What is the point of iron sights in FPS games?

Without iron sights, half of STALKER would be pretty much unplayable. The mechanic works in certain games but seems stupid in others like Serious Sam where you've got no real reason to have them because the game is always constantly throwing shit at you. It depends on the game to me really.

I've read your answers and I think I see it now. I had thought that iron sights worked pretty much the same in all FPS games, meaning that they're optional and probably meant for gamepad control. It seems I would find them more useful if I played Call of Duty etc.

To be honest I'm glad that the three games I mentioned don't require their usage - decreased dynamics is not what I want from my FPS.

Bucket said:

I can't count how many games I've played that are plagued with servers titled "SHOTTIES=BAN".</rant>

OMG, real life shotty scrubs?!

I don't really care for iron sights one way or another. If they're there, great, if not, great. I find it silly when Shotguns have iron sights though, as almost nothing changes when yo use them. Best exemplified in the game Dino D-Day where the two shotgun weapons (And the Flamethrower) are the only guns not to have usuable iron sights, I guess because they'd be pointless for a spread weapon.

Maes said:

Only that when aiming a real weapon, you tend to center your view on it by leaning your head against the barrel/stock, or holding the weapon right before your good eye, if it's a handgan. You certainly do not keep it all the way to your right almost in your peripheral vision (sorry, lefties), and of course you don't try to awkwardly hold it dead-center in front of you. Yeah, there are some ways of shooting with the weapon held almost out of sight (e.g. "shooting from the hip", which requires a lot of training) or those dumb "Mexican shodown" or "'R yah talking ta me?!" gangstah pistol grips, , but those are only used in special circumstances.

This.

Its supposed to simulate the proper way of aiming a firearm. I welcome this.

Wide spread/field of view/quicker movement vs. more accurate/limited field of view/slower movement. I don't know what's with all the iron sights hate, I like the concept. With the caveat that the game needs to take iron sights into account. In other words, you need situations wherein there's a tradeoff both ways. If it's all run-and-gun, there's no point to even bothering with iron sights. If it's all picking off enemies from a distance, you might as well be in iron sights mode the whole time. And personally, I prefer games that mix up the gameplay anyway.

To be able of headshoting.

I thought the point was to provide a more realistic look when using a zoom feature but eventually some games actually made it change the weapons accuracy as you use it.