Twitch gameplay

Twitch gameplay is a type of video gameplay scenario that tests a player's reaction time. Action games such as first-person shooters often contain elements of twitch gameplay. For example, Quake III Arena often requires players' fast reactions to shoot enemies. However, other genres can involve twitch gameplay as well. For example, Tetris is a puzzle video game that gradually speeds up as the player makes progress.

Twitch gameplay keeps players actively engaged with quick feedback to their actions, as opposed to turn-based gaming that involves waiting for the outcome of a chosen course of action. Twitch can be used to expand tactical options and play, test skill in various areas (usually reflexive responses) and generally add difficulty (relating to the intensity of "twitching" required).

Fast chess, chess played with short time limits between moves, is an example of an attempt to add a twitch gameplay element to a turn-based game. Conversely, checkpoints and extra lives are common mechanics in twitch gaming that attempt to reduce the penalty for errors in play, adding an element of turn-based gameplay.

Traditionally however the Term "twitch game" was applied to simple computer, arcade, and console games that lacked the element of strategy and was based solely on a players reaction time.

History

Twitch–verb (used with object) 1. to tug or pull at with a quick, short movement; pluck: She twitched him by the sleeve. 2. to jerk rapidly: The rider twitched the reins a couple of times. 3. to move (a part of the body) with a sudden, jerking motion.

Obviously "twitch" refers the motion of the player, a sudden movement or reaction to the event on the screen. Originally most Computer, Arcade, and early console games were "twitch games". They were all about see, and react situations. For example Kaboom! had players rapidly catching bombs that the mad bomber threw from a rooftop. As games (and their control inputs) evolved Games started to favor strategy over reaction. Early turn-based games are undoubtedly the most prevalent example of this. They required one to plan each move and anticipate the opponents' moves ahead of time. Not unlike chess, early strategy games focused on setting pieces and then moving them one turn at a time while the opponent did the same. Many of these games were based on table top games. With the introduction of the internet and the ability to play games on it, many of these games opened the doorway for today's mainstream games.

However that is not to say that all games with a base in strategy don't include room for a twitch: soon after turn-based strategy games were introduced, real-time strategy games hit the market. Most notably Warcraft and StarCraft. While strategy was still the primary objective of the games, they played out in real time. Players were required to have fast reactions to enemies' movements and attacks.

Early first person shooters were very much like early games in general, fast reactions were required and little skill or thought went into the play. Even the youngest players understood the concept. See the enemy, shoot at the enemy, try not to die. That said many of the earliest First person games were cookie cutter copies of each other. Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and many other looked, played, and felt the same. Enemy AI was predictable and levels were single mazes with secrets and side rooms. While these games included the ability to look up and down it was rarely required of the player. It was all simply, run, click, win.

Gameplay today

With the advancement of technology, games have become more and more complex today nearly every genre of video game contains some level of "twitch". Turn-based strategy games have remained roughly untouched by the phenomenon. It's hard to find a game that doesn't have players twitching back and forth. Once again on the forefront of games that include scenarios where twitching is a possibility are First Person shooters.

Many games have embraced the idea of challenging players reaction times, and in many shooters "twitch" is simply an unavoidable action. Many other games require it, they've included elements designed to take players back to the days of the Atari in the form of Quick time events or QTEs. These events decide the fate of the player, by displaying a keystroke that the player must input quickly, or rapidly multiple times, it's not uncommon to find both elements required of a player. While the concept has been around for some time, the term is attributed to Yu Suzuki Director of the game Shenmue.

Shenmue, while at its core was an adventure game, it introduced QTEs as a way to keep players interested during extended cut scenes. Other games have since adopted this method. For example Resident Evil 4 included the concept in its gameplay.

Twitch in Shooters

Early shooters were two-dimensional with the guise of being three-dimensional. Players operated on a single level with enemies, with the introduction of three-dimensional environments along with enhanced graphics and network capability, Shooters became a major player in the gaming world. But the overall tactics were the same: see, turn, fire. Games like Quake encouraged fast paced destruction. Automatic weapons and rocket launchers ensured quick play and quick kills. It was still a twitch game, but over time gameplay evolved to the point where "those who twitched fastest lived longest" couldn't always hold true. Over time Strategy won over twitch especially in team based games and games with objectives. It was soon required that one used skill in order to obtain victory.

A primary example of this would be the game Counter-Strike - originally a modification for the popular game Half-Life, it quickly became one of the most popular First Person Shooters to date. The base game included objective based game types that limited the player to a single life per round. Players obtained cash to purchase better weapons and armor. Twitch became a scenario based event as players wanted to retain the weapons they had worked hard to purchase. Knowing a death resulted in losing all the equipment they had obtained.

Many players realized that teamwork and strategy would win over the run and gun tactic. Twitching became something that happened in moments of need versus all the time, for example player might have walked round a corner and found an enemy there. The twitch reaction was to spray fire and hope for the best.

With further advancement in technology and the Artificial Intelligence of computer controlled enemies games became more and more about strategy in the shooter genre. A player had to be able to aim precisely conserve ammo, and often flank large groups of enemies.

Today's shooters still have scenarios where players will have a twitch reaction, but often even those scenarios can be avoided by taking one's time.

Even highly skilled gamers still find themselves in twitch scenarios in shooters. Most predominantly online where the actions of the enemy team are unscripted and random. Many skilled snipers in these games find themselves "twitching" when flanked, The instinctual reaction is to switch to a secondary weapon, which is most often a inaccurate handgun and spray fire, while attempting to find cover.

