Do new kids know about strafing?

[Koko Ricky]

Because I played Doom '16 on my brother-in-law's PS4 yesterday, and before it was his turn, I played a bit and told him about the gameplay. I mentioned strafing and he had no goddamn clue what I meant. Which means he didn't know what strafe jumping or circle strafing was, but he kinda knew what bunny hopping is. He's a COD player, which has strafing, but I'm guessing he never really thought seriously about it. Now, he's 15, so I'll forgive his ignorance, but if he sits around playing FPS games from time to time, I'm surprised that the word hasn't entered his vocabulary. So like, do today's kids just not think about strafing as a maneuver or what? It's absolutely essentially in Doom.

[Arctangent]

They probably just don't distinguish it from walking.

Know and understand the concept, just don't have a word for it or just call it something more typical, like "sidestepping."

[Li'l devil]

Yeah, strafing is more old-fashioned term for moving to the left/right or sidestepping. I mean, i always knew how to move left/right in videogames, obviously, but it took me awhile to learn that it's called straferunning.

[Arctangent]

ChekaAgent said:

Yeah, strafing is more old-fashioned term for moving to the left/right or sidestepping. I mean, i always knew how to move left/right in videogames, obviously, but it took me awhile to learn that it's called straferunning.

Actually, strafing and straferunning are two different things. Straferunning is moving diagonally to take advantage of the fact that Doom does not create a vector out of your inputs, it just moves you forward if you're pressing forward, left if you're pressing left, etc. and since it's the same amount of force from both inputs whether or not you're doing them at the same time, you end up moving faster by moving that way. Since, you know, you have two forces acting on you instead of one that's aimed between them.

[VGamingJunkie]

If anything, strafing is easier than it was back in the day since strafing back then was defaulted to the alt button, at least in my experience because I never bothered learning how to change the keys. Now, turning is relegated to the mouse with the A and D buttons handling the strafing so it's really easy to do.

[LogicDeLuxe]

I guess, since most games come with WASD pre-assigned, with A and D used for strafing, it is intuitive enough, that you don't even need a name for it to get the concept. It's usually just called movement divided into forward, backward, left and right. And turning comes next, usually pre-assinged to mouse x.

[rehelekretep]

probably because keyboard use meant there was a differentiation on the keyboard between TURN left, and MOVE left (strafe), whereas gamepads and mice have rendered TURN buttons/commands moot in modern FPSs. there's just LEFT & RIGHT in the menu, and all turning is handled on the mouse/analog stick.

[fraggle]

If people are using "sidestep" instead of "strafe" I'm glad, since strafing in warfare means something entirely different and I never understood where "strafe" as a term came from in gaming.

[kuchitsu]

"Sidestep" sounds weak imo. No power in this word. I just can't imagine "sidestepping" while running, in my mind it is a much slower kind of movement.

[baja blast rd.]

It sounds like a sort of dance.

[plums]

In Thief 1/2 they call it "sliding" which is probably the worst choice of words for it I've seen.

[scifista42]

kuchitsu said:

I just can't imagine "sidestepping" while running,

Siderunning!

[Voros]

I shall test each one these now with my feet.
I doing this depending on how the words sound and feel.

Sidestepping- one feet over another, right?
Siderunning- ... too hilarious to do properly!
Sideskipping- really weird and exhausting.
Sliding- ... is it like a step to the right/left... yes.

No wonder why "strafing" sounds better

[fraggle]

kuchitsu said:

"Sidestep" sounds weak imo. No power in this word.

Why does the act of walking sideways need to sound "powerful"? Ridiculous.

[Phml]

Running laterally at 40mph sounds pretty powerful to me. That's an Olympic runner launched at full speed, not the careful moving of one feet over another to circle an obstacle on the ground sidestepping brings to mind.

[LogicDeLuxe]

If I had to name it, I would call it "dodge".

[Blastfrog]

How about just "move forward/backward/left/right"?

[Jayextee]

Common usage has seen to it that 'strafing' is pretty accepted parlance for sideways motion in games (see: the Wikipedia page), so I don't see why we shouldn't just use that. After all, that's how language works.

Whether or not some younger/newer players know what it is doesn't factor. With said usage of word, eventually they'll encounter it being used in a way that allows them to contextualise its meaning. After all, that's how learning works.

[HXCpr0n]

Everybody strafes in fps games lol. Some people just don't care to learn the term for it on the internet

[Reisal]

Let them learn the hard way.

[Fonze]

To be fair, as a few people said, most games nowadays don't even contain the word "strafe;" it's all just "movement." "Move" and "Look:" those are the two control sticks and that's the overall effect of wasd+mouse. Controls have gotten away from the "move forward/backward"/"turn left/right" and "look up/down"/"strafe left/right" to simply "move" and "turn." There's no reason any more to differentiate between movement and strafing for modern gaming. But it is still pretty pathetic that many kids haven't even heard the term "strafe," lol.

Glaice said:

Let them eat cake.

ftfy

[ptoing]

Where did the term first come up? From what I remember it was used in the original Wolfenstein 3D, and I guess went from there. No clue if there are earlier appearances of the term in games.

What do these "new kids" call circlestrafing?

[Arctangent]

ptoing said:

What do these "new kids" call circlestrafing?

Circling? Circle on its own works entirely well as a verb, you know.

[ptoing]

That is true. :o

[LogicDeLuxe]

ptoing said:

No clue if there are earlier appearances of the term in games.

Is there even an older game which supports strafing? Early games were usually made to be controlled with a 4-directional joystick and one or two action buttons. Strafing was usually not on the priority list to be implemented for the limited controls.

[Li'l devil]

ptoing said:

Where did the term first come up? From what I remember it was used in the original Wolfenstein 3D, and I guess went from there. No clue if there are earlier appearances of the term in games.

Wolf 3D had strafing? I didn't know that..

ptoing said:

What do these "new kids" call circlestrafing?

They probably don't know how to circlestrafe at all.. :)

[BigDickBzzrak]

There is a "strafe" key in Catacomb 3D.

[roadworx]

i mean, i'm 15 and i know what strafing and circlestrafing is

[Koko Ricky]

roadworx said:

i mean, i'm 15 and i know what strafing and circlestrafing is

Lol yeah but you also play Doom, so of course you'd know.

[Inkie]

Strafing went out of speech when the whole WASD+Mouse controls became more standard. Holding alt to strafe or whatever wasn't needed anymore. Now in the controls options it usually just says "Move Forward/Back/Left/Right".

Most gamers are old enough to remember strafing as a thing, but it typically isn't mentioned in games. Much like how the save icon is still a floppy disk even though those haven't really existed for over a decade.