Medic rules ... aka The "Two Lives" REGEN Rules

[uscmCorps]

While reading through the "dead red rags" topic, and how in much of UK airsoft culture (and various other countries) kill rags aren't in common use ... it occurred to me that not a lot of players out there maybe familiar with using medic rules in airsoft.

 

I will start by saying while I wrote the following rules, I certainly did NOT invent them and make no claims as such. They were introduced to us by Marines down at Camp Pendleton at a private event on their MOUT training facility a few years back and it's actually a game feature that they picked up from other players before them. I don't know who came up with the rules originally, but the marines loved it, made us use it, and by the end of the first game we were hooked. I've been playing for over 23 years now. In all that time, I've seen all manner of "medic" rules implemented at various events. Some worked better than others. Some were simple, and some complicated. Over the years, this is what we've found to work, work well, and is most likely to encourage sportsmanlike game play. I'm not saying this is THE WAY, simply that it is A WAY to use medic rules in airsoft and it has proven to be a tried and true formula ...

 

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The "Two Lives" REGEN Rules:

• All players start out with "2 chances to live" during a deployment.

• All players must carry on their person: (1) a white wound rag (must be long enough to be able to be tied around a player's arm) and (2) a red kill rag.

• When a player is shot the first time, he/she will place a red kill rag on their own head, pull out their OWN white wound rag and take a knee (or sit down). The player is now INCAPACITATED, not dead.

• If the incapacitated player is not reached within 5 minutes, they have essentially "bled out" and are now considered KIA. Once they are KIA, they can return to REGEN immediately.

• If another player can reach the incapacitated player within 5 minutes, and use the incapacitated player's white wound rag to tie a simple bandage on the incapacitated player's arm, the incapacitated player is now deemed "wounded" and is back in the game.

• If shot again while wearing the white wound rag, the wounded player becomes KIA, must place a red kill rag on their head, and return to REGEN immediately, or once it is safe to do so.

• Once the dead player has returned to REGEN, they can get back into the game with full health restored (i.e., they once again have two lives).

Special notes:

- The white wound rag used should be the wounded player's own wound rag, NOT the wound rag belonging to the player trying to assist the wounded.

- The "bandage" can be as simple as wrapping the wounded player's arm with the white rag and then tying it off in a temporary knot.

- If an incapacitated player can not find his/her own wound rag, they may use a spare wound rag if one is available. If one isn't available, they must wait 5 minutes while displaying their red kill rag, and return to REGEN.

- If a player can not find their red kill rag they must hold their weapon above their head or at least raise their arm so as to signify they're not in play, find a member of game staff and borrow a red kill rag. Kill rags should be considered essential equipment, just as eye protection is essential equipment. It is a player's responsibility to have both before entering the field.

- An incapacitated player cannot engage the enemy and cannot communicate with anyone except to call out for a medic. If the killzone they're in is too hot/dangerous, they may choose not to call out for a medic.

- An incapacitated player can be dragged out of harm's way by a friendly player. The wound rag can then be applied to the incapacitated player turning said player into a wounded player.

- A wounded player that returns to the REGEN area may remove their wound rag and restore themselves to full health status.

 

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The following is the explanation for why the above rules need to be used. Not to be included with the player packet, it's just to help clarify to the uninitiated as to why these rules are needed and why they work.

 

Reasoning for these REGEN rules.

• The primary need for the two lives rule is, first and foremost, because it cuts down on cheating. When a player realizes that they still have a chance to get back into the action ... rather than wait out five minutes and walk all the way back to REGEN, they're more inclined to play by the rules.

• The secondary need for the two lives rule is to introduce some realism into the game. When a player is shot it's plausible that they can still be combat effective so long as medical aid is administered. But let's not lose sight of the primary need for the two lives rule: to reduce cheating.

• The reason why an incapacitated player pulls out both a red kill rag (which goes on the incapacitated player's head) and holds out a white wound rag to be applied by another player: the red kill rag signals to the enemy that this player is presently a non-threat, so stop shooting them. I have so many times seen an incapacitated player holding out a white wound rag waiting to get medic-ed, and get lit up by the enemy because it wasn't obvious that the incapacitated player was out of the game. A red kill rag should clarify that player's status. The fact that they have a red kill rag on their head but are also holding out a white wound rag waiting to get assistance clearly signifies to friendlies that this person is in need of aid, and tells the enemy that while you shouldn't shoot at the incapacitated player, they may quickly become a threat, so keep an eye on them and potentially any one trying to help them.

• What does NOT work:

- Making the two lives rule too complicated. Once you make the rule too complicated, the less honorable players will give up on it and not bother to follow them. The above outlined rules are tried and tested to work, work well, and yield the highest positive results.

- Telling players they have to change their play behavior once they're wounded. They won't. An example of this is telling players that once wounded, you can only walk, you can't run. That doesn't work because (a) in the heat of battle players don't want to waste time thinking about that, ( b ) they'll probably forget about this rule making it difficult to enforce, and ( c ) it complicates the game play, which means they'll probably ignore it. Once you ignore one rule, it makes other rules easy to ignore too. It's a slippery slope.

- Making one player in the squad a medic. Why doesn't that work? Firstly every player that signs up to play, signs up to be a rifleman, signs up for action. Being saddled with the duty of medic, sucks for the medic. Simple as that. Because they can no longer be a rifleman. They now have a responsibility to stay alive and assist the rest of the team. That's only fun if that is something they want to do. Which most don't. 95% or more of players do not want to be given that role. Beyond milsim, these are people that pay to play. I didn't meet a single "medic" at the last event that enjoyed the role. At the end of the day, every player should walk away having enjoyed themselves. While you can't expect 100% player enjoyment, you have to aspire to that goal.

- Tagging the player as "wounded" using a zip tie on the vest/rig somewhere. This does not work. Tying a make-shift bandage to someone's arm on the other hand is a constant reminder every time the wounded player looks down. Furthermore, unless you give the medic hundreds of medic tags, they'll quickly exhaust their supplies, making the entire concept limited and ultimately not viable. Redstorm II (out here in Cali) was a testament to this. Game design didn't supply enough tags. Friendly force medics from other squads refused to assist other friendly forces in need of aid due to limited supplies. That results in a breakdown of the system which lead to some cheating. It also adds to littering as those zip tie tags get discarded ... rarely into the trash. White wound bandages are reusable = win.

- Allowing a regen point to be over run with no other regen points available. If one side's regen point gets overrun, you've given that side zero options. You might as well Endex and reset. What should be done: establish a perimeter around a regen point that OPFOR cannot cross. This gives players at the regen point time to get back into the game and keep the game momentum going. Ideally have multiple regen points so that players don't have so far to travel and thus reduce cheating in that regard too. There were several times in which I observed players walk back part of the way to regen, link up with their buddies, pull off their kill rag and get back into the game. If you ensure that the overall regen rules keeps the players out of the fight for the absolute least amount of time possible, it'll reduce cheating. Additional mobile/fixed regen points deeper infield from the FOB make absolute sense, especially in large AOs and long multi-hour games.

 

 

In summary : These medic rules have been thoroughly tested and generally do work. Like all things in airsoft it is NOT 100% guaranteed nor is it idiot or cheater proof as a lot of it comes down to the players involved. Some people will cheat no matter what. And while this rule set may seem long winded, it is actually very simple once implemented (I'm just painfully verbose at times). All it really adds to the game is the possibility of another life for the player after being shot once and that is something we have statistically seen to significantly reduce cheating. While these same medic rules can certainly be implemented for shorter, quick skirmish type games, where it really excels is at events with huge AOs, and long game times. Call it MILSIM if you want, but these rules can be helpful just in encouraging players to stay honest. Also, game control (marshals etc) have limited staff members to adequately saturate the field and keep an eye out for unsportsmanlike behavior. Which is why it's key to keep the rules simpler as they'll be easier to maintain and enforce. K.I.S.S. is critical.

 

Anyway, if you've read this far I hope you've found this to be an interesting read. It certainly improved our gameplay and enjoyment of the game when we started using it. Hopefully it will do the same for you to if you haven't tried it yet.

[Arghoslent93]

I like the sound of this. It adds another visual indicator for the dying/dead player to signify his status. The only issue I can see is people losing their rags, or forgetting to bring them into the game entirely, as well as those players who decide that they're suddenly made of kevlar and don't want to waste the effort tying bits of cloth to themselves.

