This Has Been Bothering Me For A Little Too Long Now

[Seele]

I get that we all understand what is meant, so call me a stickler, nit-picker, expletive, what you may. There is all manner of incorrect terminology usage in Warframe.

 

There are no assault rifles in Warframe and NOTHING, not rifle, shotgun, or rocket launcher is fed from a 'clip'.

 

An assault rifle is, by definition, a select fire rifle with a detachable magazine. Perhaps weapons like the Burston and Braton have invisible selector switches that would allow for semiautomatic fire, but they are not usable in game so we must assume that they, in fact, do not.

 

A clip and a magazine are two very different things, as will be demonstrated by this graphical aid:

 

A clip is, generally speaking, used for transport, or in very isolated instances used as a feed system, the M1 Garand being the most prominent and well-known rifle to utilize a clip feed system.

 

A magazine, on the other hand, is generally speaking a clip but with a spring or other mechanism to assist the next round in line, if you will, to reach a suitable position to be struck by the bolt and pushed into the chamber.

 

Following the success of the M1911, "magazine" was decided to be the correct terminology for any appropriate feed system - drawing comparison to the 'rectangle and square' analogy. I could call the Garand's en bloc clip a clip or a magazine and be correct, but an M4's magazine is not, by any definition, a clip. Perhaps it would be easier for me to excuse the whole 'clip' thing if the magazines were visible at all, but they are very clearly visible on the Soma, whose description reads: "Accuracy combined with a massive clip make the Soma assault rifle a formidable weapon." That's a two-time offender right there.

 

I also have to sigh every time I see the Tactical Pump mod, which increases shotgun reload speed, primarily because that is not what a pump action does and also because there are no pump shotguns in the game. 

 

I am not unaware of the fact that many who read this will think me a fanatical psychopath, but right is right, wrong is wrong, and clips and magazines are two different things. Now I am both very bored with the game's currently available content, and very passionate about this subject, so if it would be of any benefit to provide a list of all current discrepancies, say no more. I will dig through every mod, codex entry, blueprint description, flavor text, dialog, everything; find all the misused terms and provide the more accurate wordage with which they may be replaced.

 

I am serious. Before we get the skimmers who start commenting "who cares?", they'll at least read this little bit at the end, I'd wager, so I'll reiterate: For one, I care. For two, right is right, wrong is wrong. It will not hurt this game to be a little more unerring in its diction.

[-dicht.ThanksFrost-]

The sybaris is a "LEVER ACTION, BURST FIRE"

 

[BrotherIcarus]

This feels like a distinction that is quite useless in gaming terms. 

[Seele]

This feels like a distinction that is quite useless in gaming terms. 

It will have no impact on the gameplay so to whose benefit is it to leave it all incorrect?

 

I've offered to do all the work within my means if a dev so chooses to allow it.

[Kylecrafts]

Stripper clip (not NSFW), google it, peeps!
 

[Seele]

The sybaris is a "LEVER ACTION, BURST FIRE"

 

See, as outlandish as that is, I'm alright with it. Maybe someday someone will find a way to make a double-barrel lever action, or a lever action which cycles two rounds at once. Not gonna rule it out.

[OptimumBow0]

We already have the Ballistica and the Agnstrum, which offer burst and charge shots.

 

I don't see what's wrong with a new primary that can switch between auto and semi-automatic.

[Seele]

We already have the Ballistica and the Agnstrum, which offer burst and charge shots.

 

I don't see what's wrong with a new primary that can switch between auto and semi-automatic.

I have no qualms with them introducing one but that is not the topic at hand. Weapons which are not assault rifles are being referred to as such.

[OptimumBow0]

I have no qualms with them introducing one but that is not the topic at hand. Weapons which are not assault rifles are being referred to as such.

Oh, sorry, I thought you were asking DE to make all weapons referred to as assault rifles into actual assault rifles.

[HexCaliber]

I can recall this same topic in one guise or another showing up at least 3 times since I joined the forums.

