Interesting discussion.

I think the point needs clarified - the real problem people have with the shotgun is not actually the shotgun itself, but with the other weapons. Realism mods fix this.

For example, if I am a rifleman and am getting rushed by someone using a shotgun, in some circumstances the only thing you can do is to be patient, take aim, and fire. Now, if you do that in the retail version of the game you will most likely end up dead, because it will take you multiple shots to the chest (which should each be kill shots), while the shotgunner will need only to fire once. This is a bit unbalanced, and makes it easier to "rush" at people with a shotgun.

Now, I don't blame anybody for that other than EA. We all know the game isn't perfect, and so shotgunners are going to have a slight edge in certain circumstances that they otherwise wouldn't have - you'll just have to deal with it.

It is rather interesting at times, however, when I go on some servers and see everybody using shotguns, and these people then complain at the "campers" who stay back with their rifles. They are only doing what they can on a server that isn't running realism. The only way to combat a whole platoon of shotgunners is to negate their advantage by keeping a distance. I've been on a couple of servers where people accuse players who do this of "camping".