I worked on an FPS that was a console launch release for a major software group that has since gone on to produce a very successful franchise based on that original title.

One of my co-workers (and good friends) had the exact kind of analytical mind that seemed to be able to discern ill-thought-out design features that could be exploited—not exactly “bugs” in the traditional sense, but just playability problems. He had been assigned to QA another launch release this company was working on, but that one having been completed, he was drafted to help with our crunch time.

He discovered that the same weapon damage values that were being used for the single-player campaign were also being used for the multiplayer. The problem was that in order to make the initial levels where you were only armed with a pistol playable, the damage and rate of fire for it had to be set a certain way. These settings meant that if you had a quick enough trigger finger, in multiplayer the starting pistol was the most powerful weapon in the game.

His submission of this fact was met with disbelief by the programming team, who proceeded to challenge him to a series of multiplayer matches in all battle modes, to prove him wrong. One by one, they stepped up—and one by one, “El Pistolero” gunned them down. Again, and again.

In the end, the programmers were forced to choose between either retooling the entire level balance of the single player campaign mere weeks before release, or…well..shipping it.

To their credit, they at least adjusted the fire animations of all the other weapons, and re-engineered the sounds for them, so it was more satisfying to use those instead—the average gamer would be so impressed by the light show on the advanced weapons, they’d never stop to consider just sticking with the pistol.

But to this day I can’t pick up another FPS without recalling the legend of “El Pistolero”—and at least once promising myself to play a round without picking up or using any other weapons.