 

It is a game, made by game developers, most, if not all, are unlikely to have fired any sort of firearm, or if they have, their exposure is limited; likewise the majority of users will have little or no real exposure to firearms.  There really is no need for in game terminology to be wholly accurate, even less so when the title in hand is about space ninja who wield near supernatural power.

[Warriorrogue]

However, the gaming definition of assault rifle has become a slower firing, heavier hitting SMG.

And the problem is that we don't have many keys for swapping. Some people mentioned the angstrum/ballistica, but the latter is awkward, and the former is well, a nuke. 

 

And there isn't many buttons left on a controller to swap between firing modes, and wanting to hold down for a burst is awkward.

[Seele]

I can recall this same topic in one guise or another showing up at least 3 times since I joined the forums.

 

It is a game, made by game developers, most, if not all, are unlikely to have fired any sort of firearm, or if they have, their exposure is limited; likewise the majority of users will have little or no real exposure to firearms.  There really is no need for in game terminology to be wholly accurate, even less so when the title in hand is about space ninja who wield near supernatural power.

Inexperience is no excuse for ignorance in this day of digital media in which the vast majority of human knowledge is contained on every desk, in every pocket.

 

If you feel there is no need for the game's terminology to be accurate, please instead provide some reasons why it should remain inaccurate.

[Rikage]

Food for thought: what if in the Warframe universe, clips and magazines really are synonyms? What if "pumping the shotgun" really has another meaning for them (and I don't mean anything perverted here >.>")? What if "assault rifle" was a widespread slang coined by the grineer to refer to anything that has auto-trigger and uses ammo from blue ammo boxes?

[Seele]

Food for thought: what if in the Warframe universe, clips and magazines really are synonyms? What if "pumping the shotgun" really has another meaning for them (and I don't mean anything perverted here >.>")? What if "assault rifle" was a widespread slang coined by the grineer to refer to anything that has auto-trigger and uses ammo from blue ammo boxes?

The problem is that both terms are used, but inconsistently.

One mod will say "rifle" while another will say "assault rifle".

Here it will say "magazine" and here it will say "clip", both in reference to the same thing.

 

I suppose if everything was a clip and everything was an assault rifle then that would just be what they came to be after so long. But that's not the case.

[HexCaliber]

Inexperience is no excuse for ignorance in this day of digital media in which the vast majority of human knowledge is contained on every desk, in every pocket.

 

If you feel there is no need for the game's terminology to be accurate, please instead provide some reasons why it should remain inaccurate.

I was an army ATO for 11 years, and I would have been driven bat S#&$ crazy 10 times over if I were anal about weapons and their terminologies as portrayed in most games; even games that would label themselves "sim" and "realistic" make egregious errors. This is a game, and it is certainly not intended as an educational tool, there are plenty of resources available online and in print should someone feel the need to learn the correct terminology and definitions.

 

In the scheme of things a few games developers not fully understanding weapons terminology and that carrying over to their titles is unimportant. I would much rather games focus on teaching people about the importance of safety and respect for firearms, instead of glorying their use having players spray hails off bullets without regard. However, again, they are nothing more than games, intended for entertainment. If they are bogged down in the minutiae, they become boring to all but the most ocd of grognards.

[Seele]

I would much rather games focus on teaching people about the importance of safety and respect for firearms, instead of glorying their use having players spray hails off bullets without regard.

I agree with this much anyway, but have to disagree with most of the rest of your post.

 

While this is not an online firearms educational course, nor has anyone claimed it to be, the nature of media can be educational regardless of its intent. I have learned a lot from video games over the years, often just vocabulary, but that's nothing to be discounted either.

 

This game's purpose as a means of entertainment is not an excuse for it to be blatantly incorrect - yes, concessions to realism are acceptable. I'm not asking for the game to become "bogged down in the minutiae". I'm not looking to shove any of this in a player's face. But a big part of coming to respect firearms is learning about them and how they work, and using incorrect terms as though it doesn't really matter is not respectful to that.

[Wolfstorm18]

The Karak uses a magazine. 

[Seele]

The Karak uses a magazine. 

Yes it does.

