For shooter games of any kind, there are two similar terms that carry a different meaning for games than for other aspects of every day life: Camping or camper. In context of gaming or shooter games, camping refers to a play style that is characterized by staying mostly stationary, up to the point of not moving at all, maybe even keeping the cross hair on some spot, where opponents are likely to appear. A player practicing camping is usually referred as camper. Camping is widely regarded as not desired or accepted play style. In general, camping is regarded as “lame”, meaning it is an unfair, cheap way of increasing one's own score. This is also why it is considered a practice mostly done by so-called “noobs”, which are players that are not playing the game very well, so they resort to an easy way of gaining points.

It is not always strictly clear, whether a person will actually be considered being a camper for not moving or if this way of playing may be actually part of an important aspect of the game. In Counter-Strike for example, guarding the hostages or the just planted bomb is usually not really regarded as camping (except maybe, when a player really stands entirely still at one spot). As it is necessary to guard bombs and hostages as a part of the game play (opponents might defuse the bomb or rescue a hostage, which makes the terrorist faction lose the match round) it is not really camping in its bad connotation. But in such games there are usually also mechanisms available, to negate the advantages of camping, such as smoke grenades or flash bangs. In case of Counter-Strike you can even shoot through walls, allowing an opponent to eliminate the camper from a different angle than the camper can view his opponents from.

In general camping is practiced at certain positions of a map, that gain the camper an advantage over his victims. Maybe it is limiting the visibility of the camper while at the same time, giving him a good view of the map or opponents. Or the other way around, the camper can view the map better (elevated positions). In combination with sniper weapons (which usually have a strong tally, allowing for on-shot kills) this can place the camper in a really advantageous position. On some games' maps there are excellent camping spots, which may even make a player dominating. Usually the presence of such a spot makes a map regarded being poorly designed (as it has a sort of build-in game breaker).

The first two problems are more of a social nature: This behavior usually invokes strong emotional reactions if done continued. This will diminish the game experience for other players (very often including the players of the own team as well). And it will quickly give the camper a bad reputation when repeatedly resorting to camping, up to the point, where people will not want to play with the camper any longer. This may even result in server kicks, bans and a generally hostile environment for the camper.

On top of that it is very often not a good strategy on the long run. It will likely give the camper an advantage for a short period of time, if the taken position is really powerful. (This can lead to semi-accepted micro-camping, where a player occasionally camps at a spot for a short time but in general plays without resorting to camping.) But when you look for example at arena shooters, the collection of items (ammunition, health, armor, shields, special boosters) which are placed around the map is principally incompatible with camping. The camper's health and ammunition will be drained more and more with no way of replenishing them by use of those map items. As these items will give you further survivability, camping is not an option for long.

In general opposing players will probably adapt quickly to the situation and expect the camper at his camping spot. The stationary nature will also make it easier to target a camper. It might even make him a primary target for other players, which are probably not too happy with his decision to camp. This will very often negate the advantage, the position gives the camper. And speaking about experience, it does not help a camper to improve his game play either.

[ Games Database ] [ Game Related Terms ]