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Twitch...... twitch?

Jimmy_ScytheJimmy_Scythe Member CommonPosts: 3,586
in The Pub at MMORPG.COM

I was just going through my "toybox" in my closet. While rumaging through all the old games that I no longer play or need to revisit, I was siezed by a question that just wouldn't go away. At what point is a game considered a "twitch" game? When I first got into PC gaming I was a big military and flight sim nut. Jane's Longbow, Mig Alley, Steel Beasts, etc. Later I got into the tatical shooters like Rainbow Six, Swat 3, Operation Flashpoint and Ghost Recon. All of these game required a certain level of dexterity but weren't considered "twitch" games. It wasn't until my life started closing in and demanding more of my time that I began playing games like Unreal Tournament, Diablo and Command and Conquer. all of the afore mentioned games are considered "twitchy" and "light" or "casual. But where is the line exactly? Why are some games, like Contra, considered "twitch" while equally fast paced games requiring dexterity, like tetris, are not seen in this light? Why are Diablo and Dungeon Siege considered mindless click-feststs, while Morrowind and Baldur's Gate are not?

Comments

  • GamewizeGamewize Member Posts: 956
    Maybe becuase any game that uses a mouse to move and attack are labled as twitch games while games that use the keyboard keys or the joypad arnt. Really though you need fast reflexes and most games are anything BUT mindless clickfests. (Unless you set a game with say infinite resources and instabuild and stuff like that, then it becomes about who is the fastest clicker)

    I think it's the objective of your past self to make you cringe.

  • LebbbLebbb Member Posts: 52

    If talk about RPGs (Diablo vs Baldur's Gate)the matter may be in the world depth(there is a bad guy called Diablo,you must kill him and save the world vs deep story of every character and many secondary quests in BG)

    Lebbb

  • HarafnirHarafnir Member UncommonPosts: 1,350
    I am 99.9% sure "twitch" games are reflex oriented games only (hence the name "twitch") like FPS and such. Now, if people want to say CS is the same as C&C then that is up to them to look silly. I know people are great at taking words and twisting them aorund to fit their own needs, or just using them without knowing their meaning, but "twitch" has nothing to do with how light or complicated the games are.. A simulator in air combat is a twitch game, just as a first person shooter, just as World War II Online (And please tell me WWIIOL is a light, easy game). Twitch.... take the word.. what does it mean... and its easy to figure out what games fit the synonym. But in the same way every 8 year old and his sister want to be named "Hardcore gamer" no matter how moronic they are, People from game slike Diablo and Super Mario will come and try to call themselves "Twitch" players as well, since it sounds a lot better to be compared to Profesisonal Counter Strike players, than 8 year old Super Mario fans...

    "This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
    It should be thrown with great force"

  • ElnatorElnator Member Posts: 6,077

    Twitch indicates a combat system where the PLAYER (not random numbers) determines what they hit by their ability to line up their target crosshairs on an enemy.

    Doom, Quake, WWIIO, PlanetSide, etc. are TWITCH games. Space combat in SWG and Jumpgate are TWITCH combat.

    Twitch is not the complexity or lack thereof in any game it merely denotes the type of combat system in place.

    And, by the way, all those flight sims you played WERE Twitch games because YOU had to line up the crosshairs and aim at the target. Not your 'character' using their 'abilities' controlled by the 'computer'. Now I never played steel thunder so I can't speak to that. Typically if it's a SIMULATOR it's twitch. If it's a strategy game it's not because, well, you are commanding the battle, not the gunsight. MMORPG's are typically not twitch (with some exceptions) because you simply designate the target and your "character" and the game itself take care of whether you hit or not. You have no real influence over whether you hit or not.

    Hope that helps.

    Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
    Sig image Pending
    Still in: A couple Betas

  • LaserwolfLaserwolf Member Posts: 2,383


    Originally posted by Jimmy_Scythe

     Later I got into the tatical shooters like Rainbow Six, Swat 3, Operation Flashpoint and Ghost Recon. All of these game required a certain level of dexterity but weren't considered "twitch" games.

    I would definately consider Rainbow Six, Swat 3, Operation Flashpoint, and Ghost Recon Twitch Games. If I remember right, the first one to click their mouse button(Fire their weapon) was usually the one to live. Though of course aim and such came into it like any other FPS.

    image

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