To the griefers: an honest question about spawn camping

What do you consider spawn camping? I honestly want to know.

Is it only spawn camping if

a) you camp on the spawn ring and shoot at the spawn room doors

or

b) does it also mean to lurk below or near the base and kill players after they drop down?

I rarely spawn camp in the classical sense and never get as many kills when I do.

On a side note, if I got a message from a frustrated new player asking for help, I would gladly team up with him until he got his feet under him. I'm sure plenty of players in the "community" would do the same. Maybe, just maybe even the dreaded deadeye.

I think some players are getting a bad rap for simply being good. (No talking about myself. I'm not that good.)

I like impossible challenges (expert realism on L4D2 is the best) so I don't mind getting spawn camped. I guess what I'm trying to get at is the only way you get better is if you play with better players and read the guides that the same "horrible community" took the time to write for you.

To me spawn camping/killing is not giving them a chance to exit the spawn room.

Btw I wasn't confirming I was a "griefer."

This.

But I would also add ignoring the moneyball as a stipulation to actually spawn camping. If the team is actively shooting the moneyball, then they are trying to win and not "greifing". Controlling the spawn can be a strat to controlling the area around the moneyball to allow more damage to be done to the moneyball. But if they are just killing players and not shooting the moneyball to end the game, then that is spawn camping and not playing the game as intended.

I just realized I don't know what a griefer is.

Technically "a griefer" is someone that annoys or griefs their own teammates by their in-game actions. Team Killing, Kill Stealing, Kill Preventing. Those sort of things.

Or the UrbanDictionary Version:
"Someone, usually in an online game, who intentionally, and usually repeatedly, attempts to degrade anothers experience or torment them."

I thought it was anyone who doesn't play a game as intended and focuses only on causing grief for any other player in the game.

Agreed. There is a huge difference between controlling the area around the spawn and preventing a team from being able to leave their spawn.

I kill people as they leave their spawn, but do so in the following way:

Push bots into base
Kill turrets inside of base
Kill anyone on the top ring of the base
Kill anyone on the area surrounding the money ball
Kill next wave of bots as they spawn
Allow our bots to damage the money ball
Rinse repeat
The bots do a TON of damage to the moneyball if the whole wave hits, and is a fun challenge trying to get them there.

It balances my want for kills, pro tags, and fun with playing for the objective, and still winning sometime between the first or second jackbot spawn (5-7 mins into the game at most, often before this).

If the team is competent at all, we usually melt the money ball at first opportunity, because it takes quite a bit of effort to actually get the ball down.

Edit: As a tank, I can't FORCE anyone to stay inside their spawn, and most of the kills I get are the lightly armored classes that run straight out the front spawn door without stopping to look both ways and get hit by the pain train. (Charge 3)

You push your team over to the enemy's base along with your bots, you kill everyone who gets in your way, and eventually bring the enemy's moneyball down, you want that ball to stay down until victory, so you destroy all bots and pros to make sure of it, basically kicking people while they are down, that is why they spawn-kill, when they spawn-kill, you WILL get irritated, and pissed off, but its all apart of winning.

A base is a base, when all hope is lost, you will stick in your base until every enemy is out of it, but when your team has no idea what to do when you're being spawn-killed, then you're screwed, Your base is your kingdom, you protect it, and you retreat to it for protection, when your kingdom is being raided, theres nothing you can do but kick the enemy's *** right back out of your kingdom, if you fail of doing so, you've lost your kingdom and a bit of reputation.

But thats how i see it (Team player and soon-to-be hardcore gamer) but after the win/loss, you soon realize that its just a game and you had fun, you try again, grow better, build strategies, and have fun.


