Bullseye! The Sniper Mission Trope in Games Such As Call of Duty

"He who shoots and runs away, lives to shoot another day." And unless
you're a retro-gamer still living in the eighties, (Duck Hunt, IBM
Personal Computer, The Fall of the Berlin Wall; hey, what's not to
love here?) you're pretty familiar with the "Sniper Mission" trope.
Aren't ya? That is to say, a trope is a device. No...no. Get your
hands out of your pants. To explain, the "Trope" is a recurring
literary device; commonly found in media, and in myriad forms of
literature. These damn Ducks! Accordingly, you must possess a certain
level of intricacy, delicacy, and accuracy; and be free from error
because one missed shot, and its Game Over. Also, the sniper rifle and
its usage has a long history in video games. Although, you may not be
a trained assassin, nor proficient sniper, sniper missions are fun
diversions that put you into the shoes of a heavily encumbered
soldier. Furthermore, games such as Sniper Elite, which is primarily a
sniping game tasks you with completing each level with a handy sniper
rifle.

In addition, in Perfect Dark Zero's "Rooftops Escape" mission, you
have to play watchdog to Jack. Likewise, in the mission: "Sniper's
Gonna Snipe," you have to clear rooms full of baddies with a sniper
rifle. By the same token, in the military, Snipers were first put into
action as long range weapons that were capable of demoralizing an
enemy unit, or as a form of psychological warfare. Soilders are also
trained to take out high personal officers to disrupt the flow of
communiction, as a necessity. Thus, demoralizing entire units. What?
You can't hit the elephant from that distance? The ideal spot or
location for a sniper is one that is hidden, and tucked away from
enemies. The Japanese were proficient at blending in with the
environment, and their patience on the battlefield proved effective.
Some soldiers resort to "baiting" -- dropping ammunition and weapons
-- utilising surveillance in hopes of catching enemies, as they tried
to collect the bait. Subsequently, enemies are clipped on the
battlefield.

Lastly, "Rage has two. You have to cover a sheriff while he's
negotiating with the big bad of the story, and after the deal goes
sour shoot multiple waves of enemies, including counter-snipers. The
other one has you covering mechanics from mutants and merchants from
bandits." [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SnipingMission.]
The sniper mission trope has penetrated our video games like a slug;
and have offered up diversions, making these missions fairly simple
and straight foward, tasking players with capping craniums. It doesn't
get any more fun than that.

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