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Why WASD and not ESDF? People have been touch-typing with their left hand in that home position since the late 1800s. (Or do you actually operate WASD with your
by doodpants 7y ago
Why WASD and not ESDF? People have been touch-typing with their left hand in that home position since the late 1800s. (Or do you actually operate WASD with your pinky, ring, and middle fingers when gaming?)
- airstrike 7y agoDon't be dense. WASD is the most common layout, but sure, if you're that opinionated make it ESDF then. My point still stands. Left and right hand controls should follow a common sense approach
- doodpants 7y agoMaybe I'm weird, but being right-handed (like most people), I prefer directional controls on the right hand and action buttons on the left. Your characterization of the former as "left-handed" and the latter as "right-handed" controls seem backwards to me. So, to be honest, I don't even use WASD (or ESDF).
- nkrisc 7y agoWASD is an incredibly common movement control scheme for video games. I'd go so far as to say it is the predominant four-directional control scheme for video games made in the past 20 years that were made to be played with a QUERTY keyboard. > being right-handed (like most people), I prefer directional controls on the right hand and action buttons on the left. It is right-handedness that led to this because it was used in conjunction with a mouse, so all those right handed players had a mouse in their right hand, meaning their left hand was on the keyboard. If you, as a right-handed person, use a mouse in your right hand and the arrow keys in your left hand, you are very much in the minority. Even for games that don't use a mouse, this convention (and muscle memory) is so established that it makes sense to use WASD, even for right-handed players. However making it configurable is always desirable to accommodate the minority of players who might not want to use WASD for any reason. If you're not an avid gamer or primarily gamed before keyboard + mouse was common, this might indeed seem strange. But for anyone who's gamed consistently in the past 20 years it is very normal. Why not ESDF? I don't know why initially but today WASD is established convention.
- filoeleven 7y ago> Even for games that don't use a mouse, this convention (and muscle memory) is so established that it makes sense to use WASD, even for right-handed players. A further argument for movement from the left hand comes from consoles, which starting with the NES if not earlier have consistently (always?) had the d-pad on the left. I remember having some trouble reversing that learning for the PC platforming games that used the arrow keys for movement.
- LanceH 7y agoTell that to the vi people. ASDF used to be an option on first person shooters when they were first coming out.
- airstrike 7y agoHow's vi relevant? I use it daily, but certainly not for gaming. How are the first FPS games relevant?
- brogrammer5 7y agoYour tone is so vile. You must be an angry, bitter person.
- LanceH 7y agoHe was commenting on esdf instead of wasd to keep the fingers on the home row. IMO, it's the same issue as vi choosing hjkl for movement instead of jkl;.
- airstrike 7y agoFor gaming, using WASD makes sense because the LHS modifiers are much easier to hit with your pinky than Q/A/Z
- Razengan 7y agoYou’d think by now PC keyboards would have standardized dedicated gaming keys on the left side. Retrofitting alphanumerics for game controls is such an ugly, kludgy hack, even if it’s very convenient (especially in games where you can text chat with other players.) Feels like a carry-over of the PC’s “wannabe”ness as a gaming machine since the 1980s/90s.
- quickthrower2 7y agoWhy not hjkl? People have been using Vi since the 1700s.