An Addiction to the Jump Key

If you have been browsing the Daily SPUF for a while, you may have noticed that our chief editor hates anything to do with parkour, platforming and jumping puzzles. Before any sort of parkour can be done, there’s always some hesitation. After all, most games kill you if you fall into a pit.

However, despite my uneasy parkour ‘skills’ (I am not skilled in any way), there’s something odd about how I play video games. I rarely have my feet firmly planted on the ground. In fact, when I move around, I probably jump too much.

But why? Why am I addicted to unneeded jumping?

It kinda feels faster

I don’t think jumping makes you go any faster. But it does feel faster, mostly because you appear to be covering more ground. Normally though, when it comes to speed, sprinting is generally faster. And occasionally you combine the two to jump further. Or climb higher.

That being said, it does very much depend on the game. Bullet-jumps in Warframe are definitely faster, since they are a jump designed to cover more ground. But Warframe’s more of an exception than anything else, since we’re all ninjas.

That being said, even if there is no reason to jump, for example if you’re in a dojo trading, I’ll still be jumping around anyway. It’s like I can’t stop moving and I’m playing ‘the floor is lava’ on my own.

Jumping follows me into other activities

It’s not just jumping to get from A to B more quickly. I actually seem to jump with a lot of things. I’ve noticed lately that I sometimes jump into the air to avoid things rather than running away like a normal person. This however has helped me a few times, as a way of avoiding incoming homing missiles. It hasn’t helped as much when it comes to enemies using slam attacks. Those always send me flying.

The biggest weird thing I do though is that I throw myself into the air to use my ultimate power. If I cast Nova Blast or any of the exalted weapons Warlocks have, I always jump before I cast them. It just feels way more badass than casting an ability while standing still. And back in Warframe, I have an odd habit of jumping whenever I am using a bow or explosive weapon. Why? Who knows. It does look cool though.

Heck, I’ve even caught myself jumping in Skyrim. Which has pretty much no benefit. And, for some reason, looks absolutely ridiculous, with flailing arms.

What started this?

What I struggle to understand is where did all this space bar spam come from? It definitely doesn’t come from Team Fortress 2. I rarely jumped around in TF2 mainly because of Snipers. The movement of a jump is predictable, and I quickly learned that jumping will just make me an easier target. I also rarely jumped a lot in Garry’s Mod, and the handful of MOBA games I played, none of them had any sort of jump mechanic in the first place.

I do have a feeling though that excessive jumping did in fact come from Warframe. But mostly due to a really odd reason: Back when I started playing Warframe, Volt’s Discharge ability had to be cast while standing still. However, if I jumped and used Discharge in mid air, I could use the forward momentum, to avoid being hit while I stood still.

However, despite Discharge being changed to be cast from anywhere, the jumping still sticks with me. I assume it’s just because jumping feels good to do, when I’m not overthinking jumping puzzles…