Compared to the usual fanfare of bug-ridden Battle Royale launches, the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has been fairly subdued, except for one exploit relating to in-game emotes. These emotes, intended to be used to taunt other players or celebrate a particularly daring play, are instead being used to peak beyond the first person view and gain an unfair vision advantage.
https://youtu.be/_H2ypbLE7u0?t=69
When triggering an emote, the view point pulls back and switches to third person effectively revealing more of the map than in first person. The consequences are a much wider field of vision that enables players to peek around corners and see over obstacles for example. The main culprit in the sitting bull gesture – a quick crouching emote that bizarrely doesn’t revert back to first person mode when triggered – allowing players to gaze around at will in full 360 degrees and anticipate movement from other players. Best used behind a small wall, other low flying cover, or from the roof of a building, it’s insane how good a view of the local environs the emote provides.
For a first person game, the advantage is understandably significant to say the least and poses a real conundrum as to whether an in-game feature abused for dubious ends is in fact cheating. The common consensus is that it is indeed a form of cheating and we are hard pressed to disagree.
Fortunately, Treyarch are aware of the issue and after a whole bucketful of clamor from the community have released the following statement on the matter:
‘We’re aware that players have been able to use Gestures (often referred to by the community as “Emotes”) to peek around corners in modes where that can create an unfair advantage. We’re currently working on an update that creates two systems for Gestures – the default system that is in the game now, and a competitive version that disables free look and applies different camera settings to prevent using it to see around corners. The default system will be used in parts of the game where corner peeking won’t affect gameplay balance (like the staging area of Blackout), and the competitive version will be used in modes where a more restrictive camera system is needed. We want players to always have fun with Gestures as intended, but never at the expense of fair gameplay!’
The two systems are currently being worked on with no firm date for a fix other than in ‘future updates’. In the meantime, prepare to be taken down from a seemingly omnipotent opponent on the odd occasion.
