# Player tics in video games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 20, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443 "2023-09-20T23:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/1 "2023-09-20T23:39:59Z")
What is something you _always_ do in video games that has very little, or even no, impact on the game? I always jump for the Koopalings’ Wands in _Super Mario Bros. 3._ I always shout out “WAAAAAH!” and raise my right fist when I beat Ingo in the horse races in _The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time_ (because he does that to me when _he_ wins). ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/2 "2023-09-21T01:10:36Z")
Back when I used to play DDO, I played with keyboard and mouse. For whatever reason, I would slightly sway side to side during combat. I think I was simulating putting my weight behind attacks, but I wasn’t really doing it consciously. I don’t often have cause to go back and watch those old videos – especially since they were in 1024x768 – but when I do the swaying bugs me. [Here’s video queued up](https://youtu.be/jvH24cJmElc?t=3m37s) to an example where my unarmed monk is fighting a maralith. (The maralith keeps turning around because of a special attack I’m using.) See that swaying back and forth? Gives me a headache. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/3 "2023-09-22T20:44:14Z")
In any game where defeated enemies drop health boosts, I always make sure to grab all of them, even if I’m at full health. Because if I don’t, then the game might conclude I don’t want them, and not give them to me when I do need them. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2023, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/4 "2023-09-22T21:00:18Z")
In games where there are food items that have a tiny effect on your character (e.g. a tiny bit of healing or a tiny buff), I always end up with an inventory full of hundreds of unconsumed sandwiches, chicken legs, soda cans, etc. I know I should either use them or stop picking them up, but I just can’t… ---
**Author:** ![Bashorian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bashorian/32/3546_2.png) [@Bashorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bashorian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/5 "2023-09-23T01:36:37Z")
In Skyrim every time I slay a dragon I stare in its eyes as I absorb its soul. It’s an act of dominance. As David slew Goliath, the Dragonborn asserts their supremacy. And whenever I kill an NPC that has attacked me without provocation, like one of the Vigilants of Stendar, or some mercenary, or a bandit that has attacked my home, I strip them of every possession and every piece of clothing so that their body lay naked in disgrace in the dirt or on the floor or wherever, even if I just turn around and drop everything I’ve just taken. They have committed an assault against me and my friends and my property and they must pay. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/6 "2023-09-26T13:56:54Z")
Hang on to characters’ original gear/clothing long after it makes sense. Sure, you have a fine Italian suit now with a ballistic fiber vest underneath but what if one day I need to put you back in that original stained t-shirt? Plus, you know, it’s not MY t-shirt to just sell for 75¢ at the merchant; he had that long before I got on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/7 "2023-09-27T00:36:43Z")
I was going to say that that one was silly… but then I remembered that, every single time I’ve played through the original Final Fantasy, when I’ve gone up against Chaos, somewhere in one party member’s inventory was still that Hat I found in a treasure chest in the first dungeon. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/8 "2023-09-27T00:48:04Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Hang on to characters’ original gear/clothing long after it makes sense. It’s actually a good idea to do this in Final Fantasy IX. There’s a remote castle that you enter at some point as part of the story, in which the weaker the weapon you use, the stronger your attacks are. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/9 "2023-09-27T00:51:47Z")
Two issues for me. One, if I have anything that’s a consumable, I’ll hesitate to use it, because I might need it more at some hypothetical future point. Which means at later stages in the game I’ll have a metric ton of obsolete potions, scrolls, limited use items and the like which will somehow never be thrown away either. Second, in RTS / base building games, I want to build largely symmetrical settlements, so that things are evenly spaced, even if it creates a minor degree of inefficiency. But otherwise my eyes hurt looking at them. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/10 "2023-09-30T14:55:08Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > if I have anything that’s a consumable, I’ll hesitate to use it, because I might need it more at some hypothetical future point. Which means at later stages in the game I’ll have a metric ton of obsolete potions, scrolls, limited use items and the like which will somehow never be thrown away either. This is me; just replace “hesitate” with “never”. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2023, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/11 "2023-09-30T15:40:59Z")
I won’t say I’m in a never camp, but my willingness to use them is in direct relation to how common / many uses it has. If it’s something that’s common (say the base healing potion), lots of hesitation, but I’ll use them probably 20% of the time. So hundreds (or more) sitting around later. One / few (like 3) time use items that can’t be replaced? That’s a never. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/player-tics-in-video-games/990443/12 "2023-10-01T21:18:12Z")
Yeah, I’m really bad about expending resources, too. That’s part of why I usually end up playing a rogue, in D&D, because all of my cool stuff is stuff that never runs out.