While playing FPS', I wondered why corners were a point of contention for me, both in dying or killing, and now I have additional insight.
I can sit at a corner and die from an oncoming enemy, or I can take the corner and take the enemy. I assumed it was all due to my own biological perceptual system, and now I see the synchronization would be giving each player an advantage depending upon who's overtaking the corner.
So in that sense, corners are pretty much a point of contention for everyone at every level since most of the game is based around taking and holding corners/angles.
The peeker vs holder relationship is pretty interesting to analyze as there is more to it then just server sync. But how both players try minimize/isolate the amount of angles they attack/are exposed at any given point in time.
As well as use their general game knowledge to make predictions about where the enemy is most likely to be in a certain situation. Prioritizing their attention/crosshair on those angles while ignoring the others.
I think this what makes it fun. Theirs a lot of thinking + buildup/anticipation for the moment of contact between players which is then usually resolved in <1s. And since the dead player has to then sit out the round it feels meaningful.
The button side of jackets thing is true though, except usually also told wrong. We're often taught in fencing that men's jackets button left over right so that a sword drawn by a right handed person doesn't fuck up your own clothing. That's also wrong, but close: men's jackets button left over right because you traditionally put your shielded side forward, your left side, and you wanted any armor pieces to overlap so that there's no holes to get caught in if you're poked from the left. Which is a stance backwards from later style one handed fencing. The not messing up clothes on the draw of a sword is just extra bonus from the original reason.
Going up, your head is exposed, so that becomes the primary target, when people typically aim for center mass. But center mass isn't visible immediately, so head takes all of it. On top of that, the whole 360 degrees of the next floor becomes visible at once, so there's no way to take slices of the room at a time, like you would a doorway.
Staircases are very brutal. But really, room clearing as a whole is the last thing you want to be doing. You can do it completely correct, and still die. Room clearing is a matter of minimizing chances, not eliminating them.
I call it the hedgehog. It lifes here now. Very good at trench clearing too. https://imgur.com/a/hedgehog-De90woA
Bonuspoints if it can be transported and drone dropped!
Sounds like a stairwalking robot that has 360° cameras would be pretty useful
Maybe you implied it, but adding to the 'going up' case, there is bullet ricochet -- also reffered to as skipping or bouncing bullets -- that makes it so that bullets will ricochet out at a shallow angle and ride out the wall or floor, making your head hittable without even aiming at it. Here is a instructional FBI video talking about it.[0] And a more modern take.[1]
[0] https://youtu.be/7tUW0cUkNv0?feature=shared&t=240 (I think the date is wrong, other places mark it as being from 1974-5)
And in fact, both people can be making one at the same time, but the trick is that they are a slightly different lines because each client has a slightly different idea of where both players are.