 

Minus the rags, this is pretty much how we run games at First and Only.

 

You get shot the first time, your hand goes up. The only words out of your mouth are 'hit!' followed by 'medic!', or 'red/yellow medic' depending on how many other guys from either team are in your immediate vicinity also awaiting assistance.

 

If you manage to get medic-ed within the 5 minute bleed out time, you're back in the game. Get shot again, and it's either back to regen or back to the safe zone, depending on the type of game being played.

 

If you don't get medic-ed, and you end up waiting for the entire 5 minutes, you can safely assume that no-one cares about your sorry *albartroth*. You are dead, out of the game, and it's back to regen/safe zone with a hand/weapon in the air and repeated shouts of 'dead man walking' to let those still in play know that you aren't part of the game.

 

The only visual indicator we use to signify a hit is an arm (or a weapon) straight up in the air. I've witnessed plenty of incidents where players waiting for medics have stood there with their arms down, only to get lit up by the opfor. Cue lots of screaming and gesticulating from the guy who's been shot, complaining that he'd been hit and was waiting for a medic. If that's the case, put your arm up!

 

Sometimes even the simplest of rules are hard to follow for some people.

[FireKnife]

Great idea.

 

Too bad it won't work in this country, unless you are playing Mil-sim or games that are only attended by players fully capable of sticking to this. At the end of the day the rules will always be messed with by others, the basic 'take a hit anywhere on your body then respawn / wait for medic or player to tag you' has been working for as long as i have been playing, adding an item of clothing that can get lost or an ability for players to wait til no-one is looking then swap out the wound rag from one place to the other is always going to lead to issues. Plus in some sites i have played you don't have time or are not in a position to tie a woun rag to you, especially if on a harsh slope lying down with not much room to move without rolling down.

 

Firstly every player that signs up to play, signs up to be a rifleman, signs up for action. Being saddled with the duty of medic, sucks for the medic. Simple as that. Because they can no longer be a rifleman. They now have a responsibility to stay alive and assist the rest of the team.

 

No they don't, you clearly haven't attended the games i have, though that may be how UK games compare to US ones.

 

'FireKnife'

[uscmCorps]

The only issue I can see is people losing their rags, or forgetting to bring them into the game entirely, as well as those players who decide that they're suddenly made of kevlar and don't want to waste the effort tying bits of cloth to themselves.

 

 

Good points, Arghoslent93.

 

Regarding loosing white wound rags or red KIA rags ... hey it happens. I recommend to people to bring two or more of each if they're prone to loosing them. A few of the guys on my team affix a 1" velcro tab to the underside of their kill rags that do a good job of staying on their caps or helmets. Personally I think they're an excellent way to signify you're out for the very reason you point out ... so you don't continue to get lit up. Holding your hand up as you walk back to the regen zone has by and large worked, no doubt about it. That said, when a regen can be 15 to 25 minute walk away (as is sometimes the case for us out here), I can understand if some people get tired of holding their hand up the entire time. I'd have a hard time with that myself. The topic of red kill rags and their usefulness is discussed more in-depth in this topic here. As for losing wound rags mid-game, most people either keep it in their pocket / pouch when not needed or tied around their arm when in use. So long as people keep track of it as they would the rest of their kit, it rarely gets lost.

 

While it's entirely possible to skip the step of using a white wound rag as you guys do, we did notice that simply telling people to put their hands up after their first hit and get medic'ed, then rely of their honesty to fess up that they were indeed "wounded" once already ... was a bit iffy. Without the wound rag, some players just acted as if every repeated hit was their "first" hit. We just find that requiring them to use a wound rag is a great visual indicator for all to see and becomes an added level of psychological reinforcement for the player to follow the medic rules.

 

As for the kevlar terminators who can't be bothered in following through with these rules, cheaters are gonna cheat. If they can't follow these oh-so-simple medic rules, chances are there are a lot of other rules they can't follow ... like hit calling. At that point, whether or not they bother to tie a wound rag around their arm is the least of your problems. The key there is for good marshaling, and for game control to have the authority (and the followthrough) to eject repeat offenders.

