We All Do It, Stop Saying You Don’t!

Isn’t it funny how some things in life cross all boundaries and cultures? Regardless of race, nationality or creed, there are things that we all have in common. One of the most curious I continue to witness through out my gaming career is our unexplained love of the jump button.

Why are the majority of us fascinated by this simple in-game function? In any game of any genre at any time you will see someone continuously pressing the jump key as they travel. I will admit right here, right now I am one of those people who jump for no reason as I move about the game world. I do it now and I have always done it. I just don’t know why.

Some game developers take the jump animation very seriously. The guys and gals over at WoW consider the jump animation top priority. While we take their work for granted, I know the game would not be the same if these details were missing. One of the most subtle programming touches I have ever seen is the graceful and random Night Elf front flip jump animation. It is the small things like this that makes WoW the king of the MMO world.

As players we have grown so accustomed to these animation nuances that we complain when they are not just right. I know that sounds silly but it is the truth. Remember how disappointed the WoW community was when the Blood Elf “twirl jump” was revealed? I can remember countless complaints about how much the jump animation “sucked”. All of that fuss directed at a simple jump animation. Let’s face it, jumping is a big deal.

Think about any time you are around a group of other players’ in-game, inevitably someone is jumping. Waiting for a ready check in a raid? Someone is jumping. Waiting for the start of a battleground, someone is jumping. Dueling someone to hone your PVP skills, why are you jumping? Is your raid group trying to GTFOOTF? Someone will be jumping. We try to jump out of the fire even when that has been proven to be the wrong thing to do.

As I stated earlier my fascination with the jump button is not limited to WoW. As I make my way through Telara (Rift) I am jumping. When I mounted my two headed turtle for the first time I inspected the jump animation. When I made the switch to a horse mount (the model rocks btw) I checked out the jump animation. I have to be honest here and say that so far I am missing the finesse of WoWs jump animations. WoW is the definite winner in the jump category.

How strange would it be to try and explain to a non-gamer how much you appreciate the jump animations in your latest gaming addiction? How crazy am I to admit that the mammoth jump animation in WoW is far better than the turtle jump animation in Rift? I must be losing my mind. Why do I notice these types of things? Can any of you relate or have I finally gone of the deep end?

Of course no GTFOOTF post would be complete without the obligatory music video link. Normally I try and slip the link into the topic of discussion and I try and make a clever connection when I can. In the Jump category there are so many I could use it is almost overwhelming. It would appear that gamers are not the only ones who love to Jump. Jump seems to be everywhere. Nothing better to do? Might as well Jump!