This isn't a problem with just MW2, it's pretty much every shooter i know. and i know that no one will probably agree with this and say "it's a legitimate way to play the game". it may be legitimate, but it's just not fun. and here's why i think so.
I think that snipers suck. you walk outside, and get shot and die. you can't do anything about it. it's a one shot kill, and in games especially like MW2, it's hard to tell exactly where they are, or how to get to that position without being shot by them again. being a sniper isn't that fun either. maybe i'm missing something, but camping in a spot and waiting for someone to poke their head out isn't how i like to play my games. i like fast intense action, and sniping is just downright boring.
 
again, i know that a lot of people like sniping, and that i'm in the minority thinking that sniping sucks, but this is just something that has pissed me off for a while. again, not just MW2 related.

It's called being careful, and staying in cover. When you're running, it's harder for a sniper to shoot you. 
In the face. 
Or stomach.

Snipers can be a pain in the ass. 
 
Remember though, that for every person who hates snipers, there's somebody who loves nothing more than to play as a sniper shooting people who hate snipers.

Can't beat them ? Rage quit .

On standard Deathmatch, sniper rifles generally need two hits to the body to take you down, provided the sniper doesn't score a head shot.

Of course, on Hardcore, it's a different story all together.

Snipers hate knifers, knifers hate shotgunners, shotgunners hate snipers. The circle of life! :D

Snipers are cool in a lot of games, however I think theyre pretty useless in MW. I can "snipe" better and faster with an assault rifle in that game than is possible with a sniper rifle. It takes too long to aim and its harder to score headshots. Surely someone will debate this, but honestly snipers are terrible in MW.

There seems to be a lot of hating lately.

"

Snipers are cool in a lot of games, however I think theyre pretty useless in MW. I can "snipe" better and faster with an assault rifle in that game than is possible with a sniper rifle. It takes too long to aim and its harder to score headshots. Surely someone will debate this, but honestly snipers are terrible in MW.

"

Dude just because you don't have any skill, and are an all guns blasting type of person and making your team lose, that's not for you to complain on GB about it. Be more careful and PLAY the game.

Not one for snipers at all.
 
Although, it would take some skill to find somewhere to camp without getting fucked up hard.

I can understand a gripe with snipers in some other games, but in Modern Warfare 2, you can be killed just as fast with almost any other gun. The bullet tracers, among many other things, are there to counter this style of play. Being hidden is nice, but sniping can make you a bit paranoid, and somewhat of an even greater target than runners in the open. Of course, if the Kill Cam isn't helping, and the sniper is a good shot, then you'll really need to rely on your teammates' awareness. Tactics such as, "snipers sniping other snipers", is not something that seems too productive, as it's a sort of stalemate way of playing, but people have seemed to latch on to this style in games such as Team Fortress 2, where a good sniper can become a bigger problem than they are here, in MW2. I've seen less of this in MW2, but it is still an option for you, to get the player to move on to another location.
 
I know a lot of maps can be aggravating, to be on the receiving end of a sniper's rifle, but you can either find a way to take care of the problem as a team, or respect the denial of that particular area and focus on other choke points that are in need of action.

Hi guys, I own this game called MW2 (maybe you've heard of it?) and I pretty much hate every single way to play the game.

"

Snipers are cool in a lot of games, however I think theyre pretty useless in MW. I can "snipe" better and faster with an assault rifle in that game than is possible with a sniper rifle. It takes too long to aim and its harder to score headshots. Surely someone will debate this, but honestly snipers are terrible in MW.

"

"... you can either find a way to take care of the problem as a team, or respect the denial of that particular area and focus on other choke points that are in need of action. "

Sniping is actually a bit harder than it looks. As you said, they find spots that are not easily findable and kill you as you stroll on by unaware. Positioning is a big help when sniping, but it also becomes a problem later on. Once they take a shot and kill someone, their cover is blown and they must find a different spot, plant claymores, or have a backup plan. A sniper must always be on the move in order to survive.  
 
One way to kill a sniper is to test them. Simply test their aim, reflexes, positioning, and patience. A bad sniper will miss shots, give away their location quickly, and fire multiple rounds further ensuring their doom. In other words, run around, crouch, prone, and fire back at their general area to see what they do. Then, kill them over and over. You'll see em carryin' an assault rifle soon enough after that. 

Snipers can be very easy to counter. If there is a great sniper on the enemy team, but the rest of the team sucks then they will leave openings to get to the sniper. On the other hand, if the team is good then they will protect their snipers and you'll have to work to get to them.

I love playing as a sniper and i'm good. But i'm not invincible. On a game like MW2, very fast paced, very easy to sneak up behind me and knife me as has happened countless times before lol.
 
Also in MW2 you have weapon mechanics that are unlike any other game in the sense that you can shoot me clear accross the map with an smg if you're a good shot.
 
Learn my routines, my posistions, my fields of fire and i can be beaten.

MW2 as far as I've experienced is way too messy with the random spawning at times for a sniper to put up an effective front (In most cases, with most maps). That said, thanks to shields, grenades, grenade launchers, stun and flash grenades and so forth, assaulting an area is way easier than defending one. A single good nade in there will make short work of the sniper, seeing I am yet to actually see someone who exchanges his other equipment for the blast shield.
 
