Yaw

In determining difficulty when it comes to positioning, taking an account of the player's body in relation to the game screen is critical. In a previous section, I mentioned the term yaw which should be familiar to enthusiasts of aeronautics. The plane has 3 axes of rotation, the roll which is the axis of rotation used to complete a barrel roll. The tilt which is the axis of rotation to complete a loop. Finally the yaw which is merely the axis of rotation used to steer the plane left and right; the vertical axis. Our bodies use this vertical axis of rotation on a regular basis to change directions while walking. When speaking of yaw, we simply mean the turn of the player's body.

To measure the yaw we use degrees as this is a rotation quantity and compare the approximate angle of the player's hips in relation to the game screen. When the player is facing the game screen at the start of play, this orientation allows for the most efficient method for reading the patterns on the game screen. Essentially, the player now has the best field-of-view to read patterns; the maximal viewfield. In this position the yaw rotation is 0 (degrees), the player's feet match with the arrows; left foot on left arrow and right foot on right arrow. As the player steps on different arrows, the rotation of the player's hips will change. As they face more left, the yaw becomes a negative number, while facing right the yaw becomes positive. Now take the following two-step pattern:

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Depending on the arrows preceding this pattern the player's feet could be on either of the arrows. Though as an aside, the foot that hits the down of any pattern determines which direction the player is facing, the opposite is true for the foot used on the up arrow. In both possible examples, the player's yaw is rotated 90 degrees from the maximal viewfield (either negative or positive, depending on which foot is where). For the sake of description rather than referring to the rotational degrees, we can define these positions as the moderate viewfields, either with a full left orientation and full right orientation. Now take a look at the next pattern.

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In this example, the arrows that would precede this pattern are crucial to determining the viewfield. If this pattern begins using the left foot hitting the left arrow, then it would describe an orientation with a maximal viewfield to the game screen. However, if our study was not concerned about our player reading arrows from the game screen but still relied on recording if they were able to do so, this pattern could begin using the left foot hitting the right arrow and the right foot hitting the left arrow. In this unnatural scenario, we can define this orientation with a minimal viewfield; the opposite of maximal. In other words, it is at this point that it is the hardest for the player to read the game screen.

Between maximal and moderate are the standard range viewfields. This area which essentially lives between the full left orientation and full right orientation (ie.: between -90 degrees and 90 degrees of yaw rotation) passing through the orientation with maximal viewfield is where most players traditionally spend their time while playing a chart. The opposite of this area, the orientations between minimal and moderate are limited range viewfields. The patterns that intend for a player to rotate into this range, which passes through the minimal viewfield, are considerably more difficult to perform than the maximal counterparts. Moving forward, we can quantify the number of times it is intended for a player to be orientated within the standard and limited viewfield ranges and hypothesize that the more intended time spent with a limited viewfield, the harder the chart should be considered. We can also quantify the number of times a player is intended to be in a left orientation versus a right orientation. As I plan to explain later, ETS syndrome will suggest that a balanced orientation is more difficult than a disproportioned one.