We've all been there. A new CoD, a new Battlefield, you start to get good at it and found a weapon of your liking. Then you join a server, get a kill... and you get banned, because your shiny new gun happens to be banned on the server. 

But why?

Well, to give the honest answer: Because whoever pays for the server decided, that it's unfair wielding this weapon. They feel that this gun is too overpowered and makes it easier to rack up kills. You see, PC gaming gives us tools, most console players will never have. We can make and enforce rules onto other players. But let's take a look at some commonly banned weapons, shall we?

First and foremost, we have the AWP. Why everyone stuck with AWP (Arctic Warfare Police), when it's clearly an AWM (Arctic Warfare Magnum), I don't know. This is THE banned gun. If you've played Counterstrike, chances are, that you got banned for using this baby at least once. It's what PC players like to call a "noob weapon". Some german players translate the acronym as "Anfänger wollen Punkten" (Newbies want to score points) and some english players translate it as "Assholes want points".

Why is it commonly banned? Well it's pretty obvious. Unless you shoot through a wall or someones foot, this baby is a one hit kill. And since Counterstrike has no Scope sway, it has perfect accuracy. The only downside to this gun is, that it significantly slows you down. But that's a small price to pay for a long range instakill weapon. This gun practically gave birth to weapon ban scripts and later weapon restriction scripts, the latter preventing you from even aquiring the gun.

Another perfect example of banned weaponry is the M203 grenade launcher attachment from Call of Duty 4. Commonly referred to as the "noob tube", this is also another entry into the "insta kill" category. What the AWP does over range, the noob tube does at mid to short range. What makes it especially "nooby" is the fact, that you don't need to aim properly, due to it's large splash damage. Just shoot at the general direction of your attacker, you are bound to hit something with it.

Again, pretty obvious, why this is banned. The M203 comes with 2 shells of low skill high output death, which may not sound like much, but is enough to piss off players. Especially when someone decides to use the Overkill perk to carry two assault rifles, each equipped with the M203. Believe, I've seen a serious noob tuber in action doing that. In an attempt to add more skill to the noob tube, Infinity Ward lowered it's damage significantly in Modern Warfare 3, actually rendering the noobtube pretty useless outside of the hardcore modes.

A cousin of the M203 are the various rocket launchers in the CoD franchise. Similar principle, high splash damage. Most servers only allow you to shoot rockets at killstreak rewards, because let's face it: Rockets hurt, when showed up your nose.

Banning those two weapons, I kinda get. After all, it doesn't involve much skill to kill with those guns. But do PC gamers stop there? The answer is no.

You see, the reason why I'm writing this is, because it seems like banning weapons is getting out of hand, at least on some servers. Some weapon and/or perk bans are just ridiculous and stupid. Yes, I get that you don't like walking into claymore (or gaymore) mines. But there is a perk, that highlight claymores and C4. If don't want suprises, use the perk. Oh I'm sorry, you need that perk slot for something else? Well tough luck.

Another CoD contestant is the balistic knife. Another common ban is for kniving someone with the balistic knife, because you get sped up melee with it. But is this really that bad? No, it isn't. Yes, I understand that some players perfected the use of the balistic melee and are constantly killing you with it. It's annoying, but man the fuck up and learn from it. Avoid tight spaces, where the knifer could lurk or just play hardcore. Balistic melee is much harder on hardcore, because most of the time, you don't survive running directly at your opponent. I've even seen a server, that even bans shooting the blades. Hitting someone with that is not as easy, as it looks.

Now can someone explain to me, why the FAMAS or the HK21 are so overpowered? The FAMAS is a solid assault rifle, but I don't believe it's that much more powerful than the other rifles. And what makes the HK21 so dangerous? Is it even that noobish? I don't really buy it. Transitioning over to Battlefield 3, why do some servers ban the M16A3? I never knew this gun was so OP, you had to ban people for using it. And isn't that gun the first and only gun the US Assault class has at first? Why am I using the M416 then?

Perks are also not safe from bans. We all like us some last stand, don't we? That's why it's banned most of the time. Maybe I just suck at it, but 9 times out of 10, I still die when using last stand. Martyrdom I kinda get, but it's only really a problem, when it's up close and personal. Most of my Martyrdom grenades ended up killing noone. Still, using them as Death Streaks in MW3 was a nice move. If you die long enough to earn this perk, I see no point in bitching about you using it.

Many CoD Players are also allergic to people with no footsteps. Dead Silence / Ninja is another commonly banned perk, though CoD4 has more servers where this perk is banned. This perk simply eliminates your footsteps. noone will hear you coming. Now maybe I just suck at CoD, but I rarly avoid getting killed, because I heard the footsteps. Even withouth Dead Silence, I still get backstabbed some times. Besides: especially on Nuketown, enemy footsteps drown in the constant shooting.

Wow, this has gone into a bit of ranting on my part, but that's what this is all about. I implore the whole PC community to just man the fuck up. Sure, there are some weapons that have an edge over others. Like I said, there is nothing glorious about getting a noob tube kill. But in all honestly, I rarely see excessive noobtubers winning a Free For All match. I get it, it's annoying when you die like that but, tough like, outsmart him.

As for those who ban "normal" weapons. Grow a pair. Maybe it's a bit easier to shoot someone with the FAMAS, but I prefer the AUG. I understand that balancing weapons is a delicate matter, especially when you use existing weapons. You can't have your M4 dealing more bullet damage than your AK47. But even if there are some weapons that a better, at least I feel, that they only give a you slight edge over the others. Nothing you can't compensate with skill.

Long story short: Stop banning weapons, because some got really good with them!