Time Traveling for Dummies

Discuss this post in The Guild Hall!

Like all members of Overwatch, Tracer is an exceptional person, even without the supernatural gifts granted to her by the test flight accident.  Add in those extra time travel and teleportation abilities, though, and you’ve got an outrageously powerful combatant packed into a tiny frame.  Make no mistake, Tracer’s got some serious potential.

Of course, we can’t actually travel time (yet,) so what should we do if we’re looking to embody Tracer’s unique skills and abilities?  Well, for starters we can try…

Chess

Bear with me here, I know this sounds lame, but chess (and other strategy games,) might be one of the best training tools for virtual “time travel” we’ve got.  Chess requires you to plot your moves ahead of time, taking your opponents’ potential moves into account, as well.  Taking external variables into account and accurately plotting potential outcomes is pretty damn close to being able to see the future.

Now, Tracer’s ability to jump through time comes into play, here.  She lives in multiple times streams when she’s not being regulated by the device she wears on her chest, and when you’re planning out moves in a strategy game, you’re also living in multiple time streams.  You can’t take back a move you’ve already made, but you can plot multiple potential courses of action, and alter them as variables change.

Now, chess is a great game, and there’s tons of resources out there for learning it (https://www.chess.com/ is fantastic,) however it’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (British reference, woohoo!)  Learning to see the future can be accomplished in any strategy game but particularly those that involve pieces on a board.  Personally, I’m currently playing the heck out of Duelyst.  Atlas Reactor also looks super interesting, although I haven’t had a chance to try it, yet.

The point is, you can train your own mind to travel through time by utilizing complex strategy games to build your planning “muscles.”  It may not be teleportation and short-term time rewinding, but it’s a start.  Once you start to gain a knack for planning situations ahead, you can start to incorporate it into other areas of your life.  Remember, the idea isn’t just to track your own plans ahead, but to account for all the variables on the board (in your life) and see how they could go as well.  It’s difficult, and it takes work, but the benefits can be huge!

Test Pilot Prodigy

Tracer begins her career at Overwatch as a test pilot, not a combatant agent.  When an experimental flight goes awry, it throws her into a time flux, which she only escapes with Winston’s help.

Now, I can’t guarantee a time-traveling misadventure will be involved, but it could be possible for YOU to become a test pilot, as well.  Now, one way to do this is to join your nation’s air force and express an interest in doing so.  Show enough desire and potential (along with the necessary physical requirements,) and you could very well be on your way to becoming the next Chuck Yeager.

Don’t feel like joining the military?  There are other options!  The National Test Pilot School offers training to prospective civilian test pilots, without required military training!  They also train test pilots from all over the world, so you don’t have to be from the US to go train there!  If this sounds like it might be what you’re looking for, go and check out their website!

In the end, even if you aren’t a test pilot, learning to fly can be a really awesome, rewarding endeavor, worthy of any real life game character.  It’s definitely on MY to-do list in the relatively near future, and it could be on yours as well!  Remember, it’s possible, if you have the desire to see it done!

Super Mobility

So we may not be able to teleport, or travel through time, but we can develop superior maneuverability skills through hard work, practice, and some nifty gadgets!  The Tracer Workout will help, for sure, but learning skills and employing technology will get you even further.

Parkour

Obviously, parkour always assists in developing mobility.  It’s something we’ve discussed a ton on the blog here, and it’s always worth bringing up again.  Being able to climb and traverse obstacles that others simple can’t is just about as good as teleporting, when it comes to the kind of situations you’ll be running into in real life where you might need teleportation.  One of my favorite parkour channels on YouTube is LaFlair Parkour.  Check it out!  Tons of great tutorials, as well as other entertaining stuff!

Jumping Stilts

Jumping stilts are awesome!  You can run up to 25 miles an hour, jump 10 feet in the air, and traverse terrain you can’t on your regular old legs!  There are many popular brands of jumping stilts, but the most popular are probably AirTrekkers.  They’re comparable to the price of a decent entry-level bicycle, and in my opinion, they’re way more fun (though not quite as energy efficient.)  A word of caution: Jumping stilts can be dangerous if you aren’t experienced in their use.  Take it slow, and gradually ramp up your adventures.  =D

Gymnastics

Enrolling in a gymnastics class will help with your agility, your balance, and your total body coordination.  Tracer may not be a gymnast, specifically, but gymnastics-type maneuvers and skills will boost your mobility, your agility, and your speed (all of which Tracer has in spades.)  It will also enhance your parkour and your workouts, so it’s worth finding a local facility to train at!

That’s about it for our coverage of Tracers skills!  I can’t teach you how to build a time-traveling teleportation vest (yet,) but hopefully these will help you embody the spirit of Tracer’s talents, if not her specific in-game skill sets.

I’ll see you again on Monday with The Innocence of Tracer!  Until then, as always, remember to live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome!

Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace