This, of course, is news to no one who has played first person shooter video games within the last few years. The Call of Duty series has been on a slow decline ever since it reached the pinnacle of “shoot that enemy soldier in the face” gameplay with Modern Warfare, as Activision slowly bleeds the franchise for every shiny penny that it’s worth. There are other games stepping in to take its place, but as we watch this franchise launch itself up the water ski ramp and over the fenced-in shark, it’s good to note that video games have helped save the gun culture . . .

As Robert likes to say, culture eats strategy for lunch. The more people owning guns and liking guns, the less power gun control advocates will have. And when it comes to getting new shooters into their local stores to pick up a modern rifle or two, video games like Call of Duty have done more to bolster the ranks of the gun culture than anything else in recent years.

According to some latest reports, less than 7% of Americans hunt. That’s down from the damn near 100% figure of the 1770s, but not unexpected given the ease with which one can pick up nice and neat packages of meat from the grocery store. Hunting used to be the default way in which someone would be introduced into the gun culture, but with the decline of hunting things were looking bleak. The decline of hunting was one of the first steps in the gun control agendas of England and Australia, and their last push for civilian disarmament came at a time when there was no activity there to keep the culture alive. As a result, since hunting was no longer something to protect and no one was there to speak up for gun rights, the forces of gun control succeeded.

Here in the United States, a similar situation was forming. Hunting was on the decline, and you could see the plan formulating in the halls of gun control advocates. Demonize the act of hunters, demonize the gun, and then confiscate them all. But since the Call of Duty franchise started up, there has been a new breed of gun owner to contend with — the tactical, self defense minded gun rights advocate.

It’s a completely new breed, and the gun control folks still haven’t figured out how to counter their appearance. The Brady Campaign is trying to paint concealed carry holders as heartless killers who are just itching to pull the trigger, but their numbers are so laughable that even they have a hard time keeping a straight face. It’s hard to argue against a rape victim who is asking to defend herself, against a mother who used an AR-15 to protect her kids, or against someone who wants protection against thugs playing the “knockout game.” In that sense, you could say that Call of Duty saved gun rights.

But now it sucks and as with all things, its time may have passed. But it brought the first person shooter genre to a new height and may have saved one of our fundamental rights from the chopping block of the Democratic party.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

109 COMMENTS

    • Correct.

      I have Ghosts. It’s amazing how it feels like a rehash when I’ve never even played any of the Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. Yes, that’s right, the last COD I played was COD2. The multiplayer and bots modes are fun enough, but time will tell how much I bother with them… lotta other great games to play.

      • It’s feels the same. So in other words, arcade-y with all the guns feeling exactly the same and 12 year olds running around calling you every name in the book. If you really want to play a shooter that still has a large online community go with Battlefield. It’s not perfect but it’s better.

      • Its not so much a rehash as they turned the ridiculous up to 12. Black ops 2 from last year had it at 11 but it was also fun, albeit a bit nonsensical.

        Aside from the guns in this one being schizo as far as branding/existing, there’s a mission where you raid a base in the Andes mountains. You then make your escape, fleeing across a frozen lake in the Andes mountains. You are then rescued by a Virginia class nuclear attack submarine surfacing in the lake in the Andes mountains. I’m not 100% sure whether its the pacific or Atlantic fleets that would have control over that boat.

        • Ghosts is better than Black Ops 2. It isn’t a savior of the franchise, but at least it didn’t almost kill it like Black Ops 2 tried to do. The only real issues it has are the absurdly large maps that makes it feel like Battlefield where you run for 1000 miles and are sniped immediately and have to make the run all over again. As for COD being Arcade-y. Yes, that is the point of the game. you want a semi-realistic grinding and slow game, you go to Battlefield for that.

        • AHA! So there IS a route from the Andes to the sea after all! Big enough for a Virginia-class submarine, no less!

      • Id give you a Hooah! if this was BattleLog :D. Ghosts is made in the Radiant Engine as are all COD games since Modern Warfare I believe, which is a very old engine compared to Frostbite 3 for Bf4. This old engine has been the mainstay of the COD games for a long time and it has become VERY apparent in the visuals of the game. The formula that worked for COD for so long is finally wearing thin. Ill be riding a jetski in bf4 in the mean time 🙂

  3. Sounds like a nice narrative, but I haven’t seen anything tangible to support it. After all, men are split roughly evenly between D and R, but under 30’s (presumably the bracket introduced to firearms through video games) break Dem by nearly a 2 to 1 margin. And that’s on top of lower voter turnout among that age group.

