Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 allows players to view their character in third-person when using emotes, and that’s a major issue for competitive Multiplayer games.
Black Ops 6 is making some major changes to the Call of Duty formula, including the introduction of Treyarch’s new Omnimovement system and much more.
But not all changes are set to positively impact the game, and the way emotes are handled could have a negative impact on the Multiplayer experience.
Black Ops 6 Emotes Are in Third-Person
The biggest change made to emotes in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is that they are now in third-person.
Emotes in past series entries, also known as gestures or taunts, were usually in first-person, allowing users to see their hands performing select actions.
Now, the camera fully zooms out so you can view your player model perform the emote. This makes sense, as it allows you to more easily see an emote which you likely paid real money to unlock.
It also allows you to view your own skin, which COD fans only usually get to see in the lobby or when they die.
We can see why Activision chose to bring emotes into third-person, as it’ll only increase the likelihood of players buying them in the in-game store. However, fans are now beginning to realize a major problem with this change.
The Problem With Third-Person Emotes
The biggest issue with third-person emotes is that using one actually gives you a major sight advantage in Black Ops 6!
After all, Call of Duty is a primarily first-person perspective shooter. And that means that in any game mode except third-person modes, you’ll need to physically peek around a corner to see any enemies hiding in wait.
However, if you have the luxury of expanding your view into a third-person perspective and moving the camera, you’ll immediately gain knowledge of enemy positionings without exposing your Operator to fire.
YouTuber Marksman highlights the issue perfectly in the clip below:
As Marksman displays, you’ll be able to pre-aim and fire select angles, secure with the knowledge that an enemy is there. Therefore, teams that are on the attack in objective modes will always have an advantage when taking gunfights.
We saw this exact problem back in Black Ops 4, so it’s hard to believe that we’re encountering the exact same issue again six years after Treyarch’s futuristic title launched.
If third-person emotes are here to stay, Activision may opt to balance them by locking the camera during the emote, or having it face the emoting player at all times.
If not, we’ll likely see emotes banned completely in Ranked Play and the Call of Duty League.
Activision has already confirmed that it’s making big changes to emotes in the Winner’s Circle feature. But we’ll have to wait and see whether further tweaks will be made before the game’s official launch on October 25.
