Recently there has been a boom in modified controllers, notably the rapid fire mod. This particular mod offers it’s user a rapid tapping of the fire button in a game. Meaning weapons that are designed to be single fire, often high in damage, fire like an automatic. It’s the classic rock, paper scissors. Not making one weapon in a game such as Call of Duty stupidly overpowered and ensuring that every positive feature of a weapon has a negative effect.
I first noticed modified controllers having an impact on online play when I was playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The G3 was stupidly powerful and accurate, however it’s drawback was that it was single fire. I remember being killed by someone firing it like an M4, a gun which had average power and accuracy but was fully automatic. Now at the time this didn’t bother me, I suspected it was cheating but didn’t really care enough about the game to get too ****ed off.
However as I began to play other online multiplayer games I found a title of which I belonged game preference wise (Gears of War 2) and I found it somewhat more frustrating. Much like CoD4, Gears 2 had two similar weapons but adapted for two different players: the Lancer- fast speed of fire with average aim and power; the other gun the Hammerburst was a gun which was noticeable slower firing speed wise but much more accurate and powerful.
I never really minded as to which rifle I used, I kind of liked them both in different situations. But a few months after launch there was a distinct change in how people played the game online, instead of the typical rifle as a sidearm and shotgun as main weapon online people were instead donning the Hammerburst almost without variation. I thought this must be because it was statistically better than the other weapons and that the better players had cottoned on. But after trying to replicate other players success I had no luck, eventually one of these players let me in on the secret of modded controllers.
This time I was pretty ****ed, here was a game I had played good money for and enjoyed a lot online and I was being cheated out of my fun because a minority that had modified their controller so they had an unfair advantage. It’s not that I don’t relish a challenge, I tried to utilise the Hammerburst in a similar fashion, it’s just that I think Gears 2 multiplayer was tarnished by the modded players.
With the upcoming release of all the 3’s: Battlefield, Modern Warfare, Gears of War and Resistance I’m just wondering what part the modded controller will play in the next cycle of games. I sincerely hope that developers after seeing that cheating is possible hardware wise actively pursue ways to halt the use of mods. Epic Games, the developer of Gears 2, eventually realised the negative effect of cheating in the online multiplayer and put a cap on how many bullets could be fired in a second. Personally I would like to see all games implement a similar kind of cap in the interest of fair play.
As I thought more about the issue I came to the feelings of a new player being constantly owned by players with an unfair advantage. I asked myself: Would I play this game after my first experience. The answer was resoundingly no. Do we want to exclude people from the joy we all find in games?