    I don’t know, I picture full grown men sitting around all day in sports jersies playing video games, and I’m thinking more of a gimme mentality than molon labe.

    Don’t underestimate a good strategy, as an energized strategy can run circles around a culture of apathy.

        • No, you really just don’t know many gamers. Do some research on gamer demographics. Almost split 50-50 between men and women, the majority of gamers are middle aged adults not teenagers. And the majority of them have successful careers and families. You are using stereotypes just like the other side does with gun owners.

        • Haha, yeah, okay Jonny. I work a real job, paid for all I have, and the only time I’ve ever worn a sports jersey was when playing soccer. But don’t let that get in the way of your pig-headed stereotyping.

        • Jericho? Making fun of my name now, just because you’re uncomfortable being lumped in with the majority that define that market? That’s on you and has nothing,to do with me. Embrace your inner frat boy, I say! At least it’d be honest.

          Although, that easily ruffled demeanor of yours makes me wonder. You probably shouldn’t have guns. Mr. and Mrs. Jericho, turn ’em in!

        • Or maybe you’re just trying to stir up trouble when there isn’t any, like all your kind: Wearing a filthy Confederate flag trucker cap, a white t-shirt with enough slop to feed a family of five stuck to it, ragged jeans and piss-stained briefs full of sharts, all of which barely succeed at containing your corpulence. Meanwhile, you rant on the Internet about how the kids and brown people are ruining America by having welfare anchor babies. Those entitled youth are really getting on your nerves, making you extra-impatient for your disability check so you can blow it on lite beer.

          See? Stereotypes can be fun!

          I’m especially amused how you’re offended that I’m “making fun of” your name while you started with name-calling, getting all defensive when called out on your ignorance. Moral high ground: You do not have it, sir. Withdraw at once, or suffer further shelling.

        • Also, what kind of person with a “molon labe” mentality advocates seizing a citizen’s firearms, even in jest?

          A COMMIE SPY, THAT’S WHO! Boys, we’ve got the fifth column, right here! Go git ‘im!

      • You’re just wrong. Now, while it’s true that females are actually the majority players in some areas, such as all games played online, that’s not true of FPS games. The industry and its devotees like to claim that the majority of players are adults. True, but not your middle aged, both sexes, example. The target market for these games, where over 60% of the players are found, is the 13-34 year old male. Yes, females players are something of a growth segment, but it’s nowhere near the vision of your hopeful imagination. Yes, aging gamers do exist, too. But that’s not the bulk of the market, no matter how comforting it is to think so many others might be frittering away time in like manner.

        It’s not a “stereotype” simply because you find the facts unpleasant and unhelpful. You’re ignoring the facts which don’t fit your own worldview, just like the antigunners.

        • “Facts.” You keep using that word. Perhaps you’d like to back it up with some actual data at some point? Because so far, all I’m seeing from you is trolling that happens to be slightly more articulate than the usual crap.

        • Yeah, no. Taking an entire group of disparate people and lumping them together as a bunch of frat boys or whatever classification you find derogatory, claiming they all share the same trait, IS stereotyping.

          Here, I’ll make it easy:

          All video gamers are entitled frat boys: Stereotyping
          All video gamers play video games: Factual observation

          It’s not that hard.

        • Hmmm….i get demands for data, but you ask no one else for theirs, nor offer any of your own? My disagreement finds itself branded “trolling.” Outside of the echo chamber, that doesn’t me what you think it means. Nevertheless, here you go:

          “The core audience of shooter games remains 13 to 34 year old males, who make up more than 60 percent of the total audience, but the genre has broadened its appeal in recent years with popular titles such as “Call of Duty” and “Halo,”” said Michael Cai, vice president of video game research at
          Interpret.”

          http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60K28820100121?type=technologyNews&irpc=932

        • Psst….jericho, while you’re fixing it it for me, go look up straw man. NOBODY said “all” gamers this or that. That’s you making something up, suggestively attributing it to others, then expediently disagreeing with it. It won’t do.

          The issue is FPS gamers and whether their gaming experience translates into political support for 2A. You still haven’t refuted anything I’ve stated, despite ever more huffing and puffing out of you. Laser-like focus here, my friend, so I won’t let you get away with moving the goal posts.

