Does iron sights really add realism to a game?

some people love others don't care others don't favor them. Me i personally think if done correctly will make it realistic. If you ever fired a gun ( i have and know what i am talking about) than you know that you don't fire from the hip. Except shot gun. but u don't pistol, rift. NO. People in the real world always look down the sights. Not from hip. You even see it in movies.

So. My idea (which i know not all will agree) is that keep iron sights but when not aiming keep the gun down what i mean is lowered. You are still holding the gun. Aim or iron sights you would move gun up to fire. Prob be better with more body awareness. And if you want to fire while not aim it than the gun would go up like iron sights when not firing for few seconds than back down. So for games that feature talking to people it wont be weird that your holding a gun up to there face.

Would be cool for some games maybe prey 2 that you can draw your gun and put it back into your holster. Thats just me

This is a few of the things i think about the iron sights mechanic.

You be surprised at what you can think up when your board flying in a plane or in the passenger sit of a car on a long road trip.

If you ever fired a gun ( i have and know what i am talking about) than you know that you don't fire from the hip. Except shot gun. but u don't pistol, rift. NO. People in the real world always look down the sights. Not from hip. You even see it in movies.

I love iron sights in games. I prefer it over just a crosshairs or a scope. It adds realism to a game because that is how you would normally aim.

Yes, if for the zoom alone. It's to compensate for the lack of detail in your TV compared to the vast amount of detail your eyes can see in real life.

For as small of a feature as it sounded like on paper, I thought the addition of Iron Sights to Fallout: New Vegas did wonders to the immersive feeling of realistic gunplay. Being able to line up a bandits head in the ironsights of my hunting rifle from a nearby cliff made my experience in the wasteland feel much more realistic and satisfying than constantly using v.a.t.s. and shooting from the hip.

Yes, I fire shotguns from the hip all the time. They call me Ol' Broken Hips.

Nothing to do with realism, I just find it more comfortable.

Yea I guess it does, games like cod would be better if they get rid of crosshairs.

what game are we talking about? The game that popularized iron sights was call o duty. The same game where you can hip fire a 50 cal. Realism was clearly their number one concern

@Atticus45 said:

some people love others don't care others don't favor them. Me i personally think if done correctly will make it realistic. If you ever fired a gun ( i have and know what i am talking about) than you know that you don't fire from the hip. Except shot gun. but u don't pistol, rift. NO. People in the real world always look down the sights. Not from hip. You even see it in movies.

You don't have a clue, do you? I haven't fired many guns but I know that you don't shoot a shotgun from the hip.

I like using iron sights; they help me to line up a better aim. I don't like it when they're pretty much required to hit anything (Call of Duty) but they're quite handy for making sure you've got a really good shot lined up.

I don't like them for "realism"; I don't hate the idea of applying realism to a game in theory, but I'd much rather see less realism and more crazy fun stuff. I mean, c'mon, Doom and Mario are two of the most fun and lasting games ever created and neither are realistic in the least; is adding realism to everything really all that good?

This is making me remember how much the "true iron sights" in New Vegas were total ass.

Sights really do add realism, since as you can see, there's no crosshair in the actual world. I think that's what you were getting at?

Well, considering there is fuck-all realism since you're aiming with the mouse or gamepad anyway, I think they're pretty pointless. They're really the main reason why I haven't touched any modern military shooters. I just recently tried Blacklight Retribution to see if 'aiming-down-the-sights'-mechanic was really as bad as all the CoD/MW videos had made it seem - and yes, I hated the gunplay. Back when the only zoom you had was on a sniper rifle or a railgun - that was when FPS games were fun for me.

But then again, each to their own. AQ2 and CS were about as "realistic" as I wanted my FPS games to be.

We need scoped weapons that fire crosshairs

I don't know about realism, but I do know that I prefer a dot and zoom in

Damn it. People beat me to pointing out that realism isn't as meaningful as it's made out to be.

I like iron sights. More immersive that way.

I like iron sight, and a lot of those mechanics that keep you in first person. I love seeing your player hands on a ladder, opening a door etc. I think that is why I liked games such as FarCry 2, and Mirrors Edge in spite of their flaws.

@Getz said:

Yes, I fire shotguns from the hip all the time. They call me Ol' Broken Hips.

This made me laugh heartily for good long while.

I never fired a gun in real life. Iron sights in games make it easier for me to aim at the target.

I believe the OP means that you can fire a shotgun from the hip and still stand a reasonable chance of hitting your target at close range given the fact that pellets spread as they fly out of a shotgun barrel. We aren't talking about slugs here. I've watched many pro shooters shoot skeet from the hip and hit flying targets over 20 yards away. It is nigh impossible to hip fire a pistol or rifle, but trick shooters can do it at short range with some accuracy. As for ADS...I like/prefer it.