Snipers also have the bad habit of staying in the same spot for a long time. Sure, if they know what they're doing they might switch firing positions after a few kills (As mentioned by imhuntad), but the majority usually find that favorite spot of theirs. Soon enough, once you've figured out the trajectory for the grenade launcher or how to throw that semtex, it'll be your favorite spot as well :>

I must admit, if I were to make an FPS, I'd do everything in my power to make sure there were no snipers in the game. It's not so much the rifle itself, but the people who stick to it are the no fun police who don't talk over the headset, only care about K/D ratios and have a username that uses numbers instead of letters and/or has plenty of initials.

Sure is Francis in here. 

It adds challenge to the multiplayer. You obviously posted this after rage quitting a game.

This cant be a serious post! If snipers are killing you all the time, you either suck, or the snipers you face in matches are good. The game it self dosnt have a problem just because people are good at it.

I see alot of people hating against the use of Snipers these days,
 
I could argue your PoV but stating that people running around with Akimbo P90s Silenced with the UaV jammer perk isn't the way the game should be played.
 
Everyone will play to there own style, personally I enjoy both aspects of the game but there's not many sniper maps on MW2 and there's so many routes to flank them... there's rarely an excuse for dieing to one.

You could  give them a taste of their own medicine. nothing sucks more then looking through the scope, then getting sniped.
 
Or go the long way and knife them. you get a kill and help the rest of the team.

its called "kill cam". when i get snipped, i use the kill cam to notice surroundings around the sniper and go around to kill the him.

" Hi guys, I own this game called MW2 (maybe you've heard of it?) and I pretty much hate every single way to play the game. "

 
Playing the sniper is like playing a caster.  You go down easy,  you do the most damage, and people tend to hate you the most and head right for you.  So generally speaking, classes that are that unforgiving, require the most skill.  But mastering Sniper can be the most satisfying and rewarding play style around.   
 
You'll become more intimate with all the maps, become a better marksmen, become more self reliant, and develop a much more versatile playing style.  Running for from the hip shots, kills brain cells.
 
As for countering them?  Easy, it really boils down to how good you are.  If your getting popped by a sniper, your probably just as likely to get popped by everyone else.  He just saw you first.  So I think your hate is misplaced.  Snipers aren't the problem, it's your extreme lack of skill.    So don't hate snipers, hate people who aim....
 
Do yourself a favor and start using a sniper rifle or ACOG scope.  Stop complaining and L2P, by trying out what they are doing.
 

 
@Symphony said:

" Snipers hate knifers, knifers hate shotgunners, shotgunners hate snipers. The circle of life! :D "

I love sniping, its sooo satisfying to kill someone, especially with the Intervention (seeing how you can't just spam bullets here and there). But there's actually not a lot of viable maps for sniping in MW2 compare to COD4. In COD4 you could snipe on maps like Backlot, Strike and even Vacant for that matter. There's notable a lot less snipers in MW2 than in COD4 in my opinion. Sometimes the whole enemy team will consist of guys running around with assault rifles or SMGs on Wasteland. That was never the case with COD4; you normally had at least one sniper on a map like Creek or Overgrown.
 
Besides that it usually takes more skills to use a sniper rifle since they lack the versatility of an assault rifle. You can become god-like if you learn how to quick scope or no scope in CQB.

I don't have that much of a problem with it, but I do wish that the character models in Call of Duty games  didn't blend quite so well with the colors of the environment so they would be easier to see.  Sometimes you're just getting shot at by a dark figure crouching in front of a slightly brighter background.   

" Snipers hate knifers, knifers hate shotgunners, shotgunners hate snipers. The circle of life! :D "

Francis hates everything

Genuinely good snipers are so rare that it's barely even worth the worry. If you want to start a bitter little rivalry with a sniper just get up behind them and spend a few seconds looking down your iron sights before you blow their head off with a shotgun. if they watch the killcam and see that, It will annoy them and make them sloppy. Also if you bump into a rare good sniper don't keep charging them trying to kill him, just stop going to that area of the map, starve them of kills, make their game boring, force them to move and expose themselves.

And I'm sure they hate you.

Battlefield has great sniping, as it is difficult. In Battlefield you have to aim ahead of your target, and account for bullet drop, but they are still deadly with someone who knows how to snipe.

I've actually been using a heartbeat sensor'd Intervention for a while now over my normal assault weapons. With a good machine pistol or the M9 and stopping power, killin' dudes is pretty easy.

Im not near as good at MW2 as i was the first MW.  I dont know why.  I just discovered two good weapons though, Silenced tar 21 and M16. Im a terrible sniper, Im always paranoid and looking around me so i wont get flanked which always leads to my death. Snipers are the main reason i hate Afghan and wasteland.

" Battlefield has great sniping, as it is difficult. In Battlefield you have to aim ahead of your target, and account for bullet drop, but they are still deadly with someone who knows how to snipe. "

I enjoy sniping, I find my heart races more while sniping and im less angry while sniping. Rushing around and getting killed every 5 seconds just makes me mad, so i bust out the tent, some marshmallows and sleeping bag with my trusty .50 cal.

Sniping is so much more fun in mw2. MW didn't have enough open maps effective for sniping. With that said, the sniping is still pretty balanced and when I'm camping with my sniper I'm always encountering counter-snipers and those lovely predator missiles.

" Snipers hate knifers, knifers hate shotgunners, shotgunners hate snipers. The circle of life! :D "

If all you're doing while sniping is remaining in one spot, you're doing it wrong. Sniping isn't just about camping. It's about knowing good spots to lay down and how to get somewhere else when the enemies begin to take different routes. It seems boring to alot of people because they haven't gotten quite good at it yet. It's the difference between getting 5 kills as a sniper and getting 15.