While this topic was approached with respect to Red Orchestra when it went from being a mod to 'Ostfront 41-45' the commercial product, there was considerable dissent (and ensuing histrionics), and I thought it would be worth broaching the topic again for the new title -- as it was among several pivotal design changes from Mod to commercial product that had a significant effect on Red Orchestra's game-play and appeal for some Players that didn't have to be 'exclusive'...
Pixel Resolution & View Distance
Display pixel resolution severely curtails View Distance in games (not to be confused with 'Draw-Distance'); even at higher end of practical resolutions like 2560*1600 it is not possible identify a friendly player at even a fraction of the distance you can in the real world; in fact you can't even see and identify a 'man target' as the player models will appear a pixelated blob that can be anything at the same distance you could easily identify a person as someone you actually knew, what they were wearing and even carrying in the real world.
That most Gamers are playing at substantially lower resolutions then 2560*1600, lowers the bar further; if the Steam Hardware Survey is any indication 1280*1024 is the average resolution, or mean of the bell-curve with more then half of all Gamers on Steam playing at or below the resolution of 1280*1024. Obviously the Player with the higher resolution display has a considerable advantage, ie. he can see and or IFF the Player with the lower resolution display before he is seen...
Aim-FOV/Zoom & IFF
The only known means to resolving this to where a game or simulator can offer realistic view distance, range of engagement, and concomitant ranged fire-maneuver tactics is to offer some amount of change in FOV when a weapon is 'aimed', aka Aim-FOV/Zoom, or Aim-Zoom. In fact all infantry combat simulators do exactly this, as do nearly all serious tactical realism games, and even many action/arcade realism games.
While Aim-Zoom may not be as aesthetically realistic, the consequences of playing with forced -1.75 (or less) Diopter Myopia is far less realistic -- completely obviates realistic tactical maneuver and ranged firearms engagement which obviously in the case of simulators for tactical training would be a plate of baked fail...
Aim-Zoom was a part of Red Orchestra during most of its life as a Mod for Unreal Tournament 2003/4, and in the view of many worked and played very well. There were several server mutators and client side scripts that offered Aim-Zoom as an option -- the outcome where it was used was dramatically lower friendly-fire kills then what we see in RO and its mods today, realistic ranged combat was not only possible but practical, and the Mod sustained its Audience on a much broader range of maps then we've seen during the retail life of Red Orchestra...
Most Developers of serious tactical realism games and consumer simulators recognize the issue and also incorporate Aim-Zoom; from Rogue Spear, the Rainbow Six games, Ghost Recon, GRAW, Armed Assault, America's Army, Operation Flashpoint to the Brothers In Arms series -- even more arcade realism games like Call Of Duty and Medal Of Honor incorporate Aim-Zoom to allow for more realistic ranged combat and tactics, and for a reduction in friendly fire kills...
Aesthetic Realism Vs. Functional Realism
Aesthetic Realism caters to making a game look, and/or feel as realistic as possible within the constraints of Engine and Artistic capability; this appears to be the reason that FOV scripting/mutator capability was removed from the commercial version of the game, i.e. some (or more specifically someone) felt it 'looked' unrealistic...
Functional Realism is more concerned with how a game or simulator 'plays' and solves issues of emulated realism like: are realistic tactics not only possible but do they consistently prevail, are weapons not only able to be employed realistically but are they practical used that way, and are they effective used as they would be used in the real world... In both cases, for Red Orchestra sans realistic View Distance via Aim-Zoom, the answer is 'not as much as was the case when you could see further', and 'no where near as much as some other games'...
Of course anyone wanting more realistic view distance in Red Orchestra and a substantial advantage can purchase the highest resolution display money can buy, and the expensive PC hardware required to drive it; but that's not a practical solution for everyone -- and the issues of compromised functional realism, balance, and fairness remain.
Modern game engines now easily allow for panamorphic, ananmorphic, linear, spherical and progressive zoom distortions that can be exploited for a much more subtle 'Zoom' effect that does not move at the boarders of the screen, or realistically exploits the 'pin hole' camera effect of aperture sights...