          I’ve been thinking, as intemperate as you’ve been today, maybe your video games should be confiscated, too, in addition to your guns. No, not everyone’s. Just yours. You see, I’ve lost all confidence in your judgment and capacity for self-control.

        • “Hmmm….i get demands for data, but you ask no one else for theirs, nor offer any of your own”

          Except I have. You interpret gamers as Democrat-voting, self-entitled people wearing sports jerseys to a man. Don’t try and weasel out of it now. I told you that you must not know many, based on your penchant for condescending stereotypes, and my own personal experience as a gamer, whose friends are also gamers… and mostly fellow military as well… directly contradict your lazy generalization.

          “I’ve been thinking, as intemperate as you’ve been today, maybe your video games should be confiscated, too, in addition to your guns. No, not everyone’s. Just yours. You see, I’ve lost all confidence in your judgment and capacity for self-control.”

          I don’t need to discuss “facts” with a Communist such as yourself; you clearly have no interest in them. Go back to licking Stalin’s boots, and leave the rest of us free-minded, gun owning, video gaming, real men in peace.

    • There was a study done in late ’12 by researchers at American University. It found that nearly 60% of high school and college students would consider owning a gun in their lifetime. Specifically, when asked if they plan on having a gun in their own home as an adult, 32% of high-schoolers and 43% of college students said “yes”. Another 28% of high-schoolers and 17% of college students said they’d “maybe” have a gun in their homes as adults.

      You can bet that FPS games like Call of Duty have a lot to do with these results.

      • Perhaps, but that’s just talk. Maybe some high schooler might own a gun in the future and maybe he’s influenced by having played kids’ video games. That’s a far stretch from saying he will show up to vote, that a candidate or party’s stance on firearms is an important issue to him, and that he will come down a particular way on any particular facet of the firearms debate.

        Really, I’m sure all those same high schoolers have or want cars. That predicts nothing as to their stand on the Detroit bailout. I’m sure they all use the Internet, too. All of a sudden they have uniform and passionate stances on “net neutrality?” They all have bank accounts, or at least transact in dollars. So they’re all single issue voters on quantitative easing now?

        Look, I don’t think the toy games hurt, but I caution against overestimating 2A support based on the games’ popularity. After all, I support NASA’s exploration of space, but I don’t presume there’s a massive groundswell of support for it because so many people grew up watching “Star Wars” and playing “Space Invaders” on Atari.

      • Correlation is not causation. It is easier to say people play games because they have a desire to own and use firearms. Those people are drawn to firearms for whatever reason and videogames that feature them are another symptom, not a cause, of their desire in my opinion. Asserting that playing video games makes you behave a certain way or have certain desires is the anti-gun argument (“videogames turn kids into killers”). Those behaviors, desires, and tendencies exist separate from any media, the media (music, film, videogames) is simply reinforcement. The media may influence lesser choices, like what make and model they are interested in and keeping current, but that’s about it.

        • VERY GOOD POINT!

          I myself have no idea whether I played Ghost Recon because I liked guns, or whether I like guns because I played Ghost Recon.

      • I’m pretty sure a lot of my initial interest in guns was from playing rainbow 6 back in the day.

    • Stereotype or “whatever you want” can we just stipulate anyone over the age of 14 playing video games (or legos/Barbies/shuffleboard/watch TV/typing on the internet) more than a few minutes a week has WAY to much idle time that could be more productively utilized for themselves, the family, the community, There REALLY isn’t something that needs done? (Call TTAG educational improvement).

  4. Yeeeeah, Ghosts is the first CoD game since 4/MW1 that I’ve not even caved to curiosity on, and bought.

    Say what you want about Black Ops 2, but I actually enjoyed the campaign. I feel that Treyarch and Infinity Ward have traded places as “the CoD dev actually making an effort.” Granted, IW of today isn’t the IW that made Modern Warfare 1 and most of 2 (which was rushed, and sucked).

    It’s a familiar pattern for that team: They started off with the Medal of Honor series, making excellent games until they got leaned on by EA to crank out more and more sequels until they were all boring and stupid. They broke up and founded Infinity Ward, made the Call of Duty series until Activision started pulling the EA tactics. Now they’ve splintered off and have reformed to start a new series.