 

The biggest challenges this rule set usually faces are:

• Game control themselves need to 100% understand and be clear as to what the rules are and to be consistent and fair in their judgements on the rules. When game control can't keep the rules straight, it's hard to expect the players to do so too.

• If possible, give the players a good amount of prior notice that these rules will be in effect, via an emailed player packet, displaying the rules on a website or other means.

• Never assume someone reads a player packet prior to game day briefing. Yes, people should read player packets if provided. Many don't however as they just assume it's the same as what has been the case for every other event they've attended. So that means players need to be reminded of the rules at briefing, and if necessary, do a quick demo. Get everyone on the same page, so when cheaters cheat, it won't be for lack of comprehension of the rules.

• Don't change the game mechanics/rules mid game. If something isn't working, call a ceasefire/ENDEX and re-brief everyone what the revised rules are. Never assume the new rules will spread via word of mouth. That's a cluster #$@% waiting to happen.

• When players use their own wound rag to heal another player, they just lost their own second life chance. I like to explain it to people like this ... in a real world setting a medic only has a limited amount of supplies on their person and they can't be everywhere at once. Sometimes a medic isn't within that limited life saving period (real world ... 60 second bleed out if hit in an artery). Which is why a lot of operators carry personal tourniquets and trauma kits. Think of the wound rag as a personal tourniquet. If two operators are in a fire fight and one gets shot, rule of thumb is grab the wounded person's tourniquet and apply it to the wounded appendage. You don't grab your own TQ if you're not shot unless the wounded person has no TQ. What if you get shot too? Then you're screwed. Same logic here. If you get wounded, hold out your own wound rag for someone else to apply to you. Don't make them use their own. Doing so would screw your buddy.

 

 

FireKnife: Also very valid points. It's most likely this kind of game mechanic will only work in milsim games or in private party games in which you're confident everyone is capable of following the rules. This isn't really optimized for the quick 10 minute games at various public skirmish fields, and certainly not if you have a high percentage of people who "very loosely follow the rules at best". At that point I wouldn't even bother having these rules in that scenario.

 

Firstly every player that signs up to play, signs up to be a rifleman, signs up for action. Being saddled with the duty of medic, sucks for the medic. Simple as that. Because they can no longer be a rifleman. They now have a responsibility to stay alive and assist the rest of the team.

No they don't, you clearly haven't attended the games i have, though that may be how UK games compare to US ones.

 

Okay. Yeah I over generalized. Some people may relish the idea of being a dedicated medic. From what I have seen they're in the absolute minority, even at "hardcore" milsim events with 600 plus players. I've had many a LT and squad sgt at events that have singular medic per squad/platoon rules say that they don't look forward to nominating someone for the job. Most end up drawing straws. And when you're paying $200 for some of these events, being saddled with something you really didn't want to do can kinda suck. To which I've had others say to me "this is milsim, you're not here for trigger time, you're here for an experience". That's fine and all, but you don't want people leaving with a negative experience for being assigned a role they didn't want.

 

On the issue of losing your wound rag:

I don't however see it as that hard to apply a wound rag to someone's arm and expect it to stay in place. I've seen people use color bands of various types all the time to designate who's side you're on. The wound rags we typically use are just as likely or possibly more likely to stay in place than a color arm band since you're tying it relatively tightly (not so much that it'd be uncomfortable though. Obviously you're not really trying to tourniquet someone's arm). Rather than having the wound rag slip off the arm, from what we've seen people are more likely to misplace their wound rags when transferring it back to a pocket or mistakenly using it on someone else. $#!T happens. Keep your kit straight.

 

On the issue of it taking too long and therefore not being fun:

What is considered too long? If someone holds out their wound rag you can generally apply it to their arm within 15 seconds. And that's a long 15 seconds. Personally, if I'm taking more than 10 seconds, I'm slacking. Is that too long in the middle of a scenario, detracts from the game and therefore not worth considering? Perhaps for some people, and yes it's definitely airsoft culture dependent. Like many things in various hobbies, change is difficult and often met with incredible resistance. Beyond the benefits of statistically reducing cheating, we actually find it really fun. It adds a certain (though very limited) element of realism to the game, and once everyone is on the same page regarding how to do it, the majority of players in our part of the world have said it's actually a positive addition to the game mechanics. Will people cheat? Yeah. We just see it happening a lot less this way.

