stand at 20 paces, turn and shoot at each other. This is a video game where strategy comes into play. My strategy just helps it so that I see my enemy before they see me.
In the end, the objective is to score more points than your opponent in the time allotted. It's not really my fault opponents can't figure out how to counter a camping team (try smoke grenades, UAV jammer, silenced weapons, etc). Almost all maps in CoD4 have strategic locations that are easier to hold than others and give your team a decided advantage. Being able to hold those areas effectively does not make the strategy 'cowardly'.
I'm a defensive player so I camp a lot. If I am protecting the base, I will put myself in the most optimal position possible in order to have the upper hand. I won't apologize for it either. If I'm in charge of defending the objective, I will do whatever I can to keep it safe, including camping. :)
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