What actually constitutes base camping in BC2?

This may be a little controversial, but I’m of the opinion that we’re sometimes too quick to complain about base camping in BC2, because I honestly don’t think it’s that big a deal anymore, and I’m a little worried over where we may be heading if we don’t sort it out early on. In earlier versions of BF games it was very clear cut, when the opposition would swarm all over the uncappable, and pop people as they spawn. They did attempt to fix this a bit, but it’s only been this version of BF, which puts the uncappable areas far enough out of bounds to make base camping mostly unviable. It still happens to an extent, for example a couple of nights ago when we were camped into the uncap on Operation Hastings, and we were unable to break out even in the tanks, but even then the only thing I could accept as actual base camping were the guys climbing the left hand slope (as we faced them) who were popping up and firing RPG’s and grenades, and mortars, at our tanks at the position where they pretty much spawn. The rest of the team were doing the correct thing in defending the roads out of our uncap, preventing us getting back in the game, which was fair in my eyes, since we’d allowed ourselves to be pushed back that far.

The same happened last night on the conquest version of Vantage point, and while I’m sure it was frustrating to be on the end of it, I’m not convinced there was much we could honestly call spawn camping. It was impossible for our team to reach a firing position covering the actual spawn point, except maybe snipers of the hill where point B is, who could be accused of spawn killing, if that’s what they were doing, but nobody else could. The rest of the team, from my point of view, had taken up defensive positions around rocks covering the exits to the uncappable base, and while it was certainly difficult to get shots on them, it was not impossible as they were dying quite a lot (which I saw as a medic not far from them). The fact that you’re able to spawn and get into an attacking position, whether that’s near your spawn or not, immediately removes spawn killing from the equation in my eyes, and makes everyone fair game, regardless of the perceived advantage the guys doing the killing had. If you’re getting sniped or mortar strikes where you spawn, that’s a different matter, but the majority of the complaints I heard were unjustified, in my opinion. If it happened anywhere else on the map it would be considered normal play, but there seems to be a perception that you can’t do this at the exit of a spawn point, even though the actual spawn area itself is generally safe.

There’s another example where I don’t like hearing people complain about being spawn killed on Rush maps, where someone has been left behind from the defence when the bases move up, and who then proceeds to kill people as they’re moving forward. Now I have some sympathy here as it is possible that someone will spawn in front of the guy, but it’s rare for this to actually happen. To me it’s a completely valid tactic to hole up and hide when the points are destroyed, and then sneak up behind attackers taking them by surprise. The attackers should afterall have swept the area they had just captured to ensure nobody had been left behind from the defence.

Oh and don’t take this post the wrong way as I’m not having a go at anyone, it’s just easier to state my position on the subject via a forum post than having a discussion about it in the heat of the moment when people are in the middle of being frustrated. I am also interested to hear from anyone who disagrees, because I’m slightly worried I could be accused of spawn camping sometime, as I might have been last night when in support of some of the accused, and I also often find myself in positions behind enemy lines when the bases move up. I also have very little motivation in work atm, and would like an argument to pass the time 🙂