'pache of VE spotted on Bot Epidemic that specwarguru posted an interview with Valve's very own Robin Walker (Team Fortress 2). It's a pretty good read for a slow  night! (14 questions with pretty detailed answers):

Draco : How would you rate the realism factor of Team Fortress 2 ? I know the game is supposed to be fun and adds realism through the need for teamwork, but can you tell us more about the efectiveness of the weapons ? How easy is it to die in the game ?

A: Our goal in regards to realism is to create an easily recognisable environment, so that new players understand what's going on. If I give my father a purple gun that fires a green glowy thing, he doesn't know what it does. If I give him an assault rifle, and dump him into an amphibious landing craft that transports him onto a beach where enemies begin firing at him, he knows exactly what he should do. He knows what the assault rifle will do when he fires it, and he knows what will happen if he doesn't run from that grenade that just landed in front of him. So, we look real, but we're not trying to be real. Real war isn't fun. Dying two seconds after the front of the boat drops isn't fun. We know the kind of gameplay we want, and we try to fit reality to it whenever we can.