    I don’t think the Battlefield series is long for this world either… the BF4 campaign is a mess, but multiplayer is still excellent. If EA continues to make Dice crank out sequels faster than they can reasonably make them though, it won’t be long until that series goes the way of CoD. BF4 was released after about two weeks of QA because EA wanted its release to compete with Ghosts, and it shows. Bug-ridden, crashes frequently… but getting better.

    It’s funny to think about, though. The kids who started googling the guns they saw in games, read Tom Clancy, played Counter-Strike religiously and became annoying HK fanboys have grown up. And they’re not afraid of guns.

    • Yup. When you have shitty dev team who steps in to give Infinity Ward a break on the odd numbered releases, and then fire/lose all of the talent at IW after Modern Warfare 2, you’re gonna have a bad time.

      At least we get Titanfall out of that mess.

      • Nope, we don’t all get Titanfall because Vince Zapenelli is a greedy SOB. That is why he got fired from Activision. He was keeping the bonus money to himself and the higher-ups wanted him to disperse it to his team. I am shocked that they still wanted to work with him at Respawn.

        Serious gamers are leaving the XBox console for the Playstation. Titanfall is only going to be an XBox exclusive. And because of that, it won’t be a COD Killer. Smart move by Microsoft. Dumb move by EA/Respawn.

    • There really doesn’t need to be a new Battlefield every year; every 3-4 years is fine because it is mostly a multiplier game and in this time you can crank out maps and new vehicles/guns at a fraction of the cost of a totally new game with marginal improvements.

      COD is doing it wrong and they will burn out the series and kill it. Battlefield is not far behind if they keep down this path.

      • yup. people are starting to get bored with it. Right now I am not planing on buying the next title.

      • I started playing FPS games with Wing Commander and after a hiatus I picked up COD1,2 and 4 (no game console so the idiocy of not making COD3 available for PC left me out of that loop,)

        I bought COD4 and my stepson played it through in one day but have never booted it. And here’s why – the same reason I gave up on Wing Commander series. The guys who writ and produce these games are probably VERY good at playing the games. Many people who buy their games and spend too many hours playing are very good at these games. Some of us, ever, but like t get in there and enjoy the action and getting killed ever five or ten minutes isn’t really part of the fun. And yet they continue to make each iteration for the game more and more difficult to survive until it becomes ludicrous and eventually you begin to wonder why you even try. Which is why I never bothered with COD4 and why I stopped playing Wing Commander in the first place. If I have no practical way of playing the game without CONSTANT frustration of being killed, even at the “Rookie” level of play, why would I do it? They just designed the games WAY out of any league I want to play in.

        • I wouldnt classify Wing Commander as an FPS since youre flying around in a ship. Dying is just a part of any multiplayer experience and pretty much any action game I can think of at this point. I think you might enjoy something like Civilization V that is turn based and offers a much more high level strategist experience.

          Most FPS games have become what we call “Twitch Games”, where the outcome is decided generally by which player has the better reflexes.

        • Or the original Ghost Recon, which incidentally was scripted by a clairvoyant. I loved the “one shot can kill you” game play. It made every moment so intense. It also emphasized tactics because you really did want to catch bad guys by surprise and take them out from cover before they could react.

      • 1. When attacking, R6 won’t let me drive the Rainbow MRAP through the wall and instead forces me to stack at doors and breach like some animal. Battlefield is not nearly so restricting.

        2. All shooters are inferior to ARMA.

  7. Eh, it’s exactly what you expect for a COD game. It’s like going to Burger King.
    I did enjoy the change of venue and the idea of fighting a new Latin superpower that turned the Mexican border into a frontline. I also like that California eats shit, since karma bitches!

  8. The main point of the article is true: while I was into guns before CoD, three of the five guys I play online with regularly have bought guns since we started playing MW3.

  10. Loving bf4 right now.

    I still play cod4 from time to time when I’m bored.

    And yes, I’m a converted call of duty/gun nerd.

    • Do you still play Cod4 on PC? I occasionally jump on and am pleased to still see servers up and running. Great to see so many familiar posters who are actually playing BF4!

  11. Using WWII weapons in video games was what inspired me to get a 1911 and a Mauser as soon as I was legally allowed to.

    Never did get a Garand. Maybe one day if the Russians ever start cranking out cheap steel cased milspec .30-06.

