fast travel
Very CommonA game mechanic that teleports you instantly to a previously visited location, skipping travel time.
Context-dependent: used neutrally as a game term, positively when wishing real life had it, or critically in design discussions about games that rely on it too heavily.
Real-world examples5 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 3 hour drive today. wish life had fast travel | The speaker wants to skip the tedious real-world travel the way games allow. | x, 2024 |
| 02 | they took out fast travel in this update and i immediately quit | Removing the quality-of-life feature made the game unplayable for this person. | reddit, 2023 |
| 03 | doing a no fast travel playthrough. it's been 4 hours and i'm still in the starting region | Playing without the mechanic massively changes the pace and scale of the game. | reddit, 2023 |
| 04 | he fast traveled straight to the argument without any context. classic | Someone jumped into a confrontation or conclusion without the necessary background. | x, 2024 |
| 05 | fast travel is not cheating. i have a job and a family. i am not walking across skyrim again | The player is defending their use of the convenience feature against gaming purists. | reddit, 2024 |
Use it when
- Describing the in-game mechanic of teleporting to discovered locations.
- Wishing real-life travel worked the way games handle it.
- Complaining about a game that restricts or removes the feature.
- Using it as a verb for any situation where someone skips directly to a destination.
Do not use it when
- You mean a teleportation power or ability in a game's fiction.
Origin and context
Fast travel as a game mechanic appeared in various forms through the 1990s and became standard in 3D open-world games in the 2000s. Morrowind and later Oblivion and Skyrim made it a defining quality-of-life feature. The term crossed into everyday speech as gaming vocabulary entered mainstream use.
- First seen
- early-2000s
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/fast-travelUpdated: 2026-08-29License: CC BY 4.0