How accurate is first person spectate?

BVKnight

Can someone comment on how accurate what you see when spectating someone is vs. what they see on their screen? Is the system exact like a demo, or something else?

The couple times I've been fpSpectating someone, the movements they make seem unnatural. People's aim seems jerky and imprecise, sometimes like they were even using a game controller (crosshair moves 1-2 inches at a time, stays in the same spot while they run around firing).

When I've spectated some people who were suspiciously good, the aim/shots I was seeing on their screen didn't seem to correspond to their kills. They would constantly get hits/kills from shots that I thought had missed, from first person view. Their tracking of enemies seemed subpar, but yet they would magically always end up with the kill.

Any thoughts? It doesn't help that I experience the opposite when I play--I think I've emptied half a clip into a skulk, but they keep on coming.

xDragon

Like all FPS games, spectating is not lag compensated. That means what you see is not 100% accurate. In NS2 its probably a little worse as you have a low update rate which can make movements seem much less smooth then they actually are.

IronHorse

The main issue is that fp spec is updated from the server at 30 fps max. So youre seeing a chopped down version basically.
You might notice that it feels like frames in between are cut or missing.. that's sorta the end result.

But for the most part when you see a hit it should be accurate, considering those positions are confirmed by the server, who is responsible for relaying that info to you.