8 ms·

I think perhaps you are confusing the idea of VIM's input paradigm being efficient for text editing, with the idea of VIM's input paradigm being efficient in ge

by jmts 9y ago

I think perhaps you are confusing the idea of VIM's input paradigm being efficient for text editing, with the idea of VIM's input paradigm being efficient in general. Video games that have adopted the use of a mouse have not done so for lack of a keyboard - they have done so because the combination of a mouse with keyboard is more powerful than one or the other. They're using the right tool for the job. A mouse's strength comes from its ability to encode movement. A keyboard can do this also, but it requires many more inputs to achieve the same result. Consider that for every unit we wish to move a pointer, we need to either press a key once, or move a mouse 1mm. If I wish to move the pointer 100 units, I need to press a key 100 times. Whether I choose to do this repeatedly or by using the system's key repeat feature to make it happen, it will take some time. With a mouse, I just need to move the mouse 10cm. One movement of the mouse is worth 100 keystrokes. Increasing the efficiency of the keyboard requires added complexity. In the case of VIM it might translate to something like "100j". But continually typing "100j45k10l" etc is not beneficial for fast paced FPSs. A mouse's disadvantage while editing text, is the requirement for both hands to be at the keyboard at the same time in order to type anything moderately complex at a reasonable speed. For a user with a taste for speed and efficiency, the act of moving a hand to the mouse and back can take what feels like a lifetime. VIM's power isn't in its ability to point better than a mouse - it is in describing the actions required to modify text in a manner so efficiently that the act of using the mouse becomes less efficient.

philonoist 9y ago
Thank you! I was thinking of a simple game, sort of like Vimium where if you pressed 'f' you'd get all the keybindings mapping the objects in the virtual world. From what I understand, the disadvantage lies more with keyboard and VIM won't be of any substantial help. I didn't consider a sister perspective - -Moving the mouse over a mouse pad (2D) to make a gun point all the directions in 3D. This illusion can become much more complicated if a target and the cross needed to adjust according to distance between me and the target - Finding a target and pointing to it with a gun wouldn't be much fun if we'd make VIM to find it for us( like how it does in Vimium on a web page) where you'd just press 'f'. Even if that wasn't the case, keying in the (x,y,z in metre) to fire shot at a particular location every time we make a wrong guess would be frustrating. - Pulling trigger of a gun and pausing to take my time feels much more controlled and exciting in pressing the left click of a mouse to our needed pace where in that instant we can decide if we want to save ammo or fire some more shots. - What if the other guy keyed in correctly and you died or nobody standing against each other is able to throw granades at each other to kill? I'd imagine someone throw the keyboard off just because they made a silly mistake of wrong parameters. - Combining above three, I'd have to wait until 8 bullets are emptied (if on VIM I pressed '8j') and can't re-adjust to fit more with the target while I can simultaneously fire shots like I could do in mouse. This would make me feel slow instead of VIM's supposed quickness. I didn't even consider head-shots and all other bonus point actions. The above points are just with respect to a gun. What about other hand held objects like snipers, dynamites, bags,UI/UX options etc.? It would feel like one man making a factory work. The game wouldn't reach its end goal of making a user enjoy. A mouse, like you said, augments many more parameters of reality to operate simultaneously making it more closer to reality. I get this epiphany as I write - Virtual reality is the way to go instead of mouse/keyboard/VIM centric as it makes the user, centric. My question, I realize is as stupid as it gets. Games have already incorporated enough keybindings like hotkeys,shortcuts and cheat codes( although discouraged) to make user comfortable with just one hand on keyboard( and other on mouse). VIM or any other style wouldn't add anything to begin with?

by jmts 9y ago

philonoist 9y ago

Thank you! I was thinking of a simple game, sort of like Vimium where if you pressed 'f' you'd get all the keybindings mapping the objects in the virtual world. From what I understand, the disadvantage lies more with keyboard and VIM won't be of any substantial help. I didn't consider a sister perspective - -Moving the mouse over a mouse pad (2D) to make a gun point all the directions in 3D. This illusion can become much more complicated if a target and the cross needed to adjust according to distance between me and the target - Finding a target and pointing to it with a gun wouldn't be much fun if we'd make VIM to find it for us( like how it does in Vimium on a web page) where you'd just press 'f'. Even if that wasn't the case, keying in the (x,y,z in metre) to fire shot at a particular location every time we make a wrong guess would be frustrating. - Pulling trigger of a gun and pausing to take my time feels much more controlled and exciting in pressing the left click of a mouse to our needed pace where in that instant we can decide if we want to save ammo or fire some more shots. - What if the other guy keyed in correctly and you died or nobody standing against each other is able to throw granades at each other to kill? I'd imagine someone throw the keyboard off just because they made a silly mistake of wrong parameters. - Combining above three, I'd have to wait until 8 bullets are emptied (if on VIM I pressed '8j') and can't re-adjust to fit more with the target while I can simultaneously fire shots like I could do in mouse. This would make me feel slow instead of VIM's supposed quickness. I didn't even consider head-shots and all other bonus point actions. The above points are just with respect to a gun. What about other hand held objects like snipers, dynamites, bags,UI/UX options etc.? It would feel like one man making a factory work. The game wouldn't reach its end goal of making a user enjoy. A mouse, like you said, augments many more parameters of reality to operate simultaneously making it more closer to reality. I get this epiphany as I write - Virtual reality is the way to go instead of mouse/keyboard/VIM centric as it makes the user, centric. My question, I realize is as stupid as it gets. Games have already incorporated enough keybindings like hotkeys,shortcuts and cheat codes( although discouraged) to make user comfortable with just one hand on keyboard( and other on mouse). VIM or any other style wouldn't add anything to begin with?