Evil Genius

The following issue has always be some kind of pet pieve (spelling?) of mine: In virtually every first or third person game, the default movement controls are bound to WSAD. Why that particular combination, and especially why not the more approachable and suggestable EDSF?

The first and only game I can remember that used EDSF as standard was the awesome Tribes 2. Still one of the best multiplayer shooters IMHO. Anyway back to the point. I found this gamer keyboard and that brought me back to the WSAD issue I had long not thought about.
While I'm not particularly into the whole alternate keyboard for gaming issue, that particular one with only the left hand keys (although M and N are there and V seems strangly missing) took my attention. In particular, this blog entry on xkcd about a one-handed keyboard layout got me thinking again. That would be neat for a keyboard in some chillout place, like the handle of the couch, or whatever. And you would have your hand free to do other things (move mouse, point wiimote, eat/drink, etc.)

But that mirror-keyboard layout wouldn't be possible on such a gamer keyboard because they always use WSAD as the center keys. Which brings me back to the question at hand. I still cannot see a single advantage WSAD has over EDSF. With EDSF your left hand resides in the normal position for typing which is great for MMOs and the likes so you don't have to move your hand to chat. Also you have much more keys to bind for your little finger. QAY|^ Tab Shift Ctrl - WSAD only has Tab Shift Ctrl for the little finger. The only "advantage" I can see for WSAD is that it was used and probably standardized in Doom and Wolfenstein before it.

Your thoughts?

because dummy, when you have wsad (i think it is suppose to be wasd) the "r" ment to be the reload button, and it is easier to press when on wasd.


seriously, no idea.

Probably because it's on the edge of the keyboard in a way (where A is on the edge), discounting the cap's lock. So placement over the keyboard is much easier than say, ESDF or RDFG. Especially when you place your hands on the keyboard without looking, the likelihood or pressing other keys besides the intended ones are greater than the WSAD configuration. That's just my opinion.

Considering the basic layout of your fingers for typing is supposed to be asdf, then for wasd you only need to shift over one key to the left.

WSAD being on the edge is a big factor in that configuration because when in the middle of a difficult situation, it's easier to find the buttons that are located on the corner of the keyboard.

Other than that, your index finger is easier to move than your ring finger, so buttons on the right side of your left hand are easier to press. Try moving your index finger to the E, R, F and C buttons while your ring and middle fingers rest on AW; alternatively, try moving your ring finger to the A,Q and W buttons while your middle and index fingers rest on EF and you might see that it's a little bit more difficult.

Starnum wrote:I like using the "R" key for toggle-run.

thats why we have mouse's these days with 6 extra buttons on it.

I don't play too many FPS but can't you change your controls anyway to whatever the heck you want?

I've set mine up this way:
Forward is /
Backward is left ctrl
Left is -
Right is my comps power button.
Works great!

lon3vvolf wrote:I don't play too many FPS but can't you change your controls anyway to whatever the heck you want?

This is correct. I don't play FPS games on my computer, but I do play more than one MMORPG.

halfnhalf wrote:thats why we have mouse's these days with 6 extra buttons on it.

My mouse only has 3 buttons on it.

Eldo wrote:Probably because it's on the edge of the keyboard in a way (where A is on the edge), discounting the cap's lock. So placement over the keyboard is much easier than say, ESDF or RDFG. Especially when you place your hands on the keyboard without looking, the likelihood or pressing other keys besides the intended ones are greater than the WSAD configuration. That's just my opinion.

That's on of the arguments for EDSF. There's that little stubble on the F and J buttons on keyboards which indicate where your two index fingers rest normally. So you can always find the F button but finding the W button blindfolded is kinda hard...

Playing PC games blindfolded is even harder.

If you don't like WASD, don't use it.

I can play every game blindfolded because I play with EDSF and can write blindfolded. But some games use only WSAD to move and don't have the option of changing it.

The latest offender would be the german version of Oblivion. Not only did it feature the worst localisation ever (You level one healing spell was called "Feuerball" (Fireball)! and a minor health potion was called "Trk. d. kl. Le. Wdhst." or something like that) but it didn't let you save your keyboard layout. When the patch fixing that issue came out a year later I already stopped playing the game for like 11 and a half month.

Since before I can remember I've always moved the wasd keys to rdfg and made run/walk "a", crouch "v", prone "s", enter/open etc "e", reload "y", pickup "h", with the rest binded to my mouse.

I think I switched to the keys because I kept turning caps on or my pinky didn't feel right on the caps button.