Intentional headshots? Good or bad?

[Eggy777]

Where I play there is a clear safety brief about full face masks being recomended. If you choose not to wear full face (ie goggles only) then you must sign a waver (sp?) form saying that you're ok about it. It's rare that I even get into a situation where engagement distance is under 20ft so the honest truth is, If you head is the first thing I see I'm gonna pop one at ya. If that misses then I'll send two more to a bigger target that may have eventualy presented itself to me. The honest truth is I'm not going to watch your head in my sights, waiting for you to show some more of your body. See it, take it out, aquire next target and continue from there.

If something goes wrong however (like I make someone get a nasty welt etc) the people who play with and against me will vouch that I will apologise prefusely and instantly. Either change the rules for airsoft to no headshots at all or don't try and spoil my game. If you're aware of the safety briefing, rules, risks etc then you're a fair target at reasonable distance in my mind.

 

Eggy

[cazboab]

Basho, if its totally safe and acceptable for you to use head shots all the time as a player, why change that when marshalling?

[Dustie]

As I'm sure it’s been said before, if there’s nothing else to aim for.

[FarEast]

I play this sport knowing full well people are going to be shooting 6mm or 8mm BB's at me, Now here in Japan we work on the 0.98 joule rate so I know that I'm not going to be taking any serious harm from them.

 

If your snipping or engaged with an enemy at long ranges then alot of people are more likely to call a hit when they are tagged to the head.

 

Also just to add on this...if your not prepared to get hit in the head or anywhere else on the body then I suggest you take up laser quest.

[scithe]

full mask = shoot for the head. adds to the skill, better chance of calling hit, fun.

 

anything less than full mask = too dangerous, the point isnt to hurt the guy, either way, you have a better chance of hitting the torso.

 

nice and simple.

[ndfirespider]

I've no problem with head shots. Intentional or otherwise. I wear goggles, so a head shot could cause me harm. I'm also a responsible adult who has made a decision to sacrifice full face protection for the cooler, less constricting goggles. There's a chance I'll take a BB to the mouth, sure, but to me that just an incentive to seek better cover and keep my noggin down.

 

Unless someone intentionally sends a long string of high power shots into my face from inside 10 feet, I've no problem with head shots. And you can be sure that I'll not hesitate to shoot your dome, mask or no.

[DecimusKrieg]

The game revolves around shooting people. Part of a person is a head.

 

If it's an issue for you to get shot in the face, wear a mask. End, full stop.

 

Hmmm, so in Boxing, a sport which revolves around punching people. Part of a person are Genitals see where I'm headed with this?

 

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Rules are there for safety purposes, and the point about full face protection, I would highly recommend, yet the sites I go to, 90% of the players merely wear glasses or goggles. This doesn't mean to say they're suggesting, 'Hey my face is open,, quick, shoot it!' ( some might be trying to say, 'look at me, I'm hard me,' but that's beside the point).

 

Some people don't want to wear a mask, and that's fair enough. There are many reasons people don't like them; restricts movement somewhat, harder to aim with certain guns, can ruin the 'look' of some loadouts and the aforementioned macho man routine. Given that one of the massive advantages of airsoft over paintball is variety, I feel it's our duty to allow people to choose to wear whatever protection they wish as long as it provides adequate eye protection and subsequently is our duty to provide such players with the reassurance that some Gooftroop isn't going to purposefully cap them in the brain container.

 

And that's all the weather,

Decimus.

[Frakk2k]

People usually just poke their heads out, its not my fault >_<.

 

Ive had more headshots than anything else. But if I have sucessfully sneaked up on someone, I aim for their buttocks or back.

(I have shot someone in their throat with my desert eagle, but I aimed for the back, so its a bit up to luck I think).

 

When you decide to poke your head out, you also put it on the line.

[Basho]

Hmmm, so in Boxing, a sport which revolves around punching people. Part of a person are Genitals dry.gif see where I'm headed with this?

 

Yeah! I see that you are galloping up diarrhea drive without a saddle. In boxing you are not allowed to hit in the balls. In airsoft you are allowed to shoot the head. If it was banned I simply wouldnt do it.

 

Basho, if its totally safe and acceptable for you to use head shots all the time as a player, why change that when marshalling?

 

Because firstly they are not allowed to shoot back, secondly marshal hits are for specific reasons such as checking you are taking hits, finally I am mostly behind them. It would be very unfair to shoot them in the head. To give you an example, we had a guy in the middle of a large firefight take a massive barrage of BB's and just shake it off. Three marshals shouted for him to get out of the zone and that he was dead, but he still crept forwards and was about to open fire. I realised that there was no way to stop the game before he did so. So I shot him in the rear leg muscle. He took that. If he hadn't I would have stopped the game and sin binned him. By shooting him he was removed without breaking the flow of the round.

 

[AllInBlack]

...if your not prepared to get hit in the head or anywhere else on the body then I suggest you take up laser quest

 

spot on.

[K3MP0]

If the person's wearing body armour with pads here and there, where else is there to shoot? They kind of limit the aggressors options.

 

Having said that i don't aim at the head on purpose....

[Sale]

Argument: "It's dangerous!"

 

If getting a hit to the head is dangerous, then you have inadequate safety gear or the power levels are too high. There is a possibility that you get hit to the head anyways, intentional or not. If it's dangerous, you should do something to remove the danger, not "agree" not to aim for the head. Despite of agreements and rules, it can happen on purpose or by accident.

 

Something to think about: Would you be willing to play without the goggles on, if you agreed not to aim for the eyes? I know I wouldn't.

 

Comfort and safety are two different things. If you don't like getting hit to the head and your gaming mates agree, then agree not to do so. But don't say it's dangerous: Just admit you don't like it and it's cool. Quite often the head is the only visible part of the opponent. If it's specifically not prohibited to take headshots, you may very well get some during the day.

 

Skills? My trophy-hunting is more about fragging someone with an inferior gun, like a cheap springer pistol. In a full-on game, I shoot at the part of the opponent I can see. If they are completely visible, I aim for the target with the highest hit-probability: Center mass.

 

Personally I don't mind getting shot to the head. I don't think it hurts much, and it removes the doubt like "was that a branch I just felt against my chest, or was it a BB?", if I'm running through bushes.

 

-Sale

[Eggy777]

Wether head shots were actualy banned or just simply stopped as a gentlemans rule the I think it would make our game sterile. M60's, 249's etc would be pointless. There's no need for a weapon that slings tons of plastic down range when you realy shouldn't be trying to keep peoples heads down. A fire team that found itself pinned behind good cover could simply have one guy sit with his head out and relay all your attacking/flanking movements to his other team mates etc etc etc.

I like the fact i have to pop my head in and out as fast as possible whilst trying to get a fix on how many guys there are, if they're moving, do they know I'm here? and is it safe to move. I like the rush of having to get all that information in a split second because leaving your head hanging out there for any longer makes it a target.

To those that see my head sticking out but are waiting until I reveal more of my body before shooting, you bet your *albatross* I'm on the coms giving my team mates your exact position so they can line up a shot on whichever part of you they can see. As it stands it's all within the rules so I have no problems with it.

 

Eggy

[DecimusKrieg]

Yeah! I see that you are galloping up diarrhea drive without a saddle. In boxing you are not allowed to hit in the balls. In airsoft you are allowed to shoot the head. If it was banned I simply wouldnt do it.

 

Yea, at most sites I've been to, intentional headshots are not allowed. If everyone wore adequate head protection I'd go for headshots purposefully all the time, but they don't, and I don't wanna be the one responsible for taking someone's teeth out when all they were doing was enjoying their hobby (call me a *beep*, whatever, I just happen to like the people I skirmish with, and don't want to ruin their day).

 

Yea, I guess you could play ignorant and say, 'Well it's their own fault for not wearing head protection', but as I've said before, in the main, most skirmishers are responsible, conscientious adults and it's a good thing that they respect those who do not want to wear full face protection, for whatever reason.

 

Decimus.

[Xaccers]

One of the advantages of airsoft over paintball is that we don't need to wear hot full face masks and safety glasses should be adequite.

If I heard about a site where deliberate head hits were acceptable and therefore full face masks should be worn, I simply wouldn't play there for several reasons, mostly down to the bad taste "deliberate head hits" leaves.

 

Remember, we're not talking about a stray bb hitting someone in the head, or the only target being their head, but the deliberate targetting of someone's head when there are other parts of the body to go for.

 

The only reason I can think of for doing that is to cause pain.

A hit is a hit, if they don't take it, shoot them again, go for other soft areas like the legs or arms where they're padded by muscle so unlikely to bleed.

The head however is basically skin, a thin layer of fat and muscle then solid skull.

You're more likely to cause bleeding with a head hit because of this, the flesh doesn't have enough space to absorbe the energy.

 

So can anyone please give a justification for deliberately targetting unprotected parts of the head when the rest of the body is available, because as far as I can see, it's only to cause pain.

[Basho]

One of the advantages of airsoft over paintball is that we don't need to wear hot full face masks and safety glasses should be adequite.

 

Safety glasses are not adequate for airsoft. I believe that we should ban anything else but full face. I have seen many injuries, some very serious, all due to the fact that someone thought full face was “too hot” and thereby “not looking cool enough”, after all “I'm and adult” and “Its my choice”.

 

Say that to the guy who got a ricochet off his shooting glasses into his eye. He wasn't Mr billy big ###### when he was screaming in pain right next to me. He can no longer drive a car.*

 

Save your sight. Headshots are in the rules. CQB is close, woodland has tons of hot guns, so WEAR FULL FACE!

 

 

 

* I should point out that it wasn't me who shot him, I was on his side standing next to him.

[casbah-joe]

Personal opinion - unsporting

[Sale]

Say that to the guy who got a ricochet off his shooting glasses into his eye. He wasn't Mr billy big ###### when he was screaming in pain right next to me. He can no longer drive a car.

"But it couldn't happen to me! Because at our site, you are not allowed to aim for the head!"

