“I Can Really Get Things Right”: Firearms Expert Jonathan Ferguson Explains the Most Common Gun Mistakes in Games

We spoke with the internet's favorite firearms expert, Jonathan Ferguson, about everything games get wrong about guns and his work on Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.

Hell Let Loose: Vietnam has a familiar sound hidden in its loading menu. Click on any gun or grenade and you can listen to an audio description provided by Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories in Leeds. Ferguson has become a cult figure at the intersection of firearms and video game history thanks to his meticulous analysis of video game weapons on YouTube, but he's now also playing a role in video game development thanks to the Royal Firearms Consulting Service. He's worked with studios like Team17, Facepunch and Rebellion to ensure their weapons are as accurate as possible, avoiding common mistakes like mistaking shotguns.

"The most persistent [mistake] you still occasionally see is that shotguns are completely less than lethal or nonlethal, even at a given distance," Ferguson tells me, though he notes that "I think a lot of developers have thought about that."

It's certainly true that the years when shotguns were practically little more than noisy knives are coming to an end, not only in mil-sims but also in blockbusters. Both Insurgency: Sandstorm and Red Dead Redemption 2 are notable for their more realistic depictions of shotguns.

"The more and more detail that goes into games, the more realistic they can make it," Ferguson tells me.

There are few people better equipped to answer developer questions about firearms than Ferguson, who not only reacts to in-game guns for the EXP YouTube channel, but is a gamer himself. His understanding of gameplay needs more than raw historical accuracy made him a good fit for consulting on Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, though developer Expression Games' actual image of reliable (even slightly generous) ranged shotguns has less to do with his consulting than the studio doing its homework on the era's entire arsenal.

"I didn't have to tell them there was a K50M and it was for the North Vietnamese," Ferguson explains. "They already knew that. So they did their due diligence there."

Beyond the topic of the shotgun, Ferguson often finds himself picking up on minor points. "There are a lot of little details, like the realistic patterns of cartridge case ejection, that don't really matter to how the game plays, but if you notice them, they add to it," he tells me.

Increasing visual fidelity when it comes to detail is something of a double-edged sword.

Through his appearances on Firearms Expert Reacts videos, Ferguson has gained a reputation for picking apart details that many players don't even notice. And so when it comes to case-throwing patterns, he recognizes that there's a bigger picture.

"There's a difference between criticizing or observing, reacting, and actually playing," he says. "There are some games that I've either already played and then I'm asked to comment on, or I haven't played them yet, but then I play them, and I realize, 'Oh, this thing I commented on, I didn't understand at all,' because my attention is where it needs to be: on the gameplay, the story, the enemies, whatever."

Increasing visual fidelity is something of a double-edged sword when it comes to these kinds of problems. During the days of Doom and Quake, no one expected the ejected shells to be animated to reflect reality. Today, when so many items in games are rendered to reflect real-world physics, we expect to see something more realistic.

"We're at that level of detail," says Ferguson. “I can actually make things, and it's getting harder and harder to actually make those things [as the details get so fine]. "Sometimes I find that it's because of something I've said, which is kind of rewarding, but I also feel bad because it makes people do extra work."

Sometimes, striving for realism can require games to be less realistic in order to feel right. Ferguson explains that pistol slides are a good example of this – in video games, it's better to move much slower than in reality.

“If you can see them move, it shows the skill of the animator. "In reality, if you shoot a gun, even if you're staring right at the moving part, you can't really see it moving," he explains. It's somehow faster than your eye can actually perceive.

But the expectation [of a player] is, "Well I know that piece of gun is moving, and [if] they don't see something moving, or it's moving really fast and they can't really tell, they might think, 'Oh, that's not very satisfying.'

Ferguson himself was not immune to a misplaced sense of realism in his youth, years before he became an expert at the Royal Armory.

"I'll never forget running GoldenEye 64 for the first time," he says. Something about the way the AK is displayed in it, the sound of it, the muzzle flash, the way it shakes, that's very much like, "Oh, it's like a real gun."

