After the MP Reveal on September 1st, the community has been abuzz over many issues after getting our first glimpse of Black Ops’ Multiplayer. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out our MP Reveal recaps here and here. Two of the bigger worries are the lack of gore seen in the footage revealed from the event and the inclusion of Tactical Insertions, a piece of equipment that allows the user to choose their next respawn point. Treyarch has been hard at work dispelling any of our worries, and we wanted to share that with our readers.
Gore
When the Multiplayer Teaser Trailer was released, viewable here, many players in the community began to notice that there was a major lack of gore in comparison to Treyarch’s last Call of Duty effort, World at War. In that title, it was commonplace to see arms, legs and torso’s literally blown to pieces. This type of gore provides a sense of realism to the game, putting gamers one step closer to the true brutality of war. Let’s face it, if you are shot with a double-barrel at close-quarters, you are definitely going to lose a part of your body. In Modern Warfare 2, gore is at an all-time low, and members of the community could rapidly see that Black Ops was following that route.
This is true, gore has been toned down quite a lot from what players saw in World at War but with very, very good reason. Consoles are limited on the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) that they can use and this, in turn, limits how many separate things that a developer can have going at the same time during one MP match. Treyarch had a choice to make: World at War-esque gore or the deep customization options we’ve come to look forward to.
“At the end of the day, gore doesn’t make or break a game. We believe that ultimately, the vast majority of players would rather have all these cool new additions…” – Josh Olin, Community Manager – Treyarch
So, in order to include custom reticles, camos on your players face and firearm, custom lenses, emblems and clan tags on your firearm and the many other options Treyarch created, something had to be removed to create that space. There will be blood and splatter effects, however, and the game has merited a “Mature” rating from the ESRB.



Tactical Insertions
Ah, the Tactical Insertion: arguably the most despised piece of equipment and, yet, an extremely valuable asset when used appropriately. The chief reason that the community despises that Tactical Insertion is boosting. If you aren’t familiar with that term, here is a brief explanation. Boosting require two or more people to accomplish. Essentially, the booster and his accomplice set up camp, typically in a Free For All match, in a non-traveled and secluded part of the map. The accomplice lays down a Tactical Insertion, and the booster kills him.

The Tactical Insertion in Black Ops
When the accomplice respawns, he lays down another TI and this process is repeated throughout the entire match. There are many reasons to boost, not the least of which is to gain the many Titles and Emblems featured in Modern Warfare 2. Boosting is typically considered cheating by the community, and is generally frowned upon.
Before the Multiplayer Reveal, we reported to you that Tactical Insertions were rumored to be back. This was confirmed at the Reveal, and immediately many members of the community were at odds with Treyarch.
To those members, we say relax and rejoice! Treyarch has not ignored the boosting situation.
David “Vahn” Vonderhaar, MP Design Director for Treyarch, made some encouraging statements concerning the Tactical Insertion.
“The main reason I am not as worried about Tac Insert as you? We can disable it. And, I just did for Free-For-All (hardcore and core) variants.” – Vahn, MP Design Director, Treyarch
So, according to this, Tactical Insertions will not be allowed in Free For All. A move like this would disable the vast majority of boosters. Vahn went on to state that Treyarch has included an option to cancel your Tactical Insertion during the killcam. This will help players avoid being TI Spawn camped, and getting killed twice by the same player in rapid succession. Other key reasons that Vahn can assure us that boosting will not be an issue include the reporting system that has been included in Black Ops and their use of Theater mode to ban cheaters. The reporting system is a button you can use, in-lobby, to report boosters or cheaters directly to Treyarch.
In other news, Josh Olin, Community Manager at Treyarch, recently stated that there are still secrets for us to uncover in Black Ops’ Multiplayer mode.



“There is plenty still yet to be uncovered. That’s the point of ranking up, to view the “Classified” components to MP” – Josh Olin, Community Manager, Treyarch
So, while the MP Reveal was a full reveal, there is simply far too much information to give out to include everything in one event. The major changes, the customization, CoD Points, Wager Matches, etc: those were all covered in great detail. The rest is up to us to uncover on November 9th!
We’ve put together some pre-order info together for you, so be sure to stop by and check that out here. Also, our forum is undergoing a few changes and you’re always welcome to stop by there.
We have a lot of exciting things planned for the site including community chats, a new writer starting this week and a whole host of Content updates so be sure to stick around, and feel free to drop us a line in the comments!