 

I guess at the end of the day, I'm simply suggesting people give this a try. A solid try. Like really put it through it's paces and see if it sucks, or if they are actually surprised by how much added fun and effective it can be (as we find it to be).

[FireKnife]

One of the other issues i see is:

 

When a player takes a clean one hit from a bb then they are wounded, what if they are hit by a moscart, taken out by a 'knife kill', hosed down? Basically taking one of the many other types of 'hit' that occur in a game?

 

I am not trying to drag down the idea, have tried to come up with similar myself but just keep ending up at the same conclusion that unless it is a private game (rare in the UK as people [idiots] will see guns and go mad) or a Mil-sim game, which have many extra rules already.

 

'FireKnife'

[uscmCorps]

More valid points. For these particular types of kills ... we've found that the most successful (although not necessarily the most "realistic" real world outcome) would be to follow through with the two life regen rule. Yes, real world ... you knife someone, or blow them up with explosives/shrapnel, chances are they're not salvageable no matter what medical treatment you do. So why do the two life regen even for these types of kills? Because beyond "milsim", you don't want to lose sight of the primary need for the two life rule: to reduce cheating by giving everyone a second chance at staying in the game. Keep the rules simple, you get more compliance and honest game play. When the quality of players improve (as in a high ratio of honest and experienced players), that's when you can start introducing more complicated game mechanics like different regen rules depending on how you were killed.

 

Thanks for asking these questions and discussing this topic. I'm sure these are the same or similar questions others are wondering, and you're bringing up some very valid points.

[WhiteHawksan]

A point for me is

 

Is that a 'hit' or a 'group of hits'?

 

I.e. if you're hit by a burst, would you be instantly out 3 or 4 hits in a row or would you be wounded?

[uscmCorps]

A moscart shell hit would be considered a single hit, at which point you would be incapacitated until someone can heal you to wounded status. Realistic? No. Keeps the rules simple across the board and reduces cheating? Yes.

 

Let me ask you guys a question: when you guys play medic rules, not use wound rags but simply tag people back into the game, do grenade hits / knife kills count as fatalities or just incapacitating? And how does that work out for you in regards to cheating? Curious.

[FireKnife]

Personally i find that you need a balance. Make it so that the respawn is close enough to discourage the long walk and cheating but not too close that it hinders game play.

 

Best thing i saw was at a large site up here near Arbroath, not an amazing site but they had a rule that one team defended the other attacked. When a defender was hit they moved back exactly 20 paces and then moved into the nearest scenery they could without going forwards, the attackers walked to the marshal stood behind the attacking team, when he gave the thumbs up they joined back in. The game used a one side then the other attack and it worked well as it was fast flowing, no-one cheated and it was fun, if a bit basic.

 

'FireKnife'

[uscmCorps]

That actually does sound quite fun and enjoyable. Basic isn't always bad even though some milsimers would beg to differ. There's still a lot of valuable milsim fun to be had even using that kind of scenario. It's really what you the player make of it.

 

Milsim events out here tend to be a bit different and the scenarios are back to back and constant, typically from morning till late afternoon. You might be en route to one objective when command sends orders that reroute you elsewhere. The battlefield is constantly shifting, constantly changing. You might be defending one objective at one point, then minutes later retasked to attack another. This can be fun and intense. But what that also means is that forces often get scattered as scenarios shift making regrouping difficult, regens may end up being far apart, and occassionally regens (and even the FOB) may get overrun by OPFOR. Trying to coordinate 600-800 players on the battlefield can be a legitimate nightmare for game control and game design. Which is why a lot of our regen rules have evolved the way they have.

[FireKnife]

Well i do remember on game that made me laugh, mostly as i tossed it out as an idea and they took to it. Basically one team charged the well defended lines of the other, but when the guys in the charging line got picked off they stood still, waited til the marshal about 15 metres behind the line passed them, then they joined back in, basically kept the line going but gave those out a chance to get straight back in. Plus as it was a quick game, the defenders that were out had to move bck to new positions each time as the line rolled forward, culminating in a big final push against the last bastion

 

As to the medic rules, good idea, will work for events and special games, but in the public games it will just fall on deaf ears and not enough people would bother to take it up.