"Of course, not at all," he adds. Especially when you're looking in third person, it looks like they only have one hand. But in 1997, it was incredibly impressive."

GoldenEye's version of the AK-47 may not be realistic, but the assault rifle it's based on holds a unique place in popular culture. It has become a weapon-sized symbol used and recognized across the planet. If anything has reached "meta" status in the real world, as weapons do in games, it's the AK-47.

“This distinctive profile is an absolute icon, especially with the original 7.62x39 sharp curve magazine,” says Ferguson. "A literal symbol. I don't use 'symbol' in a lazy way, I use it literally, because that's why it appears on the Mozambican flag. For some it's a tool of liberation and for some it's a tool of terrorism and violence."

Of course, there is the Kondar movement around the world to Europe and North America and another assault rifle that can make a similar claim. "I think for sure the Western world would say AR-15," he says. "A short-barreled AR-15 with a telescoping body and smooth top. It's something for all kinds of people."

While "meta" has a deeper meaning, it is often seen as a "popular weapon that everyone uses", and what is popular in one medium can directly influence what is used in another. Ferguson's deep knowledge of firearms, video games and pop culture means he can recognize how a media's fascination with a particular weapon creates a kind of "feedback loop." One notable example is the use of the "specially chopped and converted HK94 that was used in several 80s action movies, most famously Die Hard" in the GTA games.

Sometimes we get comments that say, "God, there's not more video game content." But sorry, too many of us play there.

But while movies have long had a massive influence on video games, Ferguson notes that the tide is turning somewhat: "Games have been overshadowed by movies, but I think they've surpassed it." The first example he came up with doesn't have anything to do with guns at all, but Ferguson notes that Spider-Man: Brand New Day uses "fight scenes and finishing moves from Insomniac games. Obviously, that was the inspiration. I think we'll see that with guns as well."

But while we're still in the dawn of video games, Ferguson notes that video games are having a profound effect on the consumer habits of gun owners.

"Obviously they're buying things that are in the movies, but there's a much more personal connection to what they feel they've used because they grew up playing," he explains. So there's a feedback loop from non-interactive media to video games to the real world, and it goes back and forth. "And of course, a lot of people also join the armed services after watching those movies, playing those games."

Given that video games directly influence how people interact with guns, whether it's buying or enlisting in the military, I wanted to know if Ferguson believes the depiction of firearms in games has helped or hindered the public's understanding of them. For many gamers, who live in countries with strict gun laws, firearms are rarely seen and even rarely used. Video games are often our only window into the use of guns, and they can sometimes give us the wrong idea of ​​real-world use. However, Ferguson believes the opposite is true, at least in part, noting that games can provide a fairly strong basic understanding of the role of various weapons in warfare.

"I think [games can provide knowledge of weapons] in terms of their appearance and technical precision and maybe some idea of their purpose. In other words, what is a rifle versus a pistol? A shotgun."

In particular, we're now seeing more images of 18th- and 19th-century firearms, as well as from the First World War, he notes. "From my perspective as someone who studies these things, there's more and better imagery than ever, and [video games] are one of the best ways to get a baseline of what's out there, what it's for, who's using it, and what it's for."

However, he is quick to point out the limitations of the medium. "The media can't give you a full understanding of what it's like to fire a gun, much less take someone into a war or defend a home with it or whatever. They're two separate things."

And yet, while simulation and reality are two separate things, the two will forever be intertwined... and have been for longer than video games have existed. Ferguson notes how his interest in firearms in modern popular culture "raised eyebrows" at his predecessors, despite the fact that they themselves had shown interest in firearms through cowboy movies. But while some in the firearms community may grumble, Ferguson is well aware that the bond between guns and video games isn't going away anytime soon. In any case, it only becomes more important to study and consult about it.

"I still meet people who don't play at all," says Ferguson. Sometimes, on the [Royal Armory YouTube] channel, we get comments like, "Oh my god, it's not a video game anymore. Content." But I'm sorry, so many of us are streaming and consuming media, and it's not going away."