 

:/

 

People, you can't win the argument about safety. If it's dangerous to get hit in the head, the only correct solution is to make it safe. Agreeing not to shoot in the head is really a dodgy safety measure. It works if you want a gentleman's rule, but does NOT improve safety.

 

I somehow thought of an analogy about banning something not having an effect on the potential problems. I wonder where that came from.

 

-Sale

[Basho]

Read what I wrote VERY carefully:

 

Say that to the guy who got a ricochet off his shooting glasses into his eye.

 

The BB's were shot at him full auto from about 20 foot, they wern't expecially aimed for his head. One BB bounced off the wall behind him went into the glasses lens from the rear and bounced into his eye.

 

The ONLY thing that would have saved that accident was full face. Just "not aiming at the head" is as usless as it is stupid.

[Marlowe]

I must confess, all those of you who appear to base your decision on whether to aim for the head or not upon the level of protection the target is using must clearly have much faster reflexes than I. Generally I find the priority is to get a shot off.

 

Whilst on this topic, I also find it intriguing that you find the face an 'instinctive' area of the body to aim for, Basho. Generally most civilian players I've discussed the issue with (including myself) aim instinctively for the largest target - that of centre mass. Equally, most trained (Eg military) players I've spoken to seem to do the same (I confess to not having ever had an opportunity to discuss this with Police Marksmen). This seems an infinitely more responsible and safer 'instinctive' reaction than aiming for another individual's head and waving any responsibility off as being the target's fault for not wearing appropriate safety kit.

 

Of course, it would be naive of me to attempt to convince anyone else of this, seeing how entrenched in their views those who do intentionally aim for head shots seem to be. I suppose it'll remain part and parcel of the joys of airsofting, along with cheating and egocentric individuals ranting mid-skirmish.

[bah]

i personally don't go out of my way for head shots. i try for center mass as it is a much better target and easier to aim at. in a fast paced anything a larger target is always a better target.

how ever that being said.

people tend to not want to be shot, move a round a bit duck behind things run. and so on. so you don't always get to pick and chose your shots as well as you would like and other times you shot one place they move that way instead of the other and it don't go wear you want.. silly people not standing still to call their hit.

so it is natural head shots can, will, and do happen. its a fact.

best option?

 

safety, safety ,safety.

 

course in a game. were you are running about shotting at one and other. sometimes not allways in the safest places. or on the safest ground. accidents can will and do happen.

 

were i play we require sealing eye protection <shooting glass's don't cut it>, and encourage full face.

 

but hey you know, some times those oddballs are looking for the open welt right on the tip of their nose.

 

 

 

my 2 bits worth

[Samm]

Unless other parts of the body are available, aiming for someone's head (esp. face) is sadistic. It reflects obsessions with the damage of real firearms and shows that someone is not mature enough to participate in a sporting activity.

 

I'm with Marlowe on this one. If you think you're fast enough to judge to shoot someone's head, then you should be able to make that decision not to.

[Xaccers]

So still no justification for deliberately shooting someone in the unprotected areas of their head when other parts of their body are available then?

[Rob15]

The ONLY thing that would have saved that accident was full face. Just "not aiming at the head" is as usless as it is stupid.

Or a set of well sealed goggles that wouldn't have let the shot behind in the first place.

 

I personally don't wear full face unless i go to a CBQ site, but i've not done that in a good year or so, i also don't like wearing shooting glasses (although i did for a few games ages ago) because they leave wayyy too much gap around my face to be safe. I've always found a nice set of goggles to be enough for me in woodland.

 

Anyway, i'm with the rest of the people on 'only shoot for the head if thats all i can see', infact the ONLY time i can think of when i do shoot for the head is when people are in bunkers/behind walls etc and keep popping there head up every now and then, but in that case its the only way to try and take them out or make them stay down at range. If i'm close enough i probably won't even bother with that though and just lob a lovely pyro at them rather than try and hit them in the head.

 

I also hate the idea of people intentionally aiming for my head if they can see the rest of me and would certainly not play anywhere where i knew people were headshotting intentionally (hey, i don't have to make up excuses for never wanting to play at electro anymore! ). If i'm in a bunker or behind cover and i have to expose my head i accept headshots will come to me though, and in the past i have taken some right dirty headshots (nice burst to the neck and face with an M249, 8mm sniper running on green to the chin >_< and a whole load more shots into the head) which is why i do try to avoid getting pinned down in bunkers.

 

Also, its not high fps guns i worry about, its idiotic stupidly high ROF AEGS that bother me......

[snorkelman]

Deliberately taking a headshot when theres opportunity to take a torso shot just cause someone wants to test their 'skills' says more about their lack of consideration for other players than it does about their marksmanship.

 

But everyone signs a disclaimer, great - then make a big ###### sign at entrance to a site saying 'all players here are allowed to deliberately shoot to the head even when theres absolutely no need to'

 

Inadvertent headshots accidents or situations where the opponent simply refuses to expose anything other than their noggin (if all you ever show is your head the only place you're going to get hit is the head) are a different matter - thats down to players own safety and how much value that they themselves place on that (by what they decide is adequate protection over fashion/convenience)