A CoD4 Story... ish.

If you have the time to read, I'd like to hear your input; figured I'd share this novel of a story, I'm sure some of you can relate;

I hadn't played CoD4 in a long time, a good 4 or 5 months, which as we all know is long enough to get pretty rusty at anything. I picked up my old routine quickly enough though, and in just a few hours I was back to making good regular 4:1 k:d ratios everywhere I went. Occasically I'd have my bad game, get stuck in the spawn, naded or airstriked every time I tried to get out, but it's the sortof thing that only lasts for the round, y'know? Next time the teams get mixed up and you can breathe again.

I don't use alot of grenades, personally, I stick with what I know will hit before my target can react; assault rifles give me the accuracy I need with the power to back it up. Hardcore mode is what I play, and it's what I play best; it favours the guy with sharp reactions and a low ping over the guy with the heavy trigger finger or the guy with grenades coming outof his ears. In hardcore mode, people go down in one or two shots, regardless of what gun you're using; I chose mine accordingly, overkill; two assault rifles to double my ammo. I'll need it all.

"Magger's Gaming Deluxe", or something to the effect was the server name. Team deathmatch with a high population, too high, sometimes. The SSD clan run it, and they run it strict enough, as I discovered; no tubes was their only rule; fine by me.

First map was showdown, an old favourite. Key to this one's knowing where the enemy is coming from; spawns rotate quickly if you don't pay attention. I did the usual, circling the map around the outside, 'cause the courtyard's a fucking deathtrap, nobody survives in there for more than 10 or 20 seconds. Opened my session with a well placed grenade, I use a high angle so they never see it coming, don't have the time to run, lead the way, clockwise, past the truck on the east side. That's two.
I always use the same patterns; flash the corner for the near enemies, aim for the farthest ones in the confusion and finish the nearest before they can fully recover. It works like clockwork, I've practised it enough times, took the enemy spawn in a single hail of gunfire. The map rotates as I follow their 'assault' onto the westside, pick off the guys running up the stairs. That's another six.
Wash, rinse and repeat. Occasionally, I'd die, but the session was going well, combined with the odd airstrike and I was pushing 80:14 when my team hit the score limit.

Next round was the same story in new scenery. I was there from the start of the round this time; 92:19. The other team wasn't so good at shooting down my helicopter. It did most of the work for me. After a while longer, consistently appearing at the top of the leaderboard those SSD guys started to take notice. A hacker? I took the notion as a compliment at first, thought to myself "This must mean I'm doing something impressive", but I must admit I should've seen it coming a mile off after seeing how quickly they dealt with some poor kid who didn't know what "No tubes" meant.

Eventually, sometime past 11, things got quieter; just a few people on each team now as the map turned back around to showdown. I'd taken a break, and returned to that same server, Magger's. Another accusation was waiting for me before I'd even hit double digits. 8:2 and I'm hacking? You're joking. Five against five is a wonderful sized game; small enough to keep everyone in check, no airstrikes to deafen me constantly, no oddballs to blindside me.
I don't care what economists will say, I love my soundcard, I can hear every footstep with precision. Every so often the UAV would go dead, and I'd remain still, crouched at the edge of some corner. These aren't seasoned players; they're used to the louder, busy servers where it doesn't matter if you're running everywhere. I can hear them all a mile away, and they drop like flies.

"How did you know I was there?"
"I heard you."

The game continues, 20:4. I take a diagonal run across the courtyard and drop another two; then another with the ensuing airstrike. The gunfire behind me reminds me where the rest of my team is, I see one pelting the other side of the map with his SAW; too inaccurate and horrifically noisy, I hear the sharp crack of an M4 return fire, and my teammate drops, deservingly. I circled around the outside of the map again, took a little detour into the courtyard; there's the guy with the carbine, down he goes. I never use my knife, it's too risky and too slow. Bullets are fast and reliable, and I don't miss at that range.

