One brave or foolish gamer claims he took out his shotgun, went somewhere remote, and tried a common video game first-person shooter maneuver. The results were painful.
This is how one man says he tried to back-up-and-shoot, using a shotgun, a broom, and a warehouse. He suffered some distress.
The details were revealed in the September 28 edition of the Giant Bombcast, at the one hour and fifty-eight minute mark, host Ryan Davis read the following e-mail from a reader named Bob Ruff.
Many contemporary first-person games seem to be designed so that running backwards and shooting at advancing enemies is a basic element of gameplay and necessary for defeating many enemies.
I tried this yesterday.
I took my shotgun into a grassy field in an abandoned warehouse and then tried running backward at full speed and shooting at a target I had pinned to a broom handle and thrust into a bucket full of earth.
The result of this experiment was that I fell backwards about 70% of the time and injured both my back and my skull.
Thusly, I believe it is our duty to convince game designers and programmers to design first-person games where running backwards is unnecessary. Enemies should stagger and respond to gun wounds at close range. A shotgun blast to the chest, legs, or face should suitably disable an opponent so they cannot continue to attack the player at full speed, requiring every encounter to result in a running-backwards Benny Hill-style comedy adventure.
Better yet, what if the player fell backwards 70% of the time and incurred some damage or loss of health? That would be an even better gameplay mechanic. I am brilliant. Someone should give me a job.
Readers, please do not try this yourself. Still, thank you Bob for experimenting this one time and reporting the results!