Why Is There an Obsession with Shooter Sniping?

I have been playing FPS games since I was 9 or 10. It started with Doom and then I moved on to Wolfenstein and other games on the PC. I never really remember people being so obsessed with sniping. To the point were its the only reason they play a certain game. No one on GOW ever challenges you to a 1v1 Torque Bow, or 1v1 Boomshot. Its always. "Damn boiiii!!! you garbage wit da snipa rifle..Ill take u 1v1 right now you scrub". I cant say how many times ive gotten that simply because I missed a couple Headshots. I am not against using the sniper because, hell. Its really fun. But I dont understand why people have to run straight up to your face fireing random shots just for "OMG AWSOME SNIPE".

Who here is with me? plz dont flame. Only in my opinion.

I think that because it's only a single shot ever, and highly powered, it's one of the most rewarding guns used in shooting games. ANd the sniper is also the weapon most able to take out an unsuspecting victom, once again, very rewarding. BUt honestly you said it best yourself, it's just almost always a fun weapon to use.

(and not to be annoying but you topic says in FPS and then you talk about Gears, a TPS. maybe change your topic title to "shooters" instead. ;))

theres no obsession with sniping, it just takes the most percise aim out of all the weapons and it's considered that if you're skilled with a sniper rifle then you're a skilled player overall.fdsfgs

To me the sniper doesnt seem like a weapons that takes that much skill. I Only snipe when enemy's are far away. I think it is rather easy that way. scope, aim, pull trigger, kill. I think it is much harder to kill people when your actually face to face with them instead of sniping.

I'm a machine gun, sub-machine gun, assault rifle, and shotgun type of guy. I like close-encounters and intense confrontations. But there's something about the sniper that is extremely satisfying. When you scope done an enemy troop and plant him with your sniper, it really puts the "umph" in playing a shooter. One of my favorite sniper guns is the Longshot sniper rifle in Gears of War. It's a beauty.Elann2008

I see where you guys are coming from as I love the sniper in games like cod as well. It might just be a Halo/GoW thing to me then because there are some people that will TK you just to get your sniper.

I've always liked both the same. Sniping's always fun but sometimes i get too bored shooting from afar. It's always funner going up close and shooting people.

Snipers are the guys who are too scared to die/too scared to take risks/too scared to be in the spot where real skill is required.FamiBox

I couldnt agree more.

Smoke nades FTW

Sniping doesn't take nearly as much skill as the snipers claim. They only say that because, let's face it... they're glorified campers.

Which I think is a better question... why is it that camping is so frowned upon in shooters, but sniping is perfect acceptable and the snipers all think they're the hottest players? You're just camping with zoom so you can even be that much FARTHER away from the action.

Not that I'm defending camping, but it takes more balls than sniping... at least campers are still shooting at close quarters usually... noy hiding a mile away from everyone and then bragging about their mad skillz. The worst is when you're playing against a team that is ALL snipers... which seems to happen often in COD4 post-update. Then all you can do is snipe back and you end up with an entire match of everyone laying on their bellies in one place and shooting across the map... to me that is boring as hell.

I completely get where your coming from with this topic, this is definately nothing new though this has been going on since the early days of CS and games probably further back than that, Sniping itself can be a skill although the way a lot of people do it on these games it certainly isnt, ive seen games on RTCW where i managed to get about 15 kills in a row (as a sniper) and all of a sudden every single player on the other team changed to a sniper!! Thats pointless behaviour but seems to occur a lot.

One thing people who play as snipers tend to overlook is the difference between just killing as many people as possible and the strategic use of sniping, and to me those after nothing but kills are not snipers. As for the guy who said about camping, the difference is a camper usually hides in a position where theres almost no way to get them before they get you or a position where they have an advantage where they can gain an advantage without using skill, a sniper positions himself somewhere where he can provide the most aid to his team and give himself a good open view of the area.

who cares theys always bad loosers no matter what guns useddjrobst

Exactly. I prefer not to care what other players think of me. I use whatever I want, hehe. Why let a rotten apple spoil your meal?

[QUOTE="FamiBox"]Snipers are the guys who are too scared to die/too scared to take risks/too scared to be in the spot where real skill is required.kratos419

I couldnt agree more.

i will second that there is nothing more satisfing that getting involved in a close firefight with rifles, pistols and shotguns then comming out alive.

snipering is ok but where is the danger.

theres no obsession with sniping, it just takes the most percise aim out of all the weapons and it's considered that if you're skilled with a sniper rifle then you're a skilled player overall.fdsfgs

Thing is, in most games, most snipers are terrible. Especially CoD4. They think they are "hidden" when in reality they are sticking out like a sore thumb. Bunch of morons :P

COD4 is fairly balanced. There is a few snipe points, but with the moving spawn points and constantly shifting action, there are not that many true camp spots.

Like I said, smoke nades FTW! Don't get mad, just get better.