In serious tactical realism games; America's Army, Rogue Spear, OFP, VBS·1, LOS:V, Hidden & Dangerous 2, Ghost Recon, SOAF, Close Combat, Red Orchestra, Soldner, SWAT 4, etc. --
there is no such thing as "
camping"; defensive or offensive... Even many action realism games like IGI·2, Battlefield 2, Global Operations, Vietcong most Fans will laugh at or disregard anyone complaining about "
camping"...
The concept of "
camping" only applies to high speed action realism games where realistic ambush tactics are not considered to be a part of the game, and weapon FHD is high. These are games of very high in
skills of execution, where as more serious tactical realism games are intended to offer leverage to tactical execution, rather then raw eye/hand speed skills of execution.
In real warfare there is no desire for an even or balanced contest of skill, which is the apotheosis of the concept of a '
game'... Where games are intended to be a fun and balanced contest of skills of execution; real combat tactics and strategy are nothing of the sort and every means is sought to imbalance and completely obviate not only the skills of your enemy but to minimize the amount of skill required by your own force to execute a mission and employ their weapons and tactics.
Tactical realism blurs the distinction of a '
game' in one important area:
tactics. Tactical realism intends realistic, sophisticated and even to some extent skill of execution obviating tactical capability -- including
static ambush, or what gets called "
camping" in some speed/action games.
What was long very discouraging about serious tactical realism games to many game Fans that may have liked some of the features of these games, but found the game-play very frustrating (and blamed it on "
camping") is in fact FHD or (First Hit Decisiveness). When a game offers realistically powerful weapons of high casual damage, high rate of fire, and no modern armor to speak of -- the game will be very high FHD or First Hit Decisive... This means the player that the player first to
see and
hit will generally have a decisive advantage in any encounter and prevail. This makes static ambush or "
camping"
the decisive
single combat tactic.
Now tactical realism Fans don't mind this, they
know, that even simplistic pair tactics like '
bounding', and '
slicing the pie'
can overwhelm even the best placed squad sized static ambush. But unfortunately many are the games and mods that suffer the misfortune of attracting action realism Fans that believe everything must be a solo, score whoreing, mad Rambo, rush with always in motion game play...
There is a happy middle ground can be provided by realistic scale game feature that will satisfy everyone, and that is realistic III or IV level body armor. Realistically scaled armor reduces the effective FHD target area dramatically to the head and pelvic girdle, which are much harder to hit in rapid fast ambush scenarios. The protection afforded by modern III and IV armor give the ambushed solo player enough time to return effective fire (either cover or counter), or maneuver for cover -- yet still allow for the realistic and skillful execution of static ambush to be successful with marksmen that surpass the skill of the ambushed.
The issue of "
Spawn camping can easily be designed out of a game if the Game and Level Designers desire. There are several approaches that apply to both respawn, reinforcement and realistic single-life tactical realism mission based gaming. SWAT 4 offers one superlative solution for reinforcement based game where the "
Spawns" (called '
insertion points' in any serious tactical realism game), are actually
designed to be attacked, and offer carefully placed cover and multiple random spawn points so the insertion can be instantly hot and defend-able, and provide exciting firefights that use more of the Map and put you in the action from go...
Similarly "
Spawn Points" can be clipped, or put in a position of tactical leverage as is accomplished on several NS:CO Level Designs like rapeling from a helicopter where your other team members can cover your decent, or in several other spawn schemes I've outlined in thread "
Thee Official TC:E Forums" that are now locked so the subject can't be discussed...
If TC:E intends to attract and sustain Fans of tactical realism, "
camping" and discussions heavily laden with concern for it as some manner of issue other then by design for realistic static ambush, or the balance of FHD and armor -- really won't go far...
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