Game-Play
View-Distance has a substantial impact and consequence on how games are played, the vast majority of Red Orchestra: Ostfront '41-45 engagements, tactics employed, and kills occur at pistol ammunition range -- relegating all the draw distance and LSS render capability of the game to little more then superficial aesthetic eye-candy, and combat to a close range parody of real ranged fire-maneuver combat.
Another significant consequence for a game like Red Orchestra where the effective range of the weapons exceeds the Players ability to see to realistic scale distance; is a ridiculous number of friendly kills due to the inability to IFF (identify friend or foe)... In three hours of playing the Darkest Hour Mod for Red Orchestra I made an attempt to record total friendly-fire and enemy kills of all Players -- the results were conservative at over 40%, due to the fact that many unforgiven kills got counted as enemy kills.
This isn't just a questionable issue of game-play quality, it's also a good measure of how unrealistic IFF and view distance is effecting what may be an otherwise realistic game -- as even the most unskilled and poorly trained forces in WW II didn't have friendly-fire casualties anywhere approaching even half what you will typically see in a Red Orchestra game...
Even ignoring issues of functional realism, or realism in entire; there are the outstanding issues of game-play fairness; Players with higher resolution displays have a substantial advantage over a Player with a lower resolution -- and here even a small change in FOV Aim-Zom can markedly reduce the difference and bring things closer to balance.
Though the player with the higher resolution display will always maintain an advantage unless the effective range and accuracy of all weapons are nerfed to the effective range of sling-shots -- with Aim-FOV/Zoom all Players with high and low resolution displays will have IFF limits closer to the effective range of weapons with realistic metrics.
Summation
The facts are easy to measure, corroborate and speak for themselves... Obviously there are those that prefer aesthetic realism over functional realism, and many will prefer Red Orchestra 'as is', but, there is a substantial Audience that values more scale and functional realism, rather then less, and Aim-Zoom can not only take Red Orchestra a long ways in that direction, it solves other problems, and can easily be offered as a 'server-side option' that excludes no one, and gives everyone a choice in what they're looking for.
Red Orchestra and it's third party mods and maps now offer a considerable volume of ranged combat maps where this would make a tremendous difference in realism, playability, and appeal... I hope the power(s) that be at Tripwire will revaluate his position on aesthetic realism to the exclusion of functional realism, and at least consider offering an option -- this is one features of game design where popularity, perception, and realism converge.
∆
Pixel Resolution & View Distance
Display pixel resolution severely curtails View Distance in games (not to be confused with 'Draw-Distance'); even at higher end of practical resolutions like 2560*1600 it is not possible identify a friendly player at even a fraction of the distance you can in the real world; in fact you can't even see and identify a 'man target' as the player models will appear a pixelated blob that can be anything at the same distance you could easily identify a person as someone you actually knew, what they were wearing and even carrying in the real world.
That most Gamers are playing at substantially lower resolutions then 2560*1600, lowers the bar further; if the Steam Hardware Survey is any indication 1280*1024 is the average resolution, or mean of the bell-curve with more then half of all Gamers on Steam playing at or below the resolution of 1280*1024. Obviously the Player with the higher resolution display has a considerable advantage, ie. he can see and or IFF the Player with the lower resolution display before he is seen...
Aim-FOV/Zoom & IFF
The only known means to resolving this to where a game or simulator can offer realistic view distance, range of engagement, and concomitant ranged fire-maneuver tactics is to offer some amount of change in FOV when a weapon is 'aimed', aka Aim-FOV/Zoom, or Aim-Zoom. In fact all infantry combat simulators do exactly this, as do nearly all serious tactical realism games, and even many action/arcade realism games.
While Aim-Zoom may not be as aesthetically realistic, the consequences of playing with forced -1.75 (or less) Diopter Myopia is far less realistic -- completely obviates realistic tactical maneuver and ranged firearms engagement which obviously in the case of simulators for tactical training would be a plate of baked fail...
Aim-Zoom was a part of Red Orchestra during most of its life as a Mod for Unreal Tournament 2003/4, and in the view of many worked and played very well. There were several server mutators and client side scripts that offered Aim-Zoom as an option -- the outcome where it was used was dramatically lower friendly-fire kills then what we see in RO and its mods today, realistic ranged combat was not only possible but practical, and the Mod sustained its Audience on a much broader range of maps then we've seen during the retail life of Red Orchestra...
