Why does the machine gun's fire suppression effect have no significant effect in major shooter games?

To put it bluntly, the performance of the machine gun was artificially weakened in the game.

The machine gun that dominates the battlefield

Machine guns are one of the main firepower in the grass-roots infantry combat detachments, mainly killing and injuring living targets, and are specially used to support infantry offensive operations or position defense. Many netizens' understanding of the machine gun is limited to its ability to shoot for a long time, and in fact, in addition to the characteristics of strong fire continuity, the machine gun is also stronger than the automatic rifle of the same caliber in terms of accuracy, range and power.

The reason why the machine gun is better than the automatic rifle is also very simple, mainly to ensure continuous shooting and the use of a longer, heavier and thicker barrel, while increasing the overall weight of the gun to reduce recoil. Under this design requirement, the machine gun bullet is subjected to gas for a longer time, so the muzzle velocity is higher and the range is longer, and the heavy body of the gun cancels out the jitter of the muzzle, so the accuracy is higher.

Large-caliber heavy machine guns are often used as long-range sniper weapons after being fitted with scopes

Let's take a simple example. When the domestically produced 95 gun family shoots with the same ammunition, the effective range of the Type 95 automatic rifle is 400 meters, while the range of the Type 95 light machine gun is more than 600 meters. In a military shooting competition held in 2016, the Chinese team mistakenly competed in the Type 95 light machine gun as an automatic rifle, and the results were far better than when using the 95 automatic rifle. (Similar situations existed with the American M16 rifle and M249 light machine gun, and the Soviet AK47 and RPD light machine gun) All of these situations can be seen, and the actual machine gun is generally superior to the automatic rifle in overall performance.

Type 95 light machine gun

On the battlefield, machine guns also play a role of fire suppression and are the absolute core role in combat. It uses the advantages of high precision, long range, high power and sustained firepower to destroy the enemy's living forces or cover its own actions, at which point other light weapons are difficult to match. (Automatic rifles have a short range, sniper rifle firepower is continuously poor, and submachine guns are less powerful)

Whoever masters the machine gun in the battle of light weapons dominates the battlefield.

The machine gun is also the most weakened weapon in the shooter game, and there is no one.

In the common types of shooting games, the performance of the machine gun is greatly weakened for a variety of factors. The accuracy is not as good as the automatic rifle, the power is not as good as the sniper rifle, the rate of fire is lower than the submachine gun, and even the pistol is not as good as the actual use, that is, its continuous shooting strength is deliberately weakened, and its proud fire suppression ability is not reflected at all. The end result is that the machine gun has become a child that no one wants in the game, and only when forced to pick it up and use it, this contrast with reality is really staggering.

Due to the excessive "popularity" of shooting games, even many players who have not been exposed to firearms have also made a big deviation from the actual performance of the machine gun, which is also one of the negative effects of the game content.

The reason why the machine gun is weakened in the game

The reasons for the weakening of the machine gun can be roughly divided into two points: 1. Balance and 2. Entertainment

Balance is the direct cause

Balance is one of the foundations of all game design, and shooter games based on confrontation competition pay more attention to the balance of the game.

In simple terms, balance means that the characters/weapons in the game have their own characteristics and can be effectively played out for the player to choose to use, thus bringing tactical diversity and fun. The lack of balance in the game will lead to the choice between players tend to be single, the tactical use is monotonous, it is difficult to mobilize the enthusiasm of players, and the fun of game confrontation will also be significantly reduced.

In real life, due to the overall superiority of machine guns, infantry detachments in all countries use machine guns as the core of firepower to organize battles and carry out offensive or defensive operations. Therefore, the tactical operations carried out with the support of machine guns are contested by the strength and power of the firepower. Whoever has more fierce machine gun fire will be able to win the initiative in battle.

In World War II, German infantry organized battles with the support of the MG34

However, this tactical thinking in reality runs counter to the design thinking of the game design. The machine gun's overly powerful performance can cause all players to use the same weapon in one group and disrupt the balance of the game, resulting in less fun in the game. Therefore, it is therefore a matter of course to weaken the machine gun in the game and strengthen the performance of other guns.

The MP5 submachine gun is enhanced in the game

Reflected in the shooter game, various types of weapons derive performance characteristics that are different from the actual situation

Submachine gun: high accuracy, high rate of fire, low damage, suitable for medium and short range use

Shotgun: Low accuracy, low rate of fire, high damage, suitable for close range use

Sniper rifle: high accuracy, low rate of fire, high damage, suitable for long-range use

Automatic rifle: accuracy, rate of fire, moderate damage, suitable for use at any distance

The machine gun, on the other hand, was sacrificed for accuracy and rate of fire due to the balance of the game, retaining only the characteristics of high damage and large bullet capacity, and could only be reduced to a featureless "mediocre" weapon.

Entertainment is the root cause

If the game adjusts the performance of the machine gun for the sake of balance, it has reduced its status. Entertainment, then, fundamentally negates the use of the machine gun, that is, the fire suppression effect is abandoned through partial trade-offs.

Fire suppression is the most important tactical means of machine guns, and many netizens think that the effect of fire suppression is the tension and fear caused by bullets flying by. In fact, the effect of machine gun suppression does not stop there, machine gun bullets produce a lot of smoke and shrapnel after hitting the ground/masonry. Smoke and dust can obscure the target's view, while scattered high-speed shrapnel is still very lethal, hitting the target will quickly cause it to lose its combat effectiveness. This is also why once the battle is suppressed by machine gun fire, the target does not dare to easily return fire.

Machine gun continuous firing effect

However, in shooters, the penalty of being hit and dying is too harsh, which will greatly reduce the overall experience of the player. In order to ensure the player's entertainment, life is simplified to a health bar with a certain value. As long as the health bar is not clear, the player can manipulate the character to continue the game, even after being shot, without affecting the action. Therefore, even if the player is suppressed by the opponent's firepower in the game, he can still reach out of the bunker to return fire, and the gunmanship may even be counter-killed.

This design enhances the player's gaming experience, but also makes the machine gun completely lose its original suppression effect, and eventually become a "chicken rib".

In a word, the fact that the machine gun does not play its original effect in the shooter game is not the reason for the game itself, but the game designers made planned adjustments at the beginning of the production to balance and the game experience.