Dear Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Weapon Designer -
Hello. I wanted to drop you a line and let you know that I really like the selection of weapons present in the game. I really enjoy playing games with modern weaponry and this is a perfect example. Great job!
That said, I wanted to pass along a bit of information that I thought may help you when designing the firearms in the next multiplayer FPS you are involved in. It involves shotguns.
See, shotguns are typically loaded with these brass and plastic shells that contain the primer, the gunpowder and multiple steel spheres called "shot". They can also be loaded with a solid bullet called a slug, but that's not really used in a military setting and it's more of a hunting round.
In any case, the weapon fires and the metal balls are forced out of the barrel in a way that's similar to a bullet in a rifle. After exiting, they begin to gradually spread apart, based on something called the "choke". This expansion of the shot has three main effects. First, because of this spread, it's easier to hit something with at least one of the shot, as the area of effect is larger than a single bullet. Second, it can cause extreme trauma a close range because it can hit with multiple steel balls. And third, the expansion of the cluster of shot means that it rapidly loses effectiveness at ranges much shorter than a rifle, or even some pistols. This is, in basic terms, what a shotgun does.
What a modern day shotgun *does not* allow you to do is to kill a man at 100 yards with a single blast while jumping 5 feet in the air. It does not give the wielder some kind of ability to run faster. Nor does the exiting shot act as some kind of anti-bullet shield against rounds from a sub-machine gun. I thought I would point this out, just so that you have a basic understanding of shotguns for the next Call of Duty game you're involved in.
I'll admit, I briefly considered that part of the plot of the single player game would be to determine from what year in the future the shotguns came from. And why someone would go into the future to get a knife and shotgun to take back into the past. I find that this plot point was never addressed.
Thanks again!