bevinator: Most guns aren't "standing next to the speakers at a nightclub" loud, but they're plenty loud enough to cause damage to your ears. Overuse can even cause permanent hearing loss. So I think this would be an acceptable reality break, on account of nobody wants to blow out their computer speakers or eardrums from a videogame. Similarly, people don't want to be blinded if they move the camera towards the sun, even if the bloom *IS* turned all the way up. It's realistic but it's not GOOD.
jefequeso: I actually would like to see at least one game do something with ear ringing after firing a gun. It would be interesting, if nothing else.
I should also mention that my real priority here isn't necessarily technical realism. More like a feeling of realism. Despite the fact that the HL2 pistol does technically sound like a pistol (or a recording of a pistol shot, at least), it's unconvincing to the max. The impression you get firing a pistol in real life is completely different.
grviper: If one sticks marshmallows into one's ears, presses pillows against them and holds it together with earmuffs, then a real gun sounds almost like the teacup-safe firecraker of HL2. I've only gone as far as earmuffs, yet. Game guns suck at filling the space with sound, maybe that's why the whole echo and reverberation are usually stuffed into the shot sample itself to make it sound decent. In HL2 someone decided that the simple "pop" is enough.
jefequeso: That's true that the lack of realistic echoing could be a major contributing factor. I can't think of a game that does outside reverb well (not that they don't exist, I just can't think of one). I know from experience that even when you fire a whimpy little .32, the sound hangs in the air much longer than you'd expect.
The FPS game with the most realistic sound (and the best sound design) in my opinion is Battlefield 3. My teachers who are professional sound designers were completely floored when seeing the end results. Everything was calculated, room size, strengh of impact, different layers of equipment and surfaces, etc... That game is a masterpiece of video gaming sound design. The results sounds even more impressive when you have a 5.1 Surround setup.