Fm: SFC Chris Dowden
Attn: CPT David Hightower
Rgd: PFC William Redbot
As the stand-in range master and platoon leader, it is my great honor to recommend PFC William Redbot of Echo Company Second Platoon for the U.S. Army Rifle Marksmanship award for displaying proficiency with the Browning Automatic Rifle battery of arms.
With your approval, PFC Redbot will be presented with Marksmanship decorations at the next awards ceremony. Awaiting your response.
Regards,
SFC Christopher Dowden, Echo Company Second Platoon
Something that has always plagued cyberspace shooters is accuracy. The most obvious reason is because you lazy skunks have to actually move your hand - nay, thumb - in order to point your virtual weapon in the proper direction. At one time, the extent of an accurate shot was to face your monster in DOOM, and press the fire control. These days...well, it's not so simple. Character movement speed plus character bearing plus torso directional control plus weapon stats plus rate of fire equals so many variables to affect your bullet trajectories that even Gunnery Sergeant Hartman couldn't make it sound easy.
So what are some ways that games have found to give players a variable edge in accuracy? Let's take a quick look...
AUTO-AIM and LOCK-ON CONTROLS
An abomination. It shouldn't even be on here. Oh, wait...we like Halo 3, don't we? Okay, then, fair enough...
Auto-aim and lock-on aiming - as seen in shooters like Dark Forces, the Syphon Filter series, the Halo series, and the most magnetic crosshairs yet: Serious Sam HD - is the simplest form of accuracy improvement.
There. Next!
WEAPON SELECTION
I'm not going to sit on this one long, because it's the most obvious. You pick up an machine gun, you make a mess. You grab a shotgun, you make the same mess but in less than one second. The slower the fire rate, the more manageable your aim becomes. This is a basic principle of video game shooting.
"We need weapons."
CONTROLLED FIRING
Just like in real life, mashing down the trigger of an automatic weapon will make you an appealing target who's easy to find. Some lucky players use this method...more serious shooters call it "spray and pray". The idea is: you quite literally point the muzzle in a direction and fill the screen with lead. No matter how good you are with the crosshairs you will miss, and you will miss a lot. Using your finger to fire shorter, controlled bursts is the generally best way to ensure that more bullets land where you tell them to.
ZOOMING
Ever since sniper rifles invaded first-person shooters there has been no shortage of campers who like to stay prone and take a single, measured shot for the kill. As sniper rifles have become more prevalent, even the run-and-gun style players have resorted to the superior scopes of high-powered rifles every once in a while. Today's graphics render camouflage - like ghillie suits - useful (finally). Also, the addition of smoke grenades and weather effects help to mask your enemies. Getting a closer look from afar usually aids you in finding that prick spawn camper and waxing him.
CROUCHING
More appropriate for third-person shooters but present in most first-person combat games also, the crouch function serves a dual purpose: making yourself a smaller target, and steadying your aim. If the map provides low edges and objects, you can hide behind them...all while benefiting from a smaller bullet spread. Sometimes, crouching will also slow your movement speed, allowing more precise shots as you creep around corners. Which brings us to...
SLOWER MOVEMENT
Using your character's legs to more slowly move your crosshairs usually gives you the freedom of a slow target acquisition without sacrificing your character's quicker upper body movement. In other words: you can aim better, but still swing around if someone approaches you at close proximity. At the same time, slower movement balances multiplayer gameplay by presenting you as an easier target.
And finally...
IRON SIGHTS
You knew I was getting to this, didn't you? Today you get to find out why I value the good ol' iron sights.
In the same year that a certain little video game called Call of Duty was released, the Pterodon-developed title Vietcong featured a gameplay enhancement that improved player accuracy by simulating bearing the rifle to the shoulder and viewing targets down its length. More to the point - accuracy was actually diminished if this action was not taken. This feature was eventually called iron sights, and with a few exceptions this type of precision aiming control has made its way into most third- and first-person shooters.
Is it any wonder why I like it so much? In one pull of an otherwise useless trigger*, you have just combined all three of the previous methods of improving accuracy. Release the iron sights control, and you can speed away. It's a beautiful thing (and it feels more authentic, too).
*Look, I know that Halo uses the left trigger for chucking grenades, and that about 99% of Halo enthusiasts like the control scheme...but face it: any one of those buttons could function the same way. Left 4 Dead did a much better job of finding a non-iron-sights use for the left trigger, but then Left 4 Dead 2 added a spam timer and made it useless again. Phooey!
We hope you enjoyed this quick look at how the various methods used in video games to improve shooting accuracy. All questions must be asked in the form of a Jeopardy! question.
Just kidding - I don't take questions! Get back to your barracks.