Why do a lot of modern first-person shooters try to be "realistic"?

One common and somewhat annoying trend that I have noticed among a lot of first-person shooters is that they have become too focused on realism - for example, you can only carry maybe 2-3 weapons at a time, and you can never dual-wield heavy equipment.
Is this really something that is worth striving for?
Even some mods of much older games seem to have gone this route - for example, some mods of "GoldenEye 007" have removed the ability to dual-wield heavy weapons - why?
Because it isn't "realistic" enough?
Well, guess what - "GoldenEye 007" is by no means a realistic game in any shape or form (it has exploding chairs and the DK Mode, ffs), so it makes no sense to change "unrealistic" mechanics that were never an actual problem.
And like I said, these "realistic" tendencies seem a lot more pronounced in newer first-person shooters.
Or maybe I have missed a ton of great modern first-person shooters that actually allow themselves to bend the laws of physics for the sake of gameplay, instead of limiting themselves to real life?

I think because how realistic something is people tend to think its cooler. Or just better designed. Least with people ive seen that is the case

Being able to carry 2 weapons is a balancing decision; it changes the way you can prod things in different directions. A great modern(ish) FPS - Tribes: Ascend - is a good example of a game that's not realistic in any way, but still limits you to two weapons.

Part of it is that some great games came out that had "realistic" styles (in contrast to almost all the preceding generation of Dooms, Quakes, and UTs) and they were so successful that many games have mimicked them. But let's be real, there's plenty of non-realistic stuff still out there. There's still Quakes and Dooms of varying degrees of acclaim (some very high), there's Resident Evil type stuff for single-player, there's a game like Overwatch which is a non-realistic incredibly popular FPS. TF2 still gets played. Titanfall doesn't adhere to reality very closely. Etc, etc.

Realism can be fun in the right amounts, yes, however I often feel that especially modern games restrict themselves too much in their quest for total realism.
I don't care that I cannot dual-wield two heavy big-ass rocket launchers in real life, it was awesome to do things like that in "GoldenEye 007" and I think almost everyone I knew back then felt the same way.
Also, it was really hilarious how scientists would pull out pistols and spam grenades at you if you annoyed them too much - this wouldn't happen in real life, since I am sure that scientists are not allowed to carry explosives while they are in the laborary, but it was very fun to play around with this and it was a huge "wtf?!" moment the first time it happened.
And let's not forget Elvis the alien or the infinitely powerful weapon Farsight XR-20 in "Perfect Dark", or the fact that the characters in "Redneck Rampage" can restore their life by drinking whiskey.

I am not saying that everything must be as unrealistic as possible, all I am saying is that shooters shouldn't restrict themselves by real-life physics - more often than not, those "weird" and "silly" ideas can add a lot to the gameplay and the pure entertainment factor if they are used wisely.

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Originally Posted by Peter1986

I am not saying that everything must be as unrealistic as possible, all I am saying is that shooters shouldn't restrict themselves by real-life physics - more often than not, those "weird" and "silly" ideas can add a lot to the gameplay and the pure entertainment factor if they are used wisely.

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Some people might want the more realistic physics. Obviously they do, since those games are very popular. I think the best thing to hope for are games in a variety of styles.

Didn't Borderlands have a guy whose power was to dual wield heavy guns? I'm almost certain I used that guy.

EDIT: Salvador!

Call of Duty has been turning more into a cartoon every year but yeah I see what you mean, but not just shooters, why does every genre? Instead of waiting the best of a decade for a new Final Fantasy with human graphics why not give us FFX/FFXII remastered graphics and give us something every couple of years. :cry: