Becoming Disappointed in MW3

Video games are created for the enjoyment and entertainment of its players. What I’ve been told hundreds of times, and am still struggling to overcome, is that it is just a game. If you’re not having fun then you shouldn’t be playing it.

Modern Warfare 3 is starting to puch me over that edge. There has only been one other thing in this world that I have boycotted doing and that was watching the BCS football games, but I'm seriously considering adding playing MW3 to that list.

When MW3 first came out there weren’t nearly as many noobes playing. I’ve played the game enough to where I’ve reached the rank of 12^th prestige which doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re any good, but that you’ve at least not lost your mind enough to continue playing it. This last prestige has been unbearable to play which has caused me to hate playing the game. There are many reasons I could list, but here are the biggest ones.

Overpowered Weapons

If I started a game up today and played a match right now I could guarantee you that I would be killed at least once by these weapons in every single match I played: ACR, Type 95, MSR, Striker, MP7, PP90M. If you want to get a high Kill/Death ratio these weapons are your bread and butter. In fact I’ll go as far as to say I am killed by these guns more than the other 50+ weapons combined. Me, I’m a challenge nut who likes to earn titles and emblems for getting so many kills with certain weapons. Once I get my 1,000 kills and receive the emblem, I move on to a different one. Right now I’m stuck with the PKP Pecheneg light machine gun, and I’m having the hardest time getting to 1,000, because I’m getting killed by these overpowered weapons. I get picked off from a distance by the Type 95 or ACR, or I just get blasted for being too close by the Striker. It’s so frustrating, because everyone uses them. There’s only a small group of games that venture outside of these overpowered guns.

Quick scoping/ Snipers in general

One thing I can’t stand is when I finally decide to watch one of my kill cams. I watch a sniper running around the middle of the map like he’s carrying around a 12-gauge. He pulls the scope up to his eye, but doesn’t even look down the scope before he’s firing a shot. The crosshairs in his scope are aimed a foot to the side of my head when he fires the trigger, and somehow I drop like a deer. This “art” is known as quick scoping. Granted it takes lots of practice to develop this “skill”, but to me it drastically eliminates the realism of “modern warfare.” I hate all snipers in general. Either they’re running around and quick scoping everyone, or they’re camping out in a hallway waiting for you to walk right in front of them even though they’re losing a Domination game by 100 points; which brings me to my next point.

Campers Galore

I cannot stand the amount of campers that have taken over Modern Warfare 3. It is so annoying running around the map only to get killed by someone huddled in a corner. I don’t understand how that is fun for anyone. When I camp I get bored after ten seconds and have to move somewhere else. These guys are willing to wait the entire game to get their five kills. The reason why you see so many campers on Modern Warfare is because people are too easy to kill. Granted, it is “modern warfare” so anybody should die after a few shots to the chest, but the reason why you never see any campers in Halo is because it wouldn’t do you any good. By the time somebody walks in front of you it will take you five or six seconds to successfully dispatch a foe. This gives the enemy plenty of time to turn around and take you on or flee. In Modern Warfare 3 you have no warning before all of the sudden you’re dead. At least in Modern Warfare 2 grenades and grenade launchers actually killed people so you could just noob tube the area where there were campers and pick up a few kills. In MW3 it is way too hard to sneak up on campers and kill them.

Those are just the main reasons why I’m giving up on this game. I feel so bad for leaving Halo, because I thought Modern Warfare would satisfy my needs. I’ve been playing Halo for the past couple of weeks and have enjoyed it tons more than Call of Duty. When I’m done playing Halo I’m not in a bad mood like I am when I’m done playing MW3.

I feel like there are some positives about MW3, but they’re overpowered by the amount of noobes that now play the game which doesn’t require a whole lot of skill to become good at. In a perfect world I would propose the following modes or options to MW3 multiplayer:

·         A “no snipers” playlist that eliminates classes that have sniper rifles as the primary weapon.

·         One or maybe even two extra flags on Domination that would help reduce the amount of camping.