The predominate reason that shooters do not limit the effectiveness of twitch scenarios is because the average gamer has little time to actually play the game, especially if they play in online lobbies, with the amount of time the average gamer has to play games limited to two to four hours per day. A game that required a large amount of skill would deter these gamers from playing at all. At the same time due to the sensation of the internet there is a predominate amount of gamers that favor twitch to skill. In recent years videos have popped up all over the internet displaying montages of twitch kills. Most of these depict players with sniper rifles hardly aiming or not even aiming at all and getting kills. While a good portion of these videos take place in controlled environments and are prone to heavy editing by the creator, today's gamers are quick to hop on the next fad just as quick as ever.

Twitch in other Genres

Many Genres have twitch scenarios, be it adventure game or survival horror. Anytime a player has an instantaneous reaction to an event it is a twitch. However, much like shooters of today there are often ways around them. At other times it's simply a mechanic of the game. Survival Horror has become rife with using twitch as a mechanic enemy (often Zombies) will burst through walls or windows, forcing the player to react to the scenario. Fight or flee? This has been and will likely always be the case in these games. They ensure the player must react quickly via other mechanics, the primary being a limited supply of ammunition. For example in the survival game Condemned: Criminal Origins the player may find a gun with two rounds of ammunition in it. This weapon will never have more than two rounds, and the scenario the player is likely to face is three or more enemies that seemingly pop out of nowhere. One must react quickly, fire the weapon or find a pipe? In either case a twitch reaction is required to survive. Resident evil takes it a step further by utilizing a third person camera, and a difficult aiming mechanic.

Role Playing Games have even started to incorporate twitch scenarios, less so in those with turn based combat.

Arcade and simulation racing games have always had an element of twitch gaming though via different means. Arcade racers might include shortcuts or devices to alter the track and require quick reactions to get on the right course, while Simulation racing games might include tire wear or fuel gauges that require players to quickly react to pit stops. Others might simply have blind corners that shift direction rapidly.

Sandbox games where there is an open environment that appears to be living and breathing much like the real world are also prone to twitch scenarios. In these games, especially ones with large open environments where enemies could be lurking at every turn, or a vehicle could suddenly turn or change lanes, reaction times are tested on a regular basis.

Other games have found a happy medium that allows players to dictate nearly every scenario. At the forefront of this is Bethesda's Fallout Series. Taking up the mantel starting with the third game they had to envision a game that could be picked up by anyone, especially those who had played the first two games in the series of RPG games that utilized turn tased Combat. Their response was the V.A.T.S (Vault Assisted Targeting System) This mechanic freezes gameplay and allows the player to select a target, and then sub-select a region of the target to place their shots (much like in the first two games of the series turn based combat selections) While this mechanic is not required it allowed players that didn't wish to engage in Real Time Combat to do so in a more turn based manner. However it's still possible to twitch while using the system. A example would be to crest a hill and encounter an enemy, where the players reaction was to mash the button to bring up the system.

Players not using the system are presented with more standard twitch scenarios. The game having both first and third person views suffers from the same situations of a standard shooter. Players may be faced with the choice of taking their time and flanking the enemy or, if the enemy surprises them, spraying automatic fire and running. This is an example of an extremely diverse game; it breaks the boundaries of several genres and overall keeps the player thoroughly interested with a limited amount of constant action. A player could wander the gamespace for hours without a single combat encounter and at other times the player might not go thirty seconds without being faced with combat. With the world being "alive" no two gamers will see the same scenario in the same place.

These are all just basic examples of where a twitch scenario could take place in a variety of games.

Twitch in the future

With the growing need to keep players invested in new titles, more and more games are reverting to twitch mechanics, versus twitch scenarios. With the average amount of time the standard gamer has to enjoy video games that climb in price from twenty dollars to eighty dollars reducing, studios are forced to produce games which are full of action and still present a reasonable amount of story quality. Thus today's games story progression has become shorter and the action more intense. It's not uncommon to find hundreds of enemies on a battlefield that appears no larger than a football field. The developers must then ensure that the player feels accomplished for progression and thus skill is needed less and less. Control schemes have been streamlined and cut down to ensure even the newest of gamers can simply mash a controller and kill something.

This is not to say all games will be twitch by the end of any time soon, merely that more and more, it's easier to just blast through everything in sight without thought or strategy and still win the game.

In regards to multi-player games on the other hand, it has been and likely always will be (with shooters at least) a fine line between skill and twitch. No different than in real world scenarios, even today's soldiers encounter scenarios where instinct wins over skill as the come upon an ambush or into a thought-to-be-empty alley that isn't empty at all.

However, there is an entirely new generation of games today that rely on twitch reactions. While it is unknown at this time how successful or they will be they will eventually include skill with mixed scenarios that allow for twitch. These games are taking the world by storm. With the invention of the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation Move and the Xbox Kinect and the games designed for them, an entirely new type of twitch game has been born. Akin to the glory days of gaming where there was never a break in reaction, these devices have evolved the human body into the primary force behind the control, not just the hands. Players are required to get up and move, even jump and duck to avoid objects, mimic catching objects or block the blow of an enemy sword. All of these are based on reaction. With the inclusion of today's 3D technology in televisions players duck from flying objects reflexively even knowing they won't be physically touched by an object.

References

• Instructional Technology Research Online