Thanks Tacc Unfortunately for the sake of fairness, I had to make rules that marginalized the use of weapons for the sake of simplicity and fairness. So effectively, charging into the Slaughter center with a spoon is roughly as effective as charging in with a chainsaw. My concern for fun ultimately trumped my concern for realism. I do have some explanation for it however, with weapons being "adjusted for fairness policies" before matches. But ultimately I think it comes down to the roleplayers. If you hit for low damage in the arena, clearly you didn't full on embed your chainsaw in the other guy's torso, and you should not roleplay it as such. I'm a goofy roleplayer, which I think comes across fairly clearly in my characters and mannerisms. If someone wants an arena that is more gritty and realistic, where fighting with a spoon would obviously lead to your demise, be my guest.
I also think melee combat is not as popular because it takes more time to RP out as compared to ranged, and can usually only happen between two people at a time. Melee fighting itself is usually at a faster pace than range, with clawing and grabbing and slashing etc that there would be probably a half hour of emotes for the same IC time as, say, 5 minutes of gunfighting. Ya know? I've had experiences with melee combat when we did some training ICly, and it could last well over an hour and a half if no one wants to admit defeat.
Well, admitting defeat and complex rp are two different issues. I personally enjoy the melee fights in earnest since nothing beats two guys duking it out with their manly pride on the line. Sure, it can carry on for long periods of time, but the same can be said for gunfights. I'd say the latter ends quicker because they run out of things to actually do, not because someone is more logically inclined to admit that they lost. Diversity in close ranged engagements usually carries a lot further than your typical pew pew. Each have their flaws, as already mentioned by everyone else, however. Really up to the actual participants to decide how well they turn out.