·         A playlist that keeps separate stats for your weapons and attachments. Instead of getting better guns and attachments as you level up imagine starting out with every gun and attachment. Once you’ve earned so many kills with a certain weapon or attachment you are no longer allowed to use it, but instead you get a ton more experience. I think there would be a good amount of solid players that would like that playlist. Something like this would never happen, but it would be fun. It would help spice things up.

Maybe someday I'll finally pull the plug on this dumb game, but for now I just need to go back to having fun. Zach and I are going to make some troll classes and just go around and camp and shoot people in the back with the Type 95. There isn’t much fun left for me in Call of Duty. I might as well waste my time taking it out on the Grunts and Jackals that occupy the Halo universe. That is more fun to me.

Penn State Punishments: NCAA Got it Right

"Football will never again be placed ahead of educating,
nurturing and  protecting young people,"  NCAA President
Mark Emmert stated on Monday

NCAA president Mark Emmert handed out one of the harshest penalties in history to Penn State early Monday morning. Emmert is fining Penn State for $60 million, banning them from postseason games for the next four years, reduced ten initial and 20 total scholarships each year for the next years, and vacated all of Joe Paterno's wins the years 1998-2011. (111)

Many people question whether this penalty is too harsh or not harsh enough. It is for that reason alone why I feel that the punishments were just right.

The main reason why people argue that these punishments are too harsh is because the current and future football teams had nothing to do with Jerry Sandusky's vicious acts. Many people believe that those involved have gotten off pretty easy besides Sandusky of course. Instead, the current football players will not get to particpate in any bowl games the rest of their college careers while wearing a Nittany Lion uniform. If they want to, they are free to transfer to any other school without penalty. I agree that many of the players and loyal fans of Penn State football are treated a little unfailry in this sense, but for some it may be an excuse to leave an institution full of hypocrisy and lies.

Many people are also upset about the vacated wins of Joe Paterno that have officially removed him from the all time wins leader. One student at Penn State felt that they were unfair, because Jerry Sandusky wasn't even a coach at the time that the wins were vacated. He is clearly missing the point of Joe Paterno's role in all of this scandal. Paterno knew about what was going on and still lied about it. Think about that for a minute. Paterno knew that innocent children were being raped and molested by one of his assistant coaches and did nothing. In fact, he did something worse than nothing; he covered it up. A man who was always known for teaching his players to play with respect and integrity, couldn't do the same when he needed to the most. The Paterno family is understandably upset and are outraged at everything that is taking place, but they really need to come to reality and realize the mistakes that Joe made.

Joe Paterno's statue was removed from Beaver Stadium on
Sunday in response to his role in the cover up of Jerry
Sandusky's crimes.

One point that has arised which is some cause for concern is the NCAA's involvement in criminal cases. Normally the NCAA doesn't hand out sanctions or punishmentss for criminal actions. Instead they leave that up to the courts. Their main responsibility is to monitor each individual team and make sure that everyone is participating on an equal competitive playing field. Many people argue that the NCAA is opening up a can of worms, and is stepping into hot water that will open up many other cases.

While I agree that the NCAA should not be handing out punishments for criminal actions, this was something so horrific and so high-level crime that something had to be done. The reason why the NCAA doesn't act on criminal investigations is because usually the administration or athletic department of each individual school is smart enough to make sure that these criminal acts are taking care of with penalties of their own. What do you do when their are several administrators of the university involved in the cover up of a decade-long child molester? Did you think that Penn State was going to punish themselves for what they did? If they were going to do that they would have done that back in 1998 when all of this began. The NCAA had to step in to remind everyone else that while sports is what drives in the money for the school, no one should be allowed to play under the guile and indecency that Penn State has for the past 15 years.

Everyone knows how much I love sports, but it is extremely sad that we are coming to the day-in-age when there is a "do anything to win" philosophy. In the past few years alone we have seen many sanctions being handed down for improper benefits, cheating, and now covering up a child molester's hainous acts. I feel that's why the NCAA issued these penalties. University presidents are finally realizing the will to win in sports is coming at too high of a price, and it is time for us to remember the importance of higher education.

No penalties will ever bring to justice what happened to the victims of Sandusky's acts. All we can hope for is to return Penn State to what it was before this acts occurred which came at a high price. A price that some innocent players and coaches have to pay, but one that will help us all sleep a little better.