Player Tic: Difference between revisions

The curious tendency of video game players to do completely unnecessary actions over and over and over again--regardlessagain—regardless of their actual effect on gameplay.

In [[Platformer|Platformers]]s, some people will jump and [[Double Jump]] even when they're not crossing platforms--theyplatforms—they simply bound across the landscape. In an [[Action Adventure]] game, they might turn an [[Unnecessary Combat Roll]] into an Unnecessary Anything Roll, somersaulting everywhere they go. A [[First-Person Shooter]] player with unlimited ammo might just unload rounds into the environment. An RPG player waiting for an [[Overly-Long Fighting Animation]] to finish might mash their buttons in time with the music.

Reason? There generally is none. Gameplay advantage? Minimal. It's mostly just gamers pressing buttons to, well, press buttons--andbuttons—and maybe break up the monotony of long stretches of gameplay where there's not much else to do, like traveling over the [[Hub Level]] before getting the [[Warp Whistle]], or to fill the time in RPG battles without [[Action Command|Action Commands]]s. Depending on your theological color, they may even be attempts to appease the mighty and fickle [[Random Number God]], especially when attempting a [[Tool Assisted Speedrun]].

* Doing much the same as the above, only executing any sort of attack with forward momentum (such as a roll or spin).

* If there's a delay between pushing a button and it making something happen (such as with an elevator), repeatedly pressing the button while waiting.

* Tapping buttons in the rhythm of the music.

* Finishing off [[That One Boss|Big]] [[Boss in Mook Clothing|Damn]] [[Demonic Spiders|Enemies]] with [[Cherry Tapping|hilariously weak attacks]]... or doing [[No Kill Like Overkill|just the opposite,]] even if they only have a sliver of health left.

=== {{examples|This list catalogues only some of the more well-known tics. ===}}

* Moving around the camera all the time in ''[[RunescapeRuneScape]]''

** This can become problematic when a player starts reloading in the middle of a firefight without even taking cover despite having a half-full clipmag...[[Suspiciously Specific Denial|I totally don't do this by the way]]

* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' -- holding—holding down CTRL as a Hunter after you've pounced, even if it's unnecessary, just to be sure you ''stay there''.

* In [[Team Fortress 2]], some game modes (payload maps, 2 control points) have preparation time. The RED defending team uses it to get into position, set up sentries and lay sticky traps. For the BLU attacking team, there isn't a lot to do besides [[The Medic]] building uber. Thus most players will be found running around aimlessly, firing off weapons, jumping randomly and letting off taunts.

* Creators of ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' series know the jumping tic well. That's why we have those flagpoles in first ''[[Super Mario Bros. (video game)|Super Mario Bros]]'' game and ''[[New Super Mario Bros.]]'' series, item squares in ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'' and finally, up and down moving bars in ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]''.

* In ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' you get extra points for taunting in 1-Player mode after you beat your opponent. This has been removed, along with the rest of the bonus points, as of ''Brawl.''

** ''[[Blaz BlueBlazBlue: Calamity Trigger]]'' allows this as well, and even awards an achievement for completing a 20-hit combo after the end of a battle. This was eliminated in ''Continuum Shift'' because Bang players would waste their opponents' time by going into [[Super Mode|Fu-rin-ka-zan]] after the end of a match.