note: any post that starts with "ARCHIVE:" is something that I wrote either for an older blog or in some other location, but deemed worth of copying over to this.
For me, jumping has nothing to do with the practicality of being able to jump over objects (it's a nice bonus, though).
The ability to jump is about freedom. It's not like an emote (a static animation unaffected by the surrounding area). There are a couple games I've played where the jump has been more like an emote and it has defeated the purpose. Real jumping in a game proves the existence of gravity in the world you are inhabiting. For example, if you jump while moving down a hill, you'll stay in the air longer (emote-like jumping wouldn't do this).
Jumping is important to me because it makes the world feel more like...well, a world. It prevents me from feeling like I'm glued to the ground. The existence of gravity and the existence of real space outside the confines of the ground increases my immersion. It's a strange phenomenon, admittedly, but, for some reason, jumping is crucial to my feeling of freedom in an online world.
I never notice or think of it until I play a game WITHOUT jumping, but the freedom to mash my spacebar as I run from place to place is vital to my enjoyment of the game. Maybe I think I'm moving faster, maybe I just hate being glued to the ground, but I wholeheartedly agree
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