  12. I actually quite enjoyed the campaign in CoD: Ghosts. I am also having a blast in multiplayer.

    • I guess you haven’t played MP that much. The maps are too big and the biggest ones are sniper maps. I end up playing Cranked because it is the only mode that somewhat discourages camping.

  13. Even though my dad who is a FUDD got me into shooting at a young age, I didn’t really become interest in 2A rights/advocacy until my early 20’s, I am one of the so called “Call of Duty” gun rights people…yes I got that red dot because I first used it in an early COD…YES I really wan’t an ACOG just to have one…

    Gun control types are trying to demonize “violent” video games and other “violent” forms of media is having a causation effect on the typically mentally disturbed school shooter types the problem is the games and movies and tv shows are so popular, they can’t win that battle. Watch for the antis to push for stricter Government regulation of video games and other “violent” media, this is how they will push against the new generation of gun owners such as myself.

  14. Video games have also created a group of young people who think they know everything about everything just because they pretended to do it on a game.

    Every 13 yr old is firearms expert, special forces operator, professional football player, race car driver, or level 4 Elf Master of Zeneon…

    Video games are introducing more young people to firearms, yes, but it’s also cheapening the manhood of future young men. Why actual go out and do something (play sports, shoot guns, drive cars) when you can sit at home and pretend to do it via a video game?

    Video games and participation trophies are making kids soft by unjustifiably increasing self esteem and rewarding mediocrity, just my opinion.

    • And yet, you could have played cowboys and Indians all day long and that was your “childhood”.

      Luddites, I swear. 😉

    • I will say the stupidest thing I ever heard come out of a Walmart employee’s mouth was the kid who told me HK was his favorite gun maker, because they’re the best in all the games he’s played.

      • I’ve had to explain hold over on rifle to a coworker that’s a huge gamer.

        I was recanting the events of the weekend hunt and mentioned changing my hold over to make a longer than anticipated shot.

        He had absolutely no clue what I was talking about, apparently he thought it’s point of aim, point of impact from 5 yard to 500 yards. The laws of gravity rarely applies to shooting in video games, I guess.

        He’s good people so explained it to him, it was actually fun because he was totally interested- I love teaching people and seeing the lightbulb come on.

        • Every battlefield game since bf:bc2 on the pc has had bullet drop be a part of the physics.

          In bf4 you can change the “zero” of your sniper rifles from 0m up to 1000m so you don’t have to hold. I still do though.

          No accounting for wind yet.

    • Video games allow you to do things that are too expensive or too dangerous to do in real life. As long as you don’t take the game too seriously, I don’t see any problem with it.

      • This is true, and games are a lot of fun, but RockOn makes a very important point about them: they are not a substitute for doing and accomplishing real things.

        • An important, but totally unnecessary point, I’m afraid. I learned it the hard way at age 10 when I saved the galaxy from alien overlords in Duke Nukem 3D, and yet I was still refused candidacy for the Presidential Medal of Asskicking.

          RockOn isn’t dispensing any real wisdom here. He fancies himself a brilliant thinker because he’s making the assumption that everyone else but him is an idiot, and much as it might break his heart to hear this, people like him are a dime a dozen on the internet.

    • Nothing compares to being elbow deep in a dead animal out in the woods freezing my ass off, but I still want to drive a T-90 and MRAP in a video game because it is AWESOME!!!!! and I would not get to do so otherwise.

  15. I work with a guy who loves the M1 because of the video game. He never touched one in real life until I let him see mine. I like the article, although I do have to call BS about 100% of Americans hunting in the 1770’s. I doubt the average NY, NYorker or woman hunted even then.

    • I tend to agree with the second part. Humans have been domesticating live stock for thousands of years, hunting was more common back then, but not really necessary for everyone.

      I doubt anyone was hunting cows or chicken in 1700 anymore than we are now.

      Gaming regulations from over hunting has made hunting less common, why deal with game wardens, licenses, limits, safety courses, etc when you can just go down to the store and by a roast.

  16. This is why 3gun, USPSA, and other action shooting sports need to be pushed. Kids play COD, BF, etc, and becomes enamored with guns in the game. Goes out and buys something or several somethings. Occasionally takes them to the range, or plinking. Eventually becomes bored unless they fall hard into the self defense aspect.

    Sport, and perhaps more importantly, direct comparable competition, drives people to excel. I can compare my stage times to the best in the country and it motivates me to shoot more, practice more, get more gear. If not for the competition there would be no drive…it’s really difficult to see who’s more “operator” than someone else.