 

...Thank you for your contribution..?

[Warriorrogue]

The Karak uses a magazine. 

As a result, it is a video game assault rifle.

[KrazyKrl]

Clip is a loading aid.

Magazine is the bullet feeder.

 

ALL guns have magazines of some sort, not all guns have clips. Even the M1 Garand has Clips; but internally it also has a magazine.

[MechaTails]

If you feel there is no need for the game's terminology to be accurate, please instead provide some reasons why it should remain inaccurate.

 

Because no one gives a S#&$, nor should they.

 

If you were talking about people making uninformed votes for their next president, that's when we should give a S#&$ and be outraged at how ignorant and uncaring people are. But not here, about a game, where absolutely nothing will happen regardless of what's used... That also sounds an awful lot like voting though, now I'm confused rofl

[Seele]

Because no one gives a S#&$, nor should they.

 

If you were talking about people making uninformed votes for their next president, that's when we should give a S#&$ and be outraged at how ignorant and uncaring people are. But not here, about a game, where absolutely nothing will happen regardless of what's used... That also sounds an awful lot like voting though, now I'm confused rofl

Please reread the OP or at least the last paragraph.

Apathy is also no excuse for ignorance, that will lead to things I can't even predict.

It is what it is, call it what it is.

[Liverslices]

-snip-

 

A clip and a magazine are two very different things, as will be demonstrated by this graphical aid:

 

A clip is, generally speaking, used for transport, or in very isolated instances used as a feed system, the M1 Garand being the most prominent and well-known rifle to utilize a clip feed system.

 

Following the success of the M1911, "magazine" was decided to be the correct terminology for any appropriate feed system - drawing comparison to the 'rectangle and square' analogy. I could call the Garand's en bloc clip a clip or a magazine and be correct, but an M4's magazine is not, by any definition, a clip. Perhaps it would be easier for me to excuse the whole 'clip' thing if the magazines were visible at all, but they are very clearly visible on the Soma, whose description reads: "Accuracy combined with a massive clip make the Soma assault rifle a formidable weapon." That's a two-time offender right there.

 

-snip-

The soma does have a clip. When you shoot, the clip moves, which means it doesnt have any springs or feeding mechanism. Instead, bullets are moved into place and then fired. 

 

I would argue that calling something a clip or a mag just based on if you can see it or not is silly. What about real life LMGs, which have a "rectangle and square" box attached to it, but the bullets are pulled into the gun, not pushed.

[Seele]

The soma does have a clip. When you shoot, the clip moves, which means it doesnt have any springs or feeding mechanism. Instead, bullets are moved into place and then fired. 

 

I would argue that calling something a clip or a mag just based on if you can see it or not is silly. What about real life LMGs, which have a "rectangle and square" box attached to it, but the bullets are pulled into the gun, not pushed.

It's unclear if the mechanism which moves the Soma's magazine is part of the magazine or part of the rifle.

I remind you of the fact that the term 'magazine' to describe a weapon's feed system is always correct where 'clip' is not. Modern machine gun feeds are, in common vernacular, referred to as box magazines or ammo cans, the former being largely exclusive to dismounted crew served light machine guns without use of an assistant gunner, the latter being applicable to stationary, dismounted or mounted, light or heavy machine guns.

[Liverslices]

It's unclear if the mechanism which moves the Soma's magazine is part of the magazine or part of the rifle.

I remind you of the fact that the term 'magazine' to describe a weapon's feed system is always correct where 'clip' is not. Modern machine gun feeds are, in common vernacular, referred to as box magazines or ammo cans, the former being largely exclusive to dismounted crew served light machine guns without use of an assistant gunner, the latter being applicable to stationary, dismounted or mounted, light or heavy machine guns.

The soma acts like this cap gun ammo: 

 

The whole strip moves once a shot is fired, not just the bullet. This makes it a clip.

 

 

The soma is the same way. The clip moves through the gun, and shots the bullets that are currently lined up with the chamber. Its true that we dont know exactly how it works, but the concept is the same as the cap gun picture seen above.