How do you hold your controller?

[4u7umn05]

I got my steam controller today and have been playing with it since: portal 2, Skyrim, Minecraft. I have heard that other people are having troubles because of cramping hands and their fingers pressing buttons when they dont mean to.

But, I havent experienced any of those problems. I was thinking that it would be interesting to make a place for people to talk about how they are holding their controllers. I personally find it most comfortable to hold the controller by resting the handles in my palms so that none of my fingers are actually holding the controller in place, allowing them to be used freely on all the buttons. I also find that I dont have problems with pressing buttons I didnt intend to like this since my thumbs naturally rest about an inch ABOVE the pads.

How do you guys hold your controllers?

[8BitCerberus]

I cradle it in my palms, no squeezing involved. And the controller is curved slightly which is an ergonomic hint to not roll your hands in perpendicular towards each other, but rather let them rotate outward naturally, almost like meditating and letting them come to rest on your knees palm up (though not that much of an outward turn, obviously).

This also helps put your thumbs directly over the pads, and the handles tilted up give your thumbs a way to rest without touching the pads and sending unwanted inputs.

It's not an Xbox or Playstation controller, and as such it needs to be approached with a different mindset. It's by far the most comfortable controller I've ever used (well, second most, next to the prototype which was just ever so slightly wider in the handles), and I think once people stop claw gripping it like they do with their Xbox or Playstation controllers, they'll realize that, too.

[[OH] Cogglesz]

I switch between grips. I think what 8-Bit Cerberus is saying is right here.

I've only had it for the one day, spent pretty much all night on it with multiple games, though mostly fallout 4 but i've been switching between ways of holding it looking for the most accurate/comfortable way of doing it but switching between touch pad, triggers and then XBAY is proving to be tough, Its possible but i've lost all the speed i had with my Gamepad or K/M at this moment, a ton of that does seem to do with the way i'm holding it as it takes my thumb a bit too long to reach its destination.

However following 8-Bit Cerberus advice i'm going to try and figure it out better, I was confused with the handles being the oposite of what a 360's controller would do, i personally thought it would be uncomfortable judging at the pictures, Its a very comfortable controller though.

Edit: Well darn. if i'm cradling it my thumbstick is way too far for me to be playing a game on it for any extended periods of time thats for sure, infact i see my palms squeezing just to reach it. I can see why this thread exists, i'm pretty confused too!

[[57th] AngryHatter]

I find most games use one side of the controller much more than the other.
I tend to hold that side closer to me.

[maxRunner]

I hold it with palms on each outer side at a downward angle, the "meat" of the thumbs resting on the top of the horns and each thumb extending down the horn to rest on the pads. I only stabalize the controller with two fingers, pinky and ring. Middles rest on paddles and index obviously on triggers.

[4u7umn05]

Originally posted by maxRunner:

I hold it with palms on each outer side at a downward angle, the "meat" of the thumbs resting on the top of the horns and each thumb extending down the horn to rest on the pads. I only stabalize the controller with two fingers, pinky and ring. Middles rest on paddles and index obviously on triggers.

Hmm... I find that I like to keep my pinky and ring fingers on the paddles with middle and index on the triger and bumper respectively. This really is the only controller that Ive ever felt comfortable doing that with btw.

And yes it does lead to the confusion as to which finger does what... all the time. Try to jump, accidentally shoot my friend. lol.

[maxRunner]

Originally posted by 4u7umn05:

Hmm... I find that I like to keep my pinky and ring fingers on the paddles with middle and index on the triger and bumper respectively. This really is the only controller that Ive ever felt comfortable doing that with btw.

And yes it does lead to the confusion as to which finger does what... all the time. Try to jump, accidentally shoot my friend. lol.

I played around with that grip awhile but couldn't justify giving bumpers my best fingers! There may be games that that would be useful for though. Maybe Fallout which needs VATS to be activated by bumper all the time.

[[57th] AngryHatter]

Some games I take the back cover off so I do not inadvertently hit a paddle.

[God Ginrai]

Originally posted by 57th AngryHatter:

Some games I take the back cover off so I do not inadvertently hit a paddle.

Comments like this still baffle me. I have never inadvertently depressed the paddles, and I seriously don't understand how people do this. Do you get *really* exited when playing the game and start gripping the controller really tightly?

[maxRunner]

Clearly someone is holding it wrong, hasen't taken the time to get used to how it works, or both.