    Before I started competing I would shoot with friends maybe once every couple months and I only had a handgun and a semi 22. Now I shoot minimum 2 matches per month plus practices and have a safe full of guns. And It drives me to get more guns to allow me to compete in different games.

    3gun and USPSA are the closest thing to the physical manifestation of Call of Duty, and we should push it hard. I think they should start having airsoft matches 2 gun/3 gun matches at the same 3 gun events, so you can start the kids out earlier.

    • I would say that practical shooting sports have contributed a fair amount of interest in owning firearms, outside of any video game reason. Self-defense is a primary reason I see people in my handgun and rifle classes, shooting sports being a close second. That being said, I see a lot of family members that are owners bringing in non-owning family members for training prior to purchase. Never have I heard anyone getting into USPSA, IDPA, or 3 Gun because of COD or BF, etc. I’m not saying it’s not possible, I’m just saying I haven’t experienced it. Exposure is key, either through shooting sports, 3 Gun Nation, or video games. I just haven’t heard of the latter being a reason in my circles.

    • And after you finger one at a gun store you will realize how much they well and truly suck.

      The ump is awful in FA. Just awful.

      Never meet your heroes

  18. Gamers are the next wave of gun owners? Maybe, maybe not. There’s a difference between the real world and the alternate reality of games — that’s why games are popular in the first place.

    Since the whole purpose of games is to completely absorb the gamers, it’s more likely that for most gamers, games will lead to more games, not to guns.

  19. With respect to waning traditions of hunting affecting the status of gun rights:

    At the beginning of the year, when I would write letters to my Senators and Congresscritters (state and federal), their responses would talk about “respecting the second amendment and the tradition of hunting”.

    After doing one of those GOA forms in opposition to renewing the Undetectable Firearms Act, I received a form reply from everyone’s favorite 80-year old former department store model in which she says:

    “I recognize that there are many law-abiding gun owners who use guns in a safe manner for activities such as hunting, sport, or self-defense.”

    I’ll have to check her past responses to see if she enumerated that last part before. But if she didn’t I think we may be seeing an impact on their strategy or arguments.

  20. Been playing CoDs since the WW2 versions of the game, and yeah, it’s safe to say the series peaked with MW2 and Black Ops. GHOSTS is terrible in that never really tried to do anything new; at least the multiplayer balance in Black Ops 2 was good even if the maps sucked. Black Ops 2 multiple endings / branching paths was also better than GHOSTS weird father/brother story line as well.

    It’s alright, though. At least next shooter, FPS fans have TITANFALL (played it at PAX and it’s fun) and DESTINY to look forward to.

  21. BF4 isn’t much better. The first two expansion packs are reused material and it has its own problems with metagame tendencies that remove choice if you want to be effective. Most of the time I, and the three other guys I play with, just get frustrated and stop playing after a few rounds. BC2 was more fun for some reason, maybe because it didn’t take itself so serious and didn’t have such a strong metagame.

    Good games are hard to come by, which is another reason I have cut my gaming time drastically recently.

    • I haven’t played BF4, but BC2 was way more fun than BF3. There was some kind of magic going on in that BC2 multiplayer that hasn’t been evident since.

  22. You guys really need to grab a pc and play some ARMA. It makes everything else feel cheap.

    Also Red Orchestra 2 is a little-known title that is great. If your into milsurps you’ll love it.

    • ArmA was always fun, but I don’t have the time for it now. The best fun was the random things that happened in Multiplayer, like spending a half hour trying to flip a turned over HMMV to get to the next AO only to have a random SU-25 blow it up. Good times but time-consuming.

  24. Mw1 was good, Mw2 was great, Mw3 was ok, Ghosts is just bloody awful. I have never seen a game with so much hype bomb so very hard. Thankfully I didn’t buy this one. Hopefully this will be the end of the series, but ill hold my breath.

    • Ghosts is better than MW3. It has better hit detection, better gun balance, better lag compensation, and the best perk system of any COD game. The MP Maps are about even cuz you would get stuck on a tine rock in MW3 and the maps in Ghosts are unnecessarily huge. The Killstreaks are worse in Ghosts (except they did nerf the Specialist streak). It is also not as much fun as most of the shotgunners cant used the now OP-less shotties and have switched to being campy snipers protected by the undetectable IEDs.

