Frag Tag

Frag Tag, also known as "frag tagging" or just "tagging", is a strategy employed by players of first- and third-person-shooter video games.

Description

Frag tagging is a strategy that is employed by players of shooter video games. It occurs when one player (Henceforth known as the "tagger") uses a grenade weapon on another player (henceforth known as the "target") by sticking the grenade onto the target. Once the grenade has stuck, the tagger can move away from the target as the grenade blows up several seconds later. Although grenades are traditionally thrown at the target, tagging is superior to throwing in two major ways. For one, it allows the tagger to select a certain target, instead of just throwing a grenade into a general area. Secondly, once the grenade has been stuck, the target is unable to remove it, and the kill is guaranteed. Although the target should logically be able to remove the grenade, in most games it is impossible. It is possible that grenades used for tagging employ a strong type of adhesive, perhaps super glue or Gorilla Glue. In the Xbox 360 Game Gears of War, the frag grenades are stuck into the target using spikes.

Uses

Often when the opposing team is traveling in a pack, a player will tag one of the enemies and roll away to avoid confronting the entire opposing team at once. Players also tend to resort to frag tagging in this manner when they are severely outnumbered. In Gears of War, the use of frag tags is GeneRally approved when there is an even number of players on each team, or if the tagger is outnumbered by the opposing team. Likewise, the use of tagging is generally Frowned Upon when there are more players on the tagger's team than on the opposing team. When used in certain Situations, frag tagging is a highly effective strategy that can be great for turning the tables when a player is outnumbered.

Games

Two games that feature frag tagging are Gears of War for Xbox 360 and HaLo 2 for Xbox. In Gears of War, the grenades used are known as frag grenades and the B button is used to execute a melee attack on the opponent to stick the grenade. In Halo 2, the grenades used are known as "plasma grenades", and can be stuck to the opponent up close as well as thrown , although it is harder to successfully tag the opponent with a throw.

Patch

On Tuesday, January 9th, a patch was released over Xbox Live for Gears of War. Among many other issues, the patch addressed the distance from which a tagger could successfully stick a grenade into another player. The patch reduced the distance significantly, and a player must now be within a close arm's reach to tag another player. Many players hope that this change will reduce the number of chronic taggers on the Gears of War servers.