The work of TAG’s own Jason Begy was recently featured in an article on Polygon entitled “The Rise of the Jump.” The article explores why players enjoy jumping in games and examines how jumping has evolved in various video game genres. (It also has some fantastic scrolling effects!)
Jason’s work on jumping traces the history of the mechanic from folk board games from numerous regions to contemporary video games. He argues that jumping is an expression of power rooted in our positive associations with height, and therefore is non-linguistic evidence in support of Lakoff and Johnson’s theories of metaphor.
You can read the Polygon article at: http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/1/20/5227582/the-rise-of-the-jump
And Jason’s paper at: http://www.jasonbegy.info/Begy_Jumping.pdf