A QTE is a series of timed button presses or keystrokes usually in time with a pre-arranged scene, or in response to in-game artefacts (being ambushed, grabbed, shot at etc).

While QTEs may be employed to break up gameplay and add involvement to the story, as was demonstrated most recently in Farcry 3, many gamers see QTEs as poorly implemented hurdles to avoid progressive game development and increase the overall game length. This has led to the meme "press x to not die" regarding such titles.

The appearance of QTEs is most common in games with relatively restrictive control systems such as; Resident Evil 5, Prince of Persia and Battlefield 3, but has also shown itself in less restrictive titles such as; Bayonetta, Dragon's Dogma and Halo 4. The game Farenheit consisted entirely of QTE based puzzles, but as the game had no general need for a control scheme it was met with less of a venomous reception for that element.