What Does Prone Mean in Gaming? A Guide to Going Prone in Popular Game Genres

Hey friend! Terry here, your favorite tech geek and gaming enthusiast. Recently I‘ve been getting a lot of questions about what it means when a game lets you go "prone." Prone is a pretty common gameplay mechanic across many different genres, but not everyone understands exactly what it does or when you should use it.

Let me break it all down for you in this comprehensive guide to going prone in some of today‘s most popular games!

What Is Prone?

First, let‘s quickly cover the basics.

The word "prone" means lying flat, usually face down. So in gaming, going prone means lying flat on your stomach.

This is opposed to standing upright or crouching down.

Outside of gaming, prone is also used to describe someone or something with a natural tendency towards a certain characteristic or behavior. You might hear someone described as "injury-prone," meaning they get injured a lot.

But in the context of video games, prone exclusively refers to the physical position of lying flat on your belly.

The Tactical Advantages (And Disadvantages) of Going Prone

Generally speaking, going prone provides certain tactical advantages:

• Improved accuracy: Lying prone stabilizes your firing position, reducing recoil.

• Smaller target profile: Prone makes you a lower, smaller target for enemies to hit.

• Enhanced stealth: Your low position is harder to spot visually at a distance.

However, going prone also comes with some notable disadvantages:

• Reduced mobility: Crawling prone is slow, limiting your movement speed.

• Limited perspective: Your field of view is very low to the ground while prone.

• Greater vulnerability: Being motionless and flat on the ground leaves you open to explosives or area attacks.

As you can see, prone is a double-edged sword! To use it effectively, you need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages based on your situation.

Next, let‘s look at how prone works in specific game genres and examples.

Prone Position in First-Person Shooters

Going prone is extremely common in tactical military first-person shooters. Franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Rainbow Six, Counter-Strike, and others all feature prone mechanics.

In these games, prone delivers a major accuracy boost. Just look at these prone stats from popular shooters:

• Call of Duty: Reduces recoil by 45%
• CS:GO: Reduces inaccuracy by 55% when using snipers
• Battlefield: Heavy suppression lowers accuracy by 35% standing but only 15% prone

However, prone also carries big mobility downsides in FPS games:

• Call of Duty: Prone players move 2.5x slower than normal
• Battlefield: Crawling prone cuts your speed by 85%
• Rainbow Six Siege: Prone players can only crawl slowly

As a result, FPS players have to be extremely tactical about judging when to go prone and when to get up and reposition. Sticking around prone for too long can make you an easy target!

Some common prone tactics in FPS games include:

• Snipers proning for stability when taking shots
• Going prone mid-combat for accuracy at the cost of mobility
• Proning in concealed positions to set up ambushes
• Using prone to minimize recoil when firing machine guns or automatic weapons

Prone for Stealth and Survival in RPGs

In online multiplayer RPGs and MMOs like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV, prone serves a different purpose than boosting aim.

These types of games don‘t rely as heavily on shooting mechanics. Instead, prone gives players a way to avoid enemy attacks or break line-of-sight to lose pursuing enemies.

For example, many MMO players use prone in PvP to prevent being targeted by opponents in order to recover or use healing abilities.

Some enemies or mobs in RPGs also have a harder time reaching prone players. Going prone could enable you to survive a tough battle that would normally kill you.

However, proning does prevent you from moving or reacting quickly in response. So generally, prone in MMOs and RPGs is more of an emergency stealth or survival tactic rather than part of your standard rotation.

Prone Position for Stealth Gameplay

In stealth games like Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, prone takes center stage as a core gameplay mechanic.

The entire focus is avoiding detection, and staying low in prone keeps your visual and noise profile to a minimum. For example:

• Metal Gear Solid: players can only crawl slowly in prone but enemies have a very hard time spotting them
• Splinter Cell: Sam Fisher can sneak past cameras and enemies more easily while prone crawling

Pretty much any stealth game rewards players for moving slowly and methodically while proning. But the tradeoff is you‘ll progress through levels much more slowly. Prone optimizes stealth at the expense of speed.

Why Snipers Love Going Prone

In any game with long-range sniper rifles, from military shooters to Sniper Elite and Sniper Ghost Warrior, proning offers big advantages for snipers.

Lying prone stabilizes the sniper‘s aim by bracing against the ground and minimizing small movements. This reduces sway and makes it easier to line up precise shots at long distance.

Being flat on the stomach also makes snipers much harder to spot visually by enemies, thanks to their low position and small profile.

For example, in the Sniper Elite series, players receive accuracy bonuses by steadying their aim through holding their breath and going prone before firing shots.

The only downside is that snipers proning have very limited mobility. If they miss their shot or get spotted, repositioning and escaping quickly while prone crawling is almost impossible.

Prone in Battle Royale Games

More recent multiplayer shooters like battle royale games Fortnite, PUBG, and Apex Legends have prone mechanics to enable stealthy gameplay.

Since the goal is surviving against many enemies, prone allows players to hide in grass, foliage, or use terrain as cover.

However, mobility and speed are critical in battle royale games. The play zone is constantly shrinking, so staying still in prone for too long guarantees death by the closing circle.

As a result, prone in Fortnite-style games is mostly useful as a brief tactic to take cover in combat or avoid being seen while moving between locations. Players have to balance its advantages against the need to keep moving.

Some battle royale players misuse prone by lying motionless in grass for minutes, only to get easily flanked and eliminated. Don‘t be that player!

Should You Go Prone? Evaluating the Pros and Cons

As you can see from all these examples, prone can provide major advantages but also some substantial downsides. The key is learning exactly when proning makes sense, and when it makes you vulnerable.

Here are a few final tips on leveraging prone effectively across different games:

• In shooters, consider prone to improve aim but don‘t overstay your welcome – keep repositioning
• Use prone cautiously in RPGs and MMOs, primarily for emergency survival
• Embrace prone in stealth games, but account for slower movement
• Snipers should prone before key shots to maximize accuracy
• In battle royales, prone briefly for cover but don‘t get left behind

At the end of the day, proning expands your options and adds depth to games when used properly. But it can backfire horribly if you simply prone all the time without actively thinking about the pros and cons in each situation.

Hopefully this guide has you better prepared to leverage prone as a tactical advantage across many popular game genres. Let me know if you have any other prone gaming topics you want me to cover in the future!