A playerâs mettle isnât tested solely by his or her ability to press buttons in the right way, at the right time. When playing against another person, skill is only part of the performanceânevermind when playing with an audience present.
Pressure is a real thing, and smart opponents will try to psyche you out however they can. Or, they might try to rile you up, humiliate you or prove their dominance somehow. This is where taunting comes in.
Taunting is a huge part of competitive play, so much so that people find ways to do it even when a game doesnât provide you with one. See, most notably: teabagging in just about any game that allows you to crouch. Alternatively, more polite players might do an action over and over again (like meleeing) just to give you something to look at during the kill cam. Whatever sends the message across.
Street Fighter
Perhaps the most famous in-game taunting would have to be for fighting games. Sometimes, these taunts relay simple messages that are the equivalent to âcome at me, bro.â Sometimes, theyâre just folks showing off. And my personal favoriteâDan from Street Fighter, a character whose entire existence is pretty much that of a joke character. He has a giant goofy grin, a pink gi, and some of the best taunts in any game.
When a player busts out Dan, you know that theyâre doing it for kicks or so that a potential win feels like a knife twistâbecause in that case, you didnât just lose. You lost to Dan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuWszmHlfLk
Here you see Dan starting off with a move thatâs literally called âLegendary Taunt,â which is silly by itself, but then itâs comboed into an ultra, which, yes, also looks absurd-and then ends with a taunt! Perhaps most hilarious is that one of Danâs normal taunts can be used to cancel some ultras for added embarrassment⊠or that Dan is surprisingly capable in battle.
What Dan here represents is my favorite type of taunt: the useable taunt. Itâs not just for show; youâre not just pressing a button to do something cool.
Team Fortress 2
Think, for instance, of the taunts in Team Fortress 2, which can one-hit-KO an enemy if done correctlyâlike the scoutâs baseball taunt. The timing on this taunt is tricky to keep the game balanced. If youâre not careful, the move could actually put you in danger. But if you do manage to land the taunt, then not only do you get the satisfaction of pulling it off, you get a kill and your victim likely feels humiliated. Score.
Gears of War
Other programmed taunts donât come in until after an opponentâs death. In Gears of War 3, you have the ability to execute a player and, for extra points, to keep that execution going for far longer than it has to. You might, for instance, rip someoneâs arm off and them beat them with it for a while. The player canât respawn while you do this, they have to suffer through their disgrace.
Itâs difficult not to resort to these taunts even when you know theyâll get you killed, because theyâre just that satisfying to do depending on the game. In this case, Gears features rivals, which a match denotes after someone kills you at least five times in a single match. Rivals are perfect excuse opportunities to taunt.
Itâs surprising that for such a bro game, there are no bro taunts in Gears of War, though. Theyâre practically the most important kind of taunt!
https://lastchance.cc/the-importance-of-being-a-bro-5966311%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Mortal Kombat
Though typically not identified as a taunt, I donât know what else youâd call the fatalities in Mortal Kombat. If a tauntâs purpose is to âanger, wound, or provoke someoneâ (according to the dictionary), thatâs exactly what the gruesome act against a dazed, nearly dead opponent does⊠which is to say, not all taunts in games are identified as such.
When it comes to fatalities, theyâre like the final sendoffâonly, it isnât just about letting you die, itâs making sure you die in the most vicious, âscenicâ way possible. Itâs super aggressive.
I never was able to pull off a damned fatalityâand that just made me feel that much more inferior when they happened to me.
A lot of what taunts boil down to, then, is power dynamics. Youâre showing someone youâre capable and powerful, youâre proving that youâre in control of the situation, that you overwhelmed them, or that you have the confidence to be reckless. Taunting is almost always reckless, after all.
Even when itâs a âfor funâ thing, when youâre just being silly, itâs still a power dynamic. Youâre essentially saying that you have the freedom to not take things seriously, which can be particularly provoking for someone.
A lot of what taunts boil down to, then, is power dynamics.
Itâs strange to think, though, that some of these examplesâprogrammed examples!âarguably go kind of far. Taking a whole minute of subjecting someone to a taunt would probably be considered bad sportsmanship in real life, no?
In a video game, though, itâs just another challenge for a player, another thing that tests themâitâs just a part of the competitive spirit.
