Camping

From Armagetron
Revision as of 19:08, 28 October 2005 by Lucifer (talk | contribs)

One of the more flame-ridden topics on the grid, you've probably seen someone camping at some point or other. Or maybe you were just fooling around and people got mad at you, calling you "camper".

What is Camping

There is a certain amount of disagreement as to what constitutes camping and what doesn't. It is generally accepted that camping is when a player intentionally avoids other players, or prolongs a match. But in some situations, it's considered "ok" to intentionally avoid other players. People who engage in Grid Games are also frequently accused of camping. It is generally accepted that in order for a given behavior to be considered as camping, it must have at least some of these traits:

  • Needlessly prolongs the round
  • If there's a round winner award, then the player is trying to win those points by not fighting
  • Maliciously prolonging the round
  • Maliciously trying to prevent other players from playing
  • The player never fights, even when someone goes in after him

Classes of Camping

Infinite Wall Campers

In a server with infinite walls a player may box himself inside a large portion of the arena. By sealing himself, he can wait until everyone else dies. In this way, his game is to win the round winner award by outliving the others.

Self Boxing

In a server with finite walls a player may box himself in an appropriate size box relative to the wall length. He may travel around the edge of this box indefinitely. In this case, the player is the same as the Infinite Wall Camper, he's just compensating for the fact that the server doesn't have infinite walls.

Running

Running is when a player is too defensive. A common tactic for running is leading to the arena rim wall, then grinding going away from the chaser/attacker. There is some disagreement as to whether or not running in and of itself constitutes camping. There's very little disagreement that running prolongs the match, and it's definitely avoiding the other players. But there are some players who will engage others a bit, and then when the fight starts getting heavy they'll high-tail it. Is this camping? You decide.

Inverse Camping

In a server with finite walls a player may be boxed in, but the box will be large enough for him to survive indefinitely. If the player who is outside the box does not let the boxed player out then he is inverse camping. The player inside has a few choices:

  • Intentionally crash, giving the boxer a point or taking a point for suicide.
  • Disconnect, and reconnect (use server bookmarks), losing all your hard-earned points.
  • Stay inside and wait for the boxer to screw up and die.

Mazing

It is not generally accepted that Mazing is camping, but in certain contexts it can be considered camping. Some servers and some players are very hostile to any sort of on-grid behavior that isn't competitive fighting to the death. Most mazers, however, will suicide or fight when the round is down to two players, so mazing is generally not considered camping. New players and intolerant players will frequently call "camper" on someone who's mazing, however, because mazing frequently includes the trappings of several types of camping.