For "most gamers" they instinctively expect reticules on foes to kill said foe, not doing math "estimating holdovers" or taking windage into account.
Actual realism is way over rated for the average gamer claims EA's Goodrich, who says the team had to scale back how much detail they put into the complete reboot for Medal of Honor. Fiddling with sniper scopes is his primary example.
"We’ve spent a great deal of time working on the sniping mechanic in our game. At times during our development, we would reach a point where we took into account too many things and the experience quickly deteriorated,” Goodrich said, reports VG247.
“So we would take a step back and approach it from a different direction." EA's Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does use a number of factors like gravity and wind drift to make sniping more of a challenge, with weapon attributes playing a role too.
"Here is an example. For one of our sniping encounters, focused on the art of sending a very personal message at an extreme range, we started by first selecting the optic. We then chose the rings, reticule and turret configuration for this particular optic. We ultimately decided upon a variable 5.5-22×50 with a Mil-Dot reticule and 1/10 Mil-Radian turrets."
“The fine details of angular Mils can be confusing, but basically Mil-Dots serve two purposes, range estimation and trajectory correction. The horizontal and vertical marks (or dots) on the reticule are used for range estimation and the vertical marks are used for bullet drop compensation. A well trained shooter will also use the horizontal marks to compensate for bullet drift due to wind." More math incoming...
"One Mil angle is approximately 3.6 inches at 100 yards. A 6 foot tall man is 72 inches. At 100 yards he would appear to be 20 Mils tall. At 1000 yards, he would be 2 Mils tall. To determine the distance to a target of known size: (Distance in yards) = 1000 / 36 x (Object size in inches) / Mils."
“To determine the size of a target at a known distance: (Object size in inches) = 36 / 1000 x (Distance in yards) x Mils. Knowing these relationships, in conjunction with the external ballistics of a loaded projectile, a trained shooter can dial in his glass pretty quickly and make an effective shot."
it's just too much for the console gamer and most that pick up shooters aren't looking for realism in the actual science of pulling the trigger, more in the aftermath of the shot like pretty pot holes, big explosions and more buckets of blood.
"Yes, it is accurate and it is authentic, but when you place a controller in the hand of most gamers, they instinctively think one thing. If I place the crosshairs on a target and pull the trigger, I will destroy the target," explained Goodrich.
"Doing math, estimating holdovers or adjusting turrets for windage or elevation isn’t something they bargained for." I imagine parent groups would be beside themselves, and army's gleeful, if kids started doing sniper math on the fly. Do you favour realism?
Medal of Honor releases for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC sometime in the future.