"Serif, hack."

He's brandishing SSD tags at me. He doesn't mention it, but I can tell I'd probably be in trouble if I kept it up. That's kill number 7 in my streak. I'm hardly not going to get my helicopter, am I?

"You knew."
Of course I fucking knew, you blithering imbecile. You don't take an open shot and remain in place.
"I heard your shot before."
"Im keeping an eye on you"
My frustration grows; it's not the game I'm angry with, it's the other player. These aren't professionals, is it so farfetched for me to pull a 5:1 k:d in a casual game?
Eventually the game comes to an end, and I call it a night. 55:8, I kid you not. That's a 6:1 k:d ratio.

The next day I return. Play a few rounds, 3:1 and 4:1 ratios, give or take. Here's where it all ends, ineveitably. A new SSD guy appears, same one from yesterday. I think nothing of it, continue as normal; the round is off to a slow start, 11:11. Perhaps I need a break?
"That Serif guy is a hack I've been waiting for him to get back on."
You're shitting me. I'm pulling 11:11 and you're calling me a hack? Is it so much more plausable that I'd have deceived punkbuster anticheat, remained humanely inconsistent and prone to mistake, rather than just being... good?
Before I can retort the screen stutters to a halt and I'm left with the message that I've been permabanned.

I'm left with only recollections of Mohaa, where actual hackers would decimate entire servers, dozens of kills before anyone could even touch them. When did this witchhunt begin anyway? Have reason and clinical observation of the obvious disappeared from the common gamer's repertoire?

Shit man. Just...shit. I admit, I regularly call 'hax' on people when they're good. I do so for fun and to keep chat flow moving. To be removed forcibly from a server because some douche wields banhammer against you because you're better than him...

Am I glad I never bought any CoD games.

Yah, I'm only human, I make mistakes; I never play a perfect game, but apparently it's too much to be conceivable by any real player.

I dislike killcam for the purposes of keeping my location unadvertised to people I kill, but I almost favour it now, just so they can see how fucking obvious it is I didn't need some program to do the aiming for me.

Their ignorance enrages me like little else. I just want to play the damn game.

meh CoD4 was an easy game to get 4:1 kd's on, yet its surprising the amount of people that would be so surprised to see that someone can get a high score that they call them hackers.

The problem more recently is that hacks are different from when they first arose out of the fires of mordor. wall hacks are still about but players play more intelligently with them, so as to seem as if they cant see the other player, but getting the advantage over them anyway.
there are also hacks that make the player seem completely innocent, and yet they come out with scores of 100-3.

So I guess some people can be excused for thinking that someone is a hacker, however it is rare to ever see a hacker and in my whole time playing CSS and CoD I must have only ever seen about 10 hackers, so its unlikely you will see one every day.

I think the reason most people think others are hacking is arrogance, the failure to accept that other people are better at a game than them.
It's happened to me, I've called people hackers when tbh there is not much evidence to support that they are.
The fact of the matter is this, it doesnt matter how much time you put into playing a game, someone else will always have played more, and chances are, they will be better than you, deal with it.

Amen. I know people are better than me, because usually my death count exceeds my kill count.

3agle_land3r wrote:

The fact of the matter is this, it doesnt matter how much time you put into playing a game, someone else will always have played more, and chances are, they will be better than you, deal with it.

I must say I do like this, it's almost, philosophical.

3agle_land3r wrote:

3agle_land3r wrote:

The fact of the matter is this, it doesnt matter how much time you put into playing a game, someone else will always have played more, and chances are, they will be better than you, deal with it.

I must say I do like this, it's almost, philosophical.

You should frame it. Then when you invite people over, point at it and go 'I said that once.'

That's possibly the best idea anyones ever had.

You're gonna spot more of this calling hax and general problems in competitive gaming. That's why when someone tried to get me into a clan for a match, I said 'if I wanted to be competitive, I'd play sports.'