Button mashing
button mashing (also button bashing , often wrongly understood as button smashing ) is a technical term from computer gamer jargon . Translated loosely from English it means “to squeeze buttons out”. The term refers to the mostly violent, fast and often random pressing of almost all available or relevant action buttons in a certain game situation one after the other and / or at the same time:
"[A point of criticism would be ...] the tiring, constant carrying out of less exciting fights that can be carried out with simple button mashing [...]"
The word also typically characterizes a game or game aspects:
"The gameplay in [...] can be described fairly succinctly. It's a button-masher . "
variants
Coincidentally
The game designers did not intend this form of button mashing and the associated game successes, but did not try to avoid this design weakness.
Players tend to button mashing when the situation is unclear, when a quick reaction is required - for example if there are many simultaneous attacks - and they do not yet understand the details of the game. Sometimes button mashing simply seems to be the simplest and most economical strategy. The players then quickly and unsystematically press all or a few action buttons. Such players are disparagingly referred to as button masher .
Intended
However, in many video games there are also situations in which the player has to press as many buttons as quickly as possible in order to break free from a certain state. This was intended by the designer, but an exact key system is not necessary. In addition, there are also game principles that require a systematic, fast pressing of certain input keys. This was the case with many track and field computer games from the 1980s and early 1990s.
Even today, many titles are interspersed with sequences and game parts that expect one or a few specific action buttons to be pressed quickly, such as the torture sequences in Metal Gear Solid and similar sequences in Resident Evil 4 . These scenes are clearly designed for violent button presses - there is no alternative if you want to achieve the goal of the game. Of course, it is not always necessary to decide in individual cases whether the mashing potential of a game was the result of intent or a lack of care.
Causes, consequences, possible solutions
Games whose game mechanics rewards the systemless pushing of buttons compared to planned players and do not put a stop to this approach are falling into disrepute. This is the case, for example, in which the query of input commands is timely to the action actually carried out, i.e. H. a particularly large number of actions per unit can be triggered without too many input commands fizzling out unregistered. In particular, many fighting games have to struggle with this problem, as they should both make entry easy and still provide a long-term, fair learning curve . The ideal goal here is that a player who adequately follows the intended game mechanics should have clearly recognizable advantages over a largely haphazard opponent. One means of doing this, for example, are commands that require the correct sequence of keystrokes so that many of the stronger attacks are less likely to be triggered by accidental button presses. In principle, the button mashing potential can be reduced by the fact that more timing is required for successful game control. If, for example, an action of a game figure is carried out in relation to a challenge with insufficient frequency / speed, the player will choose the action according to the criterion of the point in time and not necessarily according to the frequency.
Examples
- Soul Calibur is a representative of randomized button mashing; d. H. Inexperienced players can gain significant compensation for their inexperience with the random, unsystematic approach.
- Track & Field, on the other hand, intends in its entire game mechanics to press certain keys as quickly as possible.
Others
- The mashing potential of a game can be exploited to a greater extent by so-called turbo functions, which are implemented in many input devices, mostly from other manufacturers. This function ensures that a selected action key is automatically called up at such a high frequency that it would not be possible with manual performance or only with sustained great effort.
Notes and sources
- ↑ Uwe Viehmann: Exciting shooting. In: Column Polygon Window /// May 2003. Archived from the original on January 1, 2004 ; accessed on January 13, 2015 .
- ↑ http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/725/725558p1.html