SubJeff on 23/2/2013 at 00:28
In game mechanic terms if you can fly because of magic or because of some alien tech is it not longer called flying?
You call it ADS if you want. Let's see how far it gets you.
Even reflex sights are classed under iron sights and the only difference between them an holographic sites is the level of technology.
Phatose on 23/2/2013 at 00:51
"Aim Down Sights" has precisely the same issues once you slap on a scope. That said, I have seen precisely that term used in games for keybinding.
gunsmoke on 26/2/2013 at 00:26
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
It's a perfectly descriptive term that far precedes its use in video games.
Gee, thanks for telling me that! I am so grateful to re-learn something first taught me when I was 4...
It's a stupid term.
SubJeff on 26/2/2013 at 01:06
But its just a term with a historical basis that persists because it's easier off the tongue than the more accurate modern term. How is that stupid?
Chimpy Chompy on 26/2/2013 at 10:05
I just call it "miss constantly and ragequit" cos I suck at anything with realistic shooting.
ZylonBane on 26/2/2013 at 14:53
Quote Posted by gunsmoke
It's a stupid term.
You don't actually know what either "iron" nor "sights" means, do you.
DDL on 26/2/2013 at 15:50
I doubt they're made of iron, though. Pure iron is presumably a tad brittle for actual firearms, and it would seem odd to take a separate metal and use it to just make sights you'd then have to weld onto the gun.
"Sights" is fine, mind (note that both "iron sights" and "aim down sights" share that)
"Iron sights" just sounds like the sort of thing someone would say to make themselves sound all "lookit me I know guns, me".
ZylonBane on 26/2/2013 at 16:01
Quote Posted by DDL
"Iron sights" just sounds like the sort of thing someone would say to make themselves sound all "lookit me I know guns, me".
Except, as already pointed out, it actually is historically correct terminology, and fairly self-explanatory terminology at that. It's no more wankery than saying "laser sight", or "bullet". Gunsmoke is just trolling and/or being an idiot.
Phatose on 26/2/2013 at 16:12
It is kind of an odd term. When talking about sights, what it's made out of is kind of irrelevant. Replace iron with copper or wood or tin, and the things would still function the same.
DDL on 26/2/2013 at 16:14
Laser sight...is a sight, that is a laser.
Bullet...is a bullet.
Iron sight...is a sight, that is made of....metal?
Plus both the former are vastly more in common use (the fucking terminator used laser sights back in 1984, ffs), which puts them more outside the field of "terminology to make oneself look more like a awesome gun-nut".
Iron sights, to my mind, sits more with terms that people know either because they're a gun-nut or because 'games have them', like "modified choke", "vented action" and "muzzle break"*.
Besides, 'being historically correct' and 'sounding stupid' are not mutually exclusive.
*yeah, I totally had to look these up on the alpha protocol wiki. I suck at pretending to be a gun nut
EDIT: what phatose said
