Straferunning

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In video games, particularly in first-person shooters (FPSs), straferunning (known as speed-strafing among players of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark) is a technique that allows a player to run faster through levels by moving forwards and sideways at the same time. The game will combine these actions and the player will achieve a roughly 40 percent greater speed. The method used by the game can be demonstrated using vector addition. The original Doom was one of the most notable games to allow straferunning.

An example of vector addition, for purposes of the example given. Image is reused; in gameplay, the vectors A and B are perpendicular.

A player starts at an arbitrary point and presses a button causing them to travel forwards at a velocity of, for example, 1 "unit" per second. At the same time, the player presses another button causing them to move to the right at the same speed.

Where bold denotes vectors, and i and j represent perpendicular unit vectors:

[ \mathbf = \mathbf, \mathbf = \mathbf \Rightarrow \mathbf + \mathbf = \mathbf + \mathbf ]

Then by Pythagoras' theorem, the length of vector a + b (in other words, the speed at which the player travels) is:

[ \left\|\mathbf\right\|=\sqrt+\mathbf}=\sqrt \approx 1.4 ]

Since [\sqrt > 1 ], the speed when moving in both directions at once is faster than when moving in one direction. Players can therefore make use of this increased speed in order to gain some kind of advantage; in GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark it is used to complete levels more quickly than would otherwise be possible.

More recent FPS games eliminate this problem, ensuring that a player travelling diagonally moves at the same speed as one moving in the four standard directions.

A similar boost in speed is achieved in Team Fortress Classic, and in the original Doom by holding down the strafe key (which, despite its name, does not cause the player to strafe but rather to sidestep) while running along a wall. This is called wall strafing or wall hugging.

It is also noted that it was possible to Straferun in Everquest.

Straferunning

See also