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In real-time strategy (RTS) and team-based first-person shooter (FPS) computer games, a rush is a fast attack at the beginning of the game. It emphasizes speed over strategy in an attempt to overwhelm an unprepared opponent. In fighting games, this style of play is called rushdown.
Real-time strategy (RTS)
In RTS games, to perform a rush, the attacking player focuses on building a large number of fast, cheap units adept at attacking. The player who rushes may sacrifice such options as greater long-term resource gathering or immediate research up the tech tree to opt instead for a quick strike.
A successful rush usually attempts to disrupt the resource gathering of the defending player. The rush is a risky tactic. If the rush is successful, then the player may have won the game or significantly set his or her opponent back; if the rush fails, then the rushing player may have wasted valuable time and resources that would have been better spent on research or building types of units not as well adapted toward the rush. A rush can also be considered a mass attack with primarily only one type of unit used, and depends on overwhelming numbers and force to succeed. The rush is often a suicidal (for the units involved) attack; rushing units are often expected to die, but to nevertheless benefit the player initiating the rush by disrupting the opponent's operations.
The term "rush" is often preceded by a word describing the type of unit used in the rush. For example, in the game StarCraft, a Terran player may use a marine rush a Protoss player may use a zealot rush, and a Zerg player may use the infamous zergling rush. The units used are almost always cheap, easy to produce, and weak compared to other units.
Origins
The first common appearances of the term rush in this sense come from Warcraft II (1995) and Command and Conquer: Red Alert (1996). Warcraft II players used the term grunt rush, the "grunts" being the Orc footmen. In Red Alert, so-called tank rushes were a dominant strategy for players using the Soviet forces.
The term was further popularized by the strategy of Zerg rush (typically with the zergling unit, so the term was also known as zergling rush or in a more abbreviated form as ling rush), from StarCraft (1998). At the time StarCraft online play began, the Zerg could execute faster rushes than either the Terran or the Protoss; players considered the Zerg the race most likely to and best-adapted to rushing. Later balance changes implemented through patching and the release of an expansion pack improved the rushing abilities of the other races and de-emphasized Zerg rushing. As time went on, the term rush became applied to other races in StarCraft, and to other real-time strategy games as well.
Culture
When the first RTS games were released in the early to mid 1990s, and rushes were first discovered, rushes were considered to be an unskilled tactic in many RTS gaming circles. However, the very design of RTS games basically allow a rush of some type to exist in any game. Furthermore, a rush that failed was likely to result in the loss of the rushing player, so a rush involved taking an inherent risk. Consequently, soon the opposite became true: players who could rush well became respected. By the late 1990s, in most RTS games, virtually all good players practiced the rush, which is still considered a standard and completely acceptable strategy.
In StarCraft, the rush is often accompanied by chat that includes East Asian-style Internet lingo such as "kekeke" and East Asian-style emoticons such as "^__^"; this is indicative of StarCraft's popularity in South Korea.
First-person shooter (FPS)
Rushing in team-based first-person shooters has the same meaning as in real-time strategy games, and the term probably originates from RTS games. The opposite of rushing in this sense is camping. In FPS games, rushing is often considered to be an honorable tactic, in contrast to camping which is often looked down upon as a dishonorable tactic.
A team will rush towards an objective or certain area of the map hoping to overwhelm the players there before backup can arrive. In a round-based game like Counter-Strike, players rush typically in an all-or-nothing attempt at the beginning of the round. In most other first-person shooters players spawn continuously, so they might wait and plan for a group of players to form a rush. For example in Unreal Tournament 2004's "Onslaught" mode (territorial control), players might prepare an organized rush to capture the last control point and win the game.
Fighting game
In the world of fighting games, especially those of the 2-D variety, rushdown is a play style utilizing aggressive, unrelenting attacks designed to cause mental intimidation in the other player (due to the visually impressive string of attacks), and force them, due to the increased game pace, to make defensive errors, leading to punishable mistakes. Characters who excel in this style are referred to as "rushdown characters". A rushdown game is inherently a game of calculated risks.
This style is apparently the signature style of West Coast players.
Notable rushdown characters: Ken Masters, Ryu, Magneto, M. Bison, Balrog, Vega
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