DDR Community Study - replies greatly appreciated

[MaskedFalcon]

How long have you been playing DDR? Which DDR games have you played, and do you have a favorite among them? How much do you play on average?

I've been DDRing since May 2005, so that makes a year and 5 months. I started off on the home version, but now I exclusively play at the arcade (largely because I don't have a PlayStation or X-Box). Besides pauses when I was on vacation or at camp, I play DDR once every week or every other week, for five rounds of three songs each (plus extra stages).

In what form do you play? Do you play at home or at arcades? If at home, do you play primarily alone, with friends, or online (can one play online?) Are you in any sort off DDR group or do you know anyone who is, and if so, what do you/they do in it?

I play alone at the movie arcade. I have a few friends that play DDR, but we haven't formed a group and we usually play DDR separately.

Do you dance besides in the game? Either way, what in your mind differentiates the game from regular dancing? What do you like best about the DDR games? Do you care about the sense of accomplishment the game can provide by having disctinct levels to beat and a score to record your progress? To feel any sense of fantasy when playing the game?

Outside of DDR, I do some dancing in school musicals. This year my high school is doing Cats, so the dancing will be quite strenuous!

DDR and dancing, of course, are not the same thing, but they aren't mutually exclusive either, if you freestyle to the steps. I do both perfect attack and a moderate extent of freestyle (usually to easy heavy steps like After the Game of Love), but I haven't really explored choreographing a routine to a stepchart.

I do get a sense of accomplishment in improving my scores (I tally the number of 9-foot AA's I get), but for me DDR is less about the score and more about the stepchart. I like to play charts that are fun, which is why I overplay Spin the Disc and xenon, even though I could spend my time trying to AAA 1998 or Freckles.

What sorts of external participation do you engage in? Do you post to forums (including this one) often? Have you created any sort of DDR media -- wallpapers, alternate storylines, video clips... etc.? If so, did you make them available online? Have you ever created informational pages--walkthroughs or FAQs or the like? Have you ever been to an DDR convention or other event? What other games do you like, and do you participate in those fan communities as well?

Well, judging by my posts per day I post on DDRFreak once every day, when I am not too busy (or even when I am, like today - I just did a run through a student-run musical [not Cats, this is different], and it's late). I haven't created any DDR videos or guides, but I hope to find the time to choreograph a freestyle routine and get that online.

I haven't gone to any DDR conventions or tournaments - the closest thing I had to that was an anime convention that included an ITG booth with Kyle Ward. I'm not a big fan of ITG though.

Outside of DDR I'm a general gamer, especially SNES games (though I wouldn't characterize myself as an old-school gamer), and I participate in the competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee community, in which I've gone to a number of tournaments.

To what extent do you think your participation in the DDR community (and, in fact, your use of DDR itself) derives from a desire for closer connection to people, as opposed to closer connection to the game? Do you feel you've to know people through either the game or the fan community? Do you feel you've gotten particularly close to anyone through the game or the fan community? If not, are these things you'd be interested in?

Personally, I do DDR for myself and not to get closer to anybody. I stay pretty aloof in the community, throwing around comments but not trying to ingratiate myself with anybody. That's how I am in most communities, including Pokemasters (my very first message board) and Smashboards. I know DDR players peripherally, by reading their posts and learning more about them, but I haven't *really* gotten to know anybody.
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tac-tics wrote:

The song A is actually pronounced "Wizzy wizzy boop dah dah dodo kazoo!" and it always has to be shouted.

[BDecker19]

To everyone who posted,
Thank you so much for your help. Everyone seems really to have put time and thought into their responses, and I greatly appreciate that. The paper's coming along well.
Some of the main points I've taken away from this discussion are as follows. DDR seems not to be attractive so much as a creative endeavour ('it's nothing like dancing' everyone says), but more as a series of challeneges to be met, as excercise, and--for many (although certainly not all)--as a fun thing to do with friends. External participation seems primarily to consist of either posting to forums, or getting together with other players in order to compete -- there doesn't seem to be the emphasis on things like customization and media creation (be it wallpapers or videos or whatever else) that you see with many other games.
If any of you feel that these impressions are inaccurate, definitely let me know. Otherwise, thank you again for all your help, and see you on the dance pad...

[dinsfire]

Yeah, when you said there

[BDecker19]

That's a very good point, and in fact one that I should emphasize. You're right, there are tons and tons of videos. Although, most seem to be clips of people just playing -- well, very talented people playing -- the game as it is, and don't involve any sort of modification or re-creation of it. It seems more like its about showing off skills then trying to connect to the content of the game in some new way. Would you agree with this, or still you think its off? Thanks,
-Ben

[dinsfire]

I figured you meant no videos at all. But in that case, no. I have yet to see a ddr video modified. I have, however, seen a video sped up making it look like he is better than he is.

[Apoc]

Well, I'm not sure you've seen the whole picture with 'external media creation' or 'modification.'

StepMania is a computer-based version of DDR, but its songs and dance steps have to be downloaded online. These steps are created by users around the world and uploaded to websites like www.bemanistyle.com . If you go on Bemanistyle and look up simfiles for download, there's at least 7,180 files, all of which were user-created and had nothing to do with Konami (other than maybe that's where the song originated).

There's a huge subculture of StepMania file creation and simfile editing. Often in addition to the steps themselves, the author creates artistic backgrounds or moviefiles to play while the song is being played, and in rare instances the user even creates the audiofile.

And that's your crashcourse on simfiles.
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CEO Nwabudike Morgan wrote:

I, CEO Nwabudike Morgan, on behalf of Morgan Industries, approve this post.

[naoki_fangirl]

[dinsfire]