Psychological Effect

Psychological effect is an aspect outside the actual game. It affects gameplay drastically, and the performance of a player may improve/suffer depending on the situation.

This is true for nearly every game, and real life as well.

Example: Whenever some players are up against a Specialist like Viper, they lose their heads completely. Their aim is off, they make panicky movements, their grenade-throws miss, they hit the wrong weapon-switch button and come up with a Heartbeat Sensor. This happens frequently among newer and occasionally more experienced players, whether intended or not.

Seeing Viper and realizing that she has a large speed advantage over you, and the fact that she may or may not have a weapon like the M32 equipped, causes morale to flag.

This principle is seen a lot in real life, especially in warfare. Countries with a superior army but low morale have lost to inferior barbarians with high morale. Of course, other factors come into play in-game, like a player's equipment, armor, etc, but ultimately, players do worse when they feel overwhelmed. More experienced players tend to keep their cool in situations like these, and can overpower Viper easily.

The impact on performance is also very obvious. For example, a M416 wielding player will do MUCH better than if that same player was wielding a M4A1, despite a barely noticeable stat change. This is because the M416 is unlocked at a higher rank, cost more, and looks cooler (usually what players think). Therefore, the player comes to reason that because the M416 cannot be accessed by lower-rank players, and that it costs a hefty 300 GP more than the M4, the M416 must be better. But instead, it is the PLAYER himself that does better.

There are thousands of examples in Combat Arms, especially in Elimination and Quarantine. Avoiding this effect is nearly impossible, but now that you've read this article, you have a chance to fight any negative effect. Next time you encounter Codename: Viper, focus on killing her as quickly as possible, not the fact that you're trying to kill Viper. This also works when you are dealing with higher-rank players, sometimes.