Why would you focus on the "realism" of such a gameplay defining feature ? If you think it's in there purely for aesthetic reasons you're really missing the point.

I don't know about realism but i sure am conditioned to them now to the point where it feels weird if a game doesn't have them. As far as real life experience i can personally say that using the sights sure as hell didn't make me as accurate a shot as it is in video-games.

It doesn't really matter, it's a game, and it's better to have iron sights, but yes, I think it's more realistic than holding a gun to your waist.

@Jrinswand said:

@Atticus45 said:

If you ever fired a gun ( i have and know what i am talking about) than you know that you don't fire from the hip. Except shot gun. but u don't pistol, rift. NO. People in the real world always look down the sights. Not from hip. You even see it in movies.

I'm pretty sure that you just proved that you have no idea what you are talking about. I stopped reading your post when I came to that second bolded sentence.

@Getz said:

Yes, I fire shotguns from the hip all the time. They call me Ol' Broken Hips.

Yeah, you just don't fire anything unless you actually have a target sighted up. Also, that homeless guy with the cardboard sign saying "Will help you shoot for money" that you hired was definitely not a gun instructor. Maybe call the police.

@Giantstalker: Hah, that seriously made me crack up. I'm guessing your military career probably wouldn't last long if you kept pointing your rifle at your CO with your finger on the trigger while he was trying to give you orders.

@Jrinswand said:

@Atticus45 said:

If you ever fired a gun ( i have and know what i am talking about) than you know that you don't fire from the hip. Except shot gun. but u don't pistol, rift. NO. People in the real world always look down the sights. Not from hip. You even see it in movies.

I'm pretty sure that you just proved that you have no idea what you are talking about. I stopped reading your post when I came to that second bolded sentence.

This. I literally came down here to post what you said when I got to that bit.

This thread delivers.

I just want to have fun shooting guys, iron sights are dumb.

I generally like iron sights. It's harder to aim than a dot on the screen. And hence more realistic.

The one thing that COD has made and I dont mind that people have copied. I think call of duty was the first to do that? Could be wrong. Anyway I wouldn't say it makes it more "real" but I guess it feels a bit more natural to me

Depends on the iron sights. Some are really annoying to aim down. I only really like unobtrusive red dot sights. The sights from the gun in Bulletstorm are really nice.

aim down sights is more or less used for accuracy and not so much for realism in games.

It's not for realism. It's so a controller stick can have two speeds: Fast for looking and a slower speed for refining your aim.

I don't mind them, but it has to fit the game. I certainly don't need it in Team Fortress 2 but it's not out of place in a military FPS or even stuff like BioShock or Rage.

I generally dislike iron sights but that's mainly because I like shooters like Halo and Quake.

I like being able to see the gun move from a fixed position, gives you more of a sense that you are holding something

@ExplodeMode said:

It's not for realism. It's so a controller stick can have two speeds: Fast for looking and a slower speed for refining your aim.

But there are (or at least were) plenty of shooters that have an aiming button that just zooms the camera in and slows your aiming speed a bit without centering the gun on screen and removing the crosshairs. The guy's specifically talking about iron sights.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aiming down the sights in most shooters is beyond realistic. First of all, the recoil would be unbearable if you fully unloaded a weapon would it not? Secondly, yes I like aiming down the sights, but realistic shooters are absolute garbage. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Red River, TO ME, were two of the most irritating video games ever made. All the power to people who love that style of gaming, but video games are made to deviate from the norm and realism, to enjoy something we can't do in our own reality.

They only add realism if you never used them in real life.

@mcderby4

If in a stationary position you can easily unload an assault or SMG clip while viewed down the sight.

@Sackmanjones said:

The one thing that COD has made and I dont mind that people have copied. I think call of duty was the first to do that? Could be wrong. Anyway I wouldn't say it makes it more "real" but I guess it feels a bit more natural to me

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the first, just the one too popularize the current form.

it's more than just realism. I vastly prefer the iron sights / ADS system because it makes me feel like a human being that is operating a machine, whereas standard crosshair-based gameplay has a cold automatism to it, like I'm playing as this cross in the center of the screen and my goal is to align with enemies and press the kill button.

@Getz said:

Yes, I fire shotguns from the hip all the time. They call me Ol' Broken Hips.

Thankyou, I just laughed at that for a good few minutes.

@Giantstalker said:

Sights really do add realism, since as you can see, there's no crosshair in the actual world. I think that's what you were getting at?

Bro, in real life you point your weapon at the ground; because you fall asleep in those things.

I like having an aim state in first person shooters.

I hate it when FPS games don't let me aim down the sights with shotguns.