Sincerely, Your super best friend

i will not sacrifice my K/D to win 5 seconds faster. that means i will shoot the moneyball/turret/bots but if i know someone i just killed is about to respawn and come out the doors i will stop shooting the moneyball/turret/bots and watch the doors. if no one pops out then i just keep popping shots at the moneyball while looking back up at the doors every second or 2

to me grieving is when you dont even attempt to kill the money ball and just play slayer. i have even had people yell at me for killing turrets because it makes our bots get to the base faster if you notice people that are ignoring the objective then just go to their profile and avoid them

Actually when our team says don't take out the turrets it is because we want the other side to have some hope. Otherwise they rage quit at a fast destruction.

I find the other side is much less pissed if we let it drag out then kill their money ball in 1:45. They are more likely to stick around. That's been my experience anyways.

Kill their money ball in 1:45 and you get guys yelling that were 'hackers' or how the game sucks etc etc. So a lot of times were trying to just slow things down.

what i consider spawn killing in this game is when the opposing team pushes you back to your spawn. and once there they ignore taking out your money ball and just kill you too pad their k/d ratio. i personally dont do this.
if i have your team pushed back i'm going for the win and taking down your money ball.

now if i'm playing with an orginised team i dont mind if this is done to me.
but if i'm with randoms that suck and i'm the only one doing anything to stop this. i'll get tired and just sit in the spawn. no point in racking up deaths if the teammates i have are hopless or not taking my advice.

also my advice to anyone is to do the same.
if your on a team of people that are new to the game and this happens just have your whole team sit in the spawn. not only will this piss off the opposing team and result in messages you can laugh at later. but it will force them to take the bal ending the game so both teams can move onto greener pastores.

I think this forum's definition of griefing is "players not playing the same way that you play". Everyone wants every other player on this forum to behave just like they do, and if I don't play exactly the same way that you do, I'm doing something that is unfair or unsporting. I rush the moneyball and blow it up in three minutes, I get yelled at for rushing the moneyball. I kill people when they leave their spawn, I'm a spawn camper. I use ice-traps, I'm a *****. I play as a gunner, I'm a noob. That's why I don't really care anymore. People lose, and then they are going to complain. Let them.

qft

I think it is okay to kill the other team wherever and whenever you can, as long as the goal is to get the money ball to zero. I do not like "kill farming" where one has taken the ball down and hits it with just enough damage to keep it down in the name of getting more kills. The name of this game is kill the moneyball. This game is NOT team death match. This is one of the great aspects of this game. I have played more than my fair share of TDM over the years(I am 34), and this game is a breath of fresh air. Kill me all you want as long as you are trying to kill the moneyball, because I will surely kill you trying to take yours down.
The Onion is a stone cold sucker by the way.

Not at all. Griefing is about using any method that degrades the experience for other players. Winning the game in three minutes is fine. Killing people as soon as they leave their spawn is questionable at best. Ice Traps are a bit overpowered currently depending upon their placement. If you combine Ice Traps with the killing people leaving their spawn then yes, you are a griefer for sure. Playing as a specific class doesn't matter unless your entire team is being a bunch of griefers as a result (and yes, you guys do this frequently).

Of course players will complain when they lose, but did you do anything to exacerbate the situation? If yes, then you are a griefer even if you did not intend it.

Seconded.

Hell, a Support I regularly play with got a rage mail message from a forum poster last night chalking up two airstrike kills in a row on him (as he exited the center doorway to spawn) to Support being abusable.

Scrubs will be scrubs, no matter how we play.

While I do agree with this, there is no need to rub ones face in it by kill farming IMHO.

We all play the same class because it's funny. It even makes us easier targets, which makes it easier for the other team. We beat you using ridiculous tactics that no one would ever use in a serious game (and aren't cheap in any way), and the first thing you do is run to the forums and start crying to the developers about how everything is overpowered. Please stop forum griefing.

For me Spawn camping is when the other team is on the top ring and is doing everything they can to prevent you from even being able to get out. If they aren't on the top ring and are still murdering me, I don't mind one bit.

And yeah, having a huge kill count and losing is still losing. AND letting down your team. I can only imagine how unlikable you are in real life, Deadeye.