 

'FireKnife'

[Arghoslent93]

As a brief off-topic aside to your last post uscmCorps, I find that simply as a result of how small we are as a nation, we don't generally have the kind of sprawling sites you guys in the US seem to have. Don't get me wrong, I love the sites I play on at the moment, and I'm fortunate to live very close to a woodland site that more than meets my needs for a few hours of gaming on a Saturday, but reading your post where you talk about a 25 minute walk back to the nearest regen point, it makes me slightly jealous about the size of the sites it sounds like you use.

 

I wish I could play on a site where the game lasts a weekend, where you have to camp out in the field overnight and have to establish OP's, gather intel on enemy movements before planning and executing assaults with guys that know what they are doing and how to do it, rather than playing with fellas who just turn up for a day's play and go home. If that's their choice and it works for them, then great, but sometimes I long for a little more.

 

Again, don't get me wrong, I love getting in some trigger time as much as anyone else, and I'm sure there's plenty of milsim events in the UK I'm not aware of, I'm just having daydreams about what could be if work commitments didn't drag me down so often.

 

Back on topic, I might have to suggest kill rags to the guy who runs the company I marshal for. Maybe he's heard the idea before and tried it out, which is why we stick to the medic rule I outlined earlier, I'll have to see.

[FireKnife]

I think, as pointed out above it is the styles of play that differ too.

 

In the UK we have lower FPS and denser playing fields where as from what i have seen in the US you have higher FPS and much greater engagement distances. Granted i have seen a place in the UK more akin to a US style field but with it all being a bit up close and 'play for the day' attitude over here it is harder to do.

 

'FireKnife'

[Leon Kennedy]

Awesome writeup, uscm. We use these rules at a local field almost to a tee and it's really a great system. Granted, the field we do it at is more "private", with a smaller and more mature player-base than the local open play field.

 

The local open play field uses similar rules without any rags and with unlimited resuscitation. The biggest problem is that you're not "dead where you stand", but you can move to the closest piece of cover. This leads to tons of cheating. I've personally been able to prove its worthlessness: have a 21 year old athlete like me in the game and I can make it "close" to a forward piece of cover pretty quickly, meaning myself and a medic could leapfrog upfield with a basic immortality.

[farrasdevell]

These are pretty much the rules we run at most Gunman sites playing 'film sim' in the UK. With the exception of the red dead rag,hand in the air and call of deadman walking.

Generally you carry 2 bandages (one for either arm) then off to regen you go. Moscarts, knives, pyro kills count as KIA. Also if you are in the process of being bandaged and either of you gets hit it is a KIA and you both walk out, this helps stop human shielding.

You can drag (read stumble) a wounded player from their current postion into cover, ideally away from the enemy.

 

as a recent weekend myself and a team mate were being silly and instead of the usual count to 10 while bandaging we performed 'mock mock mock' compressions and some slapstick chest thumps for effect (the other team were sucking badly and we were bored) apparently looked good. Not however recommended unless you are working in a tight team and everyone knows the score but likes to have fun.

[Lightbulb]

It can work. It works at F&O Battlelakes (and I assume their other sites) month in, month out.

 

Hit - hand in the air. Someone comes to you and counts to ten out loud. You're back in. Second hit you go to regen. Grenades and knife kills instant return to regen.

 

Only thing I would like to add is a dead rag since its much easier to see that a player is dead.

[paranoiddroid]

seen few sites use reversible bands red on one side and the other blue.both on games when teams are split by camo eg greens vs dessies and games where teams are orange band vs yellow. start as red and reverse the band to blue when medic'd, when hit again then go to regen.

[FireKnife]

Is the basic premise of i am hit, put my hand up and go to the safe zone so hard?

 

Clearly it is

 

But joking aside i still sit with the idea that yes this will work but really only among the more experienced and level headed players that can remember the rules in the heat of a game. Plus i am not a huge fan of the medic rules as they encourage large scale firefights. What about the flanking team that attacks the enemy from the side? They get hit and have to sit and wait about 100 metres away from the nearest medic? So people don't flank they just sit opposite each other and lob ammo, while medics help them out. With regen at least you can wander back then hop back in, takes about a 5th the time of waiting for a medic on the flanks. But i suppose it is whatever the site deems acceptable.

