User blog comment:Darkman 4/CoD7 multiplayer chat/@comment-1079585-20100426040125

Because weapons are balanced to do certain amounts of damage. It prevents certain weapons from being more effective at long range than they should be while maintaining their close range capabilities.

But yeah, complaining about damage drop off in CoD for the sake of realism is like complaining that dwarves run too fast for people of their height in WoW for the sake of realism. It's such a small thing compared to the other glaringly unrealistic aspects of the game, and the game isn't meant to be realistic in the first place.

And COAZ, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't give me orders.