Most Developers of serious tactical realism games and consumer simulators recognize the issue and also incorporate Aim-Zoom; from Rogue Spear, the Rainbow Six games, Ghost Recon, GRAW, Armed Assault, America's Army, Operation Flashpoint to the Brothers In Arms series -- even more arcade realism games like Call Of Duty and Medal Of Honor incorporate Aim-Zoom to allow for more realistic ranged combat and tactics, and for a reduction in friendly fire kills...
Aesthetic Realism Vs. Functional Realism
Aesthetic Realism caters to making a game look, and/or feel as realistic as possible within the constraints of Engine and Artistic capability; this appears to be the reason that FOV scripting/mutator capability was removed from the commercial version of the game, i.e. some (or more specifically someone) felt it 'looked' unrealistic...
Functional Realism is more concerned with how a game or simulator 'plays' and solves issues of emulated realism like: are realistic tactics not only possible but do they consistently prevail, are weapons not only able to be employed realistically but are they practical used that way, and are they effective used as they would be used in the real world... In both cases, for Red Orchestra sans realistic View Distance via Aim-Zoom, the answer is 'not as much as was the case when you could see further', and 'no where near as much as some other games'...
Of course anyone wanting more realistic view distance in Red Orchestra and a substantial advantage can purchase the highest resolution display money can buy, and the expensive PC hardware required to drive it; but that's not a practical solution for everyone -- and the issues of compromised functional realism, balance, and fairness remain.
Modern game engines now easily allow for panamorphic, ananmorphic, linear, spherical and progressive zoom distortions that can be exploited for a much more subtle 'Zoom' effect that does not move at the boarders of the screen, or realistically exploits the 'pin hole' camera effect of aperture sights...
Game-Play
View-Distance has a substantial impact and consequence on how games are played, the vast majority of Red Orchestra: Ostfront '41-45 engagements, tactics employed, and kills occur at pistol ammunition range -- relegating all the draw distance and LSS render capability of the game to little more then superficial aesthetic eye-candy, and combat to a close range parody of real ranged fire-maneuver combat.
Another significant consequence for a game like Red Orchestra where the effective range of the weapons exceeds the Players ability to see to realistic scale distance; is a ridiculous number of friendly kills due to the inability to IFF (identify friend or foe)... In three hours of playing the Darkest Hour Mod for Red Orchestra I made an attempt to record total friendly-fire and enemy kills of all Players -- the results were conservative at over 40%, due to the fact that many unforgiven kills got counted as enemy kills.
This isn't just a questionable issue of game-play quality, it's also a good measure of how unrealistic IFF and view distance is effecting what may be an otherwise realistic game -- as even the most unskilled and poorly trained forces in WW II didn't have friendly-fire casualties anywhere approaching even half what you will typically see in a Red Orchestra game...
Even ignoring issues of functional realism, or realism in entire; there are the outstanding issues of game-play fairness; Players with higher resolution displays have a substantial advantage over a Player with a lower resolution -- and here even a small change in FOV Aim-Zom can markedly reduce the difference and bring things closer to balance.
Though the player with the higher resolution display will always maintain an advantage unless the effective range and accuracy of all weapons are nerfed to the effective range of sling-shots -- with Aim-FOV/Zoom all Players with high and low resolution displays will have IFF limits closer to the effective range of weapons with realistic metrics.
Summation
The facts are easy to measure, corroborate and speak for themselves... Obviously there are those that prefer aesthetic realism over functional realism, and many will prefer Red Orchestra 'as is', but, there is a substantial Audience that values more scale and functional realism, rather then less, and Aim-Zoom can not only take Red Orchestra a long ways in that direction, it solves other problems, and can easily be offered as a 'server-side option' that excludes no one, and gives everyone a choice in what they're looking for.
Red Orchestra and it's third party mods and maps now offer a considerable volume of ranged combat maps where this would make a tremendous difference in realism, playability, and appeal... I hope the power(s) that be at Tripwire will revaluate his position on aesthetic realism to the exclusion of functional realism, and at least consider offering an option -- this is one features of game design where popularity, perception, and realism converge.
∆
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