 

'FireKnife'

[uscmCorps]

Maybe it's a cultural thing but we in the US use these rules and still flank even if that might mean we risk all getting killed with no chance of revival.

[FireKnife]

I think it is more a 'i have paid my £20 and want £20 worth of play all day'.

 

But i don't mind, it is just often the medic is the fat slow guy and takes ages. I find if i get hit out on the flank i don't stand around for too long and wait but walk back to behind my own lines, sit out for a few mins, ask the nearest marshal if i can re-join and 99% of the time they say yes

 

'FireKnife'

[uscmCorps]

Just teasing you a bit as you gave me that cultural UK vs US jab before. But, like you said, it's probably more player and game-type dependent. These rules are more for longer events/scenarios, not 15 minute fun skirmishes at the local site with everyone and their mother playing. The player that goes in purely with the attitude of I want my money's worth every minute of the day, may have a different concept as another player that says the same thing. For one person that might mean as much constant action as humanly possible, for another it could mean completing objectives/missions with an understanding that not even a shot might be fired. I understand that might sound boring to some.

 

For these rules to work everyone (well, at least over 90%) must understand, respect and adhere to them. There will be players out there that want nothing more than trigger time. These rules may not work for them. There will be players out there who like the idea of being medic'ed but don't want the responsibility of being the sole medic for a squad. These rules circumvent that as everyone is a medic. But the way we try to enforce it, whether you're incapacitated or KIA, unless you are in actual physical danger of getting lit up or trampled etc, you wait your five minutes then act accordingly. It's the responsibility of the player to adhere to these rules even when no one is around just as when you're hit and you call it even though no one is there to call you on it. Yes, there can be a bit of boredom watching the firefight continue around you and you can do nothing but STFU and observe. And I'm not against the concept of people feeling like they get their money's worth, but not everyone feels the same as to what it takes to get your money's worth. These rules are basically "milsim-lite". If someone can't follow them as simple as they are, then these rules just aren't suited for them.

 

The good thing about the battles out here, is that when you do encounter one, two or even a whole group of people not playing by the rules, you make a mental note of who they are, leave that area, avoid them in the future, and go engage some of the other 800 people in the massive AO who can play by the rules.

[FireKnife]

I gathered . Most people down here all seem to have the same complaint, not enough play and too much time 'out' or 'dead'. I did ask the guy at our local field if we could do a tally and when we reached ten complaints about it the rest of the day would become a 'right here is the centre, with a box unlimited regen at this point, play til one of you has the box for so many seconds', basic and constant but still they would whine

 

Also here games are often a lot smaller and closer up so it is hard to avoid the cheats, the losers and the 400fps+ gun runners (we all know who they are). Eventually some people end up like me, wait til they are in a game with players like that and just say sod it and go off on there own. My idea of a good day is sneaking up on the enemy and generally disrupting them up close, not to everyones taste but it means medic and sit and wait rules don't work for me. I prefer get hit, go back to base, regen and get back in there, learn from my mistakes and try again

 

But hey we are all different, in the case of this rule i would happily try it as my motto is 'try anything once' but with some it isn't.

 

'FireKnife'

[WhiteHawksan]

I've played medic rules on occassion. We usually have a 'suicide' rule. If you're blatantly not going to get medic'd/can't be bothered to wait. You can call yourself fatally wounded and die instantly and go off to respawn.

 

EDIT: filtering

[FireKnife]

I've played medic rules on occassion. We usually have a 'suicide' rule. If you're blatantly not going to get medic'd/can't be bothered to wait. You can call yourself fatally wounded and die instantly and go off to respawn.

 

Same as my old local, worked well as it meant that people didn't worry about flanking as they knew they had another shot if it all went wrong

 

Plus they had all of 2 medics for 40 people in one game and 1 medic for 25 in a game, so they needed that rule.

 

'FireKnife'

[WhiteHawksan]

well I play like you.

 

I've had many kills where I've literally sauntered up behind someone on the other team and whispered bang in there ear

 

Sadly, when I DO get shot. Being completely behind enemy lines, chances of getting medic'd are slim to say the least