  25. Who the hell has time to game? Any freetime I get is spent reloading and shooting real guns. A friend in our circle just spent about 900 for the new xbox and games and his attempt to talk us into doing the same so we could all play war online lasted about as long as the first Iraq war. Just a waste of money and time. While there are pro and con arguments for gaming and I understand the fun factor as I did rule online B2 for a summer with my clan in 2005 when I was, unemployed, I just don’t get why this is still a growing hobby. Playing games no matter the tech is still playing games. Some people just need to grow up and get out, read a damn book at home.

    • I agree with you on real life shooting versus gaming. As fun as games like BF4 are, there’s still nothing like grabbing your gun and indulging in some lead therapy for real. Be lucky you can go shoot, not all of us have that luxury, However in gamings defense, when its late night and you cant go to your local watering hole, shooting other players with firearms you can never touch and tearing into the enemy with a A-10 GAU sure is fun.

    • With all due respect, Lars, I kindly suggest you shut the hell up before talking shit about people who play video games. There is absolutely NO-ONE here who is contesting the fact that shooting in a game has nothing to do, and will never be related to firing real lead down a real range, that much is true. But you are the fool for making the comparison; there is nothing to compare. Apples and oranges isn’t accurate anymore, it’s apples and tin cans, at this rate.

      However, I have far too many relations in the military, younger and older, but primarily those overseas in the US Army and US Navy who are gamers and whom I recall telling me that military life isn’t 100% work and combat, it’s also a lot of downtime and a lot of it is mentally rending when there is -nothing- to do. I will also bring up the fact they have helped a lot of ex-military personnel afflicted with PTSD into managing their condition.

  26. My interest in 2A/firearms started when i was in the marine corp, but being a gamer deff did not hurt. I know quite a few fellow gamers who bought their first firearm due to their interest of 1st person shooters. But i would not rely on the gamer crowd to really help the cause. Just check out the comment sections of ign or any other gaming website. Its rife with liberal bulls*it.

    • you can be a liberal and actually support the 2A. Just ask youTubes The Yankee Marshall. I have also met Gay Conservatives that support everything a typical conservative supports except in regards to Gay Marriage. you must also remember that these “gamers” are kids being “socialized” in the public school system. Games like COD and BF are great at (re)educating them.

      • I have no problem with many liberal ideas and understand that you can be a liberal and still support 2A. But when i said liberal bulls*it, i mean they attack pro firearm posters the same way you see left leaning writers and activist do. Viciously. Seeing the comments on ign after jim carrey’s cold hand video made me sick.

  27. When are we going to see a game with a revolutionary theme or defense against government tyranny theme?

    • There’s plenty of those… the theme of rebelling against an oppressive dictator / government, subverting a system, etc. And they don’t just fall under the category of FPS, either.

  28. COD is indeed thankfully declining, and one of the games that I find to be far superior is the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

    • +1 for me. With the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games you not only had to consider ballistics but also the performance of ComBlock ammunition.

      I still find these games fun to play, and moreso with mod packs such as Oblivion Lost for Shadow Of Chernobyl.

  29. Well, the one instance of meeting your heroes that actually may be a good one, was that I grew up in awe of the M1 Garand and played damn near any WW2 game I could find in part because of that. After getting to go to the range with my buddy’s grandpa and actually shoot one, I realized how amazing it was and how silly it would be to think that you could run around and hip fire one through a building like in COD 2 😀

  31. I’m fine with it, you guys wake up in the morning expecting more, well… they released at the wrong time… all in all It was somebodies fault (Not looking at any company in particular) that shut down zombies, so infinity ward tried their best to replace it because of some stupid idiot out there that shut down Zombies, Ghosts is fine through my eyes.

  32. I don’t have Ghosts yet because I have no time lately. As it is now, I don’t have time to play COD because I spend that time cleaning or dirtying a real firearm. But I have MW1 all the way to BO2 and I absolutely love them all. Everybody gives them a hard time for following the same gameplay and script. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I’ll get Ghosts when I get time to enjoy it, and enjoy it I will. I had Battlefield 3 and the controls never felt very solid. I like the COD series and will probably keep buying them for years. It’ll be THE reason if I ever get a PS4. As for introducing me to guns; meh not really. It is a good place to “learn” about certain models or mechanisms, but nothing beats a trip to the range and a patient teacher.

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