Dashers unite

Oct. 23, 2006

Filed under: Uncategorized Los Angeles

The dash is a movement convention from the world of video games in which a character makes a smooth, fast movement forward with the press of a single button - a special action related to movement that allows the player character to cross from one side of the screen to another quickly, but often precludes any action while on the way (thus differentiating itself from normal movement). Of the popular movement conventions in video games, the dash is one of the few that easily translates to real life.

I've had experiences where my work was so intense that I worked or thought of work from waking up to going to bed, and dreamt of nothing but the work that was left to do. (Generally when I was responsible for a website launching on a deadline.) I've spoken with plenty of people who have had the same experience. Fortunately, i've only experienced that level of work intruding on my idle thoughts a couple of times - I don't really like to work that hard. That doesn't mean that other things haven't significantly colored my perception of reality in the past. In the fall of 2002, my college apartment-mates purchased a PS2 and the fighting game Capcom Vs. SNK 2. Our obsession with the game ran deep, and I saw the screen, the life-bars, and the 20-hit combos when I closed my eyes.

A second layer of meaning

Video games in particular have a way of coloring my world. Well-designed, challenging, addictive video games tend to always be present in the back of my mind for the few weeks it takes me to finish them. Standout examples include Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for the GBA, Fallout 2 on my laptop, and the game I'm currently enjoying, Mega Man Zero 3 (MMZ3).

Worlds such as that of MMZ3 operate as a simplified caricature of the physical world. The main character, effectively 'you', can jump, he can run, he can swing a sword. The way he jumps, runs, and swings, however, is higher, faster, and harder than any person could - and is also free from the challenges of moving in three-dimensional space along an unpredictable surface. Regardless of the unfeasibility, I can't help but transpose some of the problem-solving patterns from the games onto the real world, whether thinking of a path through a dangerous part of town as a hex-map from a turn-based strategy by way of the battles in Fallout 2, or the 'dash' in a game like Aria of Sorrow or MMZ3.

The dash is present in many side-scrolling and fighting games. A key or combo is pressed that causes the player character to move forward quickly for a few seconds, usually with a smooth sliding animation. (Note the movements with shadowy red trails in the video clip linked above.) In games with expansive levels, like MMZ3 or the later Castlevania games, the dash becomes essential to save the player from boredom while traversing familiar terrain, as it allows you to breeze past scenes you've seen before on your way to points of interest. Lately I've been occupied with thoughts of real-life applications of the dash.

From Hot Topic to Macy's, skipping right over Cinnabon and Express

The thought's been kicking around in my head for a while now, but it took a run-in with consumer culture to really drive the concept home. I was in Santa Monica with Zoe, and she had a few things to attend to, leaving me a few hours to kill. I had some shopping to do, and found myself in front of the shopping mall at the end of the Promenade. "I could use some new games, and maybe a nice pair of pants," I said to myself. (I left with neither.) Now, this particular shopping center is both under-attended and full of useless junk. Further compounding the pain is its inconvenient escalator layout that requires a two hundred meter walk to go up a level. I found myself with games on the brain in a repetitive, artificial environment.

I mentally mashed R1 - dammit, why am I not dashing? I can see EB Games right over there - there's nothing between me and there that's of interest!

I didn't actually dash to the EB Games. Social pressure kept me from acting out. Adults don't run unless they are running away from something, or wearing tiny shorts and an iPod. I think that's total bullshit. As long as I'm not endangering pedestrian safety, I think I should be able to dash whenever I want without being suspected of larceny. When I lived in downtown LA, I was a regular pedestrian, and would spontaneously jog from block to block. That is akin to the dash, but I want to take it out of downtown's Alphaville and into

I don't mean to say that my experience within the city should be defined exclusively by endpoints - I know the value of a trip is often in the travel, and not the destination. I daresay I like to stop and smell the roses more than the average Joe, but it's not worth stopping when the roses are made of plastic.

Let's do it, it's good for us

In such situations, I find myself yearning for an effortless way to zoom across space to my destination - a dash. The human body is capable of dashing, after all, and I would only be required to wear comfortable shoes most of the time to pull it off. I know I'll get stares if I do it in a shopping center, and perhaps feel the weight of mall-authority with nothing better to do than hassle an innocent action hero, but the time saved over my lifetime combined with the increased cardiovascular endurance will be well worth it.

I shared these thoughts with Zoe over the weekend, and was pleasantly surprised to find that she occasionally used the dash in her day-to-day. Specifically, she dashes from the elevator to the laundry room on a semi-regular basis. I was heartened to hear this, and am inspired to push myself to dash more in the future.

Sometimes it is not

The upside of the dash is the saving time wasted on transportation and the exercise cubicle veal generally lacks. There are two major downsides that spring to mind, one less serious than the other.

• In LA you might get smelly if you dash a lot. This is solved well enough with strong antiperspirant, moisture-wicking clothing, and more showering.
• It's hard to dash with friends.

The latter is more troubling. In games, the dasher is the solo player character, one against the world. He must charge through hostile territory to reach his goal. In the real world, our lives are practically defined by our interaction with others. If a dasher would dogmatically dash at every opportunity, his or her friendships would have to be strong indeed - either that, or the dasher's relationships would be exclusively with fellow dashers. It reminds me of religious fundamentalists who will only associate with their bretheren in superstition, to the point of purging their homes of secular creative work. It's a tough problem, and I don't have an easy answer.

Dashing off for research

The idea of dashing about in everyday life is quite appealing to me for the positive reasons above, and I am curious about how a dasher might mitigate the negatives. Rather than sit and theorize, I'm taking it to the lab. I'll start dashing more, to lunch and whatnot, and report back with my findings in a future article. I challenge readers who feel aligned with the sentiment to do the same, and report back - we can construct an aggregate report to summarize our experience. Uh, dash on!

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