Who else hates WASD??? Alternatives to the keyboard.

[Agador_Spartacus]

Hi, I am pretty new to Steam and pc gaming in general, as I just bought my first rig. I have always been a console gamer, but have switched recently after playing Borderlands on my friend's PC and realized aiming with a mouse is miles ahead of a joystick.

While I am smitten with the accuracy of my new mouse (Razer Naga Hex), I could not get used to using WASD for movement. I am pretty convinced that keyboards are terrible controllers for movement and whatnot. While going from controller joystick to mouse felt like a giant step forward, going from joystick to WASD was a giant step back.

I became so frustrated with this control scheme that I bought a Razer Nostromo solely for the D pad. It made a world of difference. Moving felt natural again.

Considering how much time, effort, and money people put into their rigs, I am confused by how so many are satisfied with what seems to be a terrible solution to a simple problem. The Razer Nostromo is the only product like it that I could find in production, although this failed kickstarter looked great too: Wasdio

Who else uses something like this?
Why put up with the keyboard when there are a few alternatives?
If more companies offered peripherals that were disigned to make games more ergonomic, would you buy one?
If you like WASD, Why?

BTW, the rest of my system for those who are interested:
i5 Haswell @ 4.0 Ghz
Asus Z87-A MoBo
8 Gb DDR3 @ 1600
Geforce GTX 760
Samsung 250 Gb SSD
23 in. 1080p

[_I_]

i bind my keys for fps games wierd
im super oldschool, started from doom/descent era games

w= forward
s= reverse
d= fire
e= alt fire
c= melee
a= jump
z= duck
lmb= strife left
rmb= strife right
mmb= zoom
r= reload
f= flashlight
spacebar= use
enter= chat
\=team chat
1-6= weapon switch
x,v,b,g,t,q for game specific binds

nice about that, is no single finger is needed for multiple combos
impossible to strife left and duck with default binds for a and alt, or strife right and duck when duck is c

most games allow for decent keybinds

most ported games will allow for 360 controller to work

[Agador_Spartacus]

That really is a different key binding. While I think it would be quite hard to get used to, it makes alot of sense. Very logical and efficient. Strafing with mouse buttons would be super strange at first though.

It solves one of my big gripes about WASD though, being that most of your hand is consumed just moving compared to the simplicity of a joystick on a controller.

The nise thing about the PC platform is that you can bind pretty much however you want. The only oddity I have found so far was Dead Space, which prohibited mapping movement to the arrow keys for some reason.

[_I_]

deadspace series is horrible with the pc
cant rebind anything
and very difficult to play with the default pc controls (even for a normal person)
http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=64369&tab=controls

only way to play it is with the 360 controller

[Zefar]

Początkowo opublikowane przez _I_:

deadspace series is horrible with the pc
cant rebind anything
and very difficult to play with the default pc controls (even for a normal person)
http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=64369&tab=controls

only way to play it is with the 360 controller

What DeadSpace game did you place? :/ I played all 3 with mouse and keyboard and rarely died normally from a monster. Mostly died from quick time events when I wasn't able to mash the E button so quickly.
Didn't even need to reconfig the controls for the game to feel at home with mouse and keyboard. Aiming was a whole lot easier which made the combat a bit too easy at certain times.


As for the topic starter problem. For me Wasd isn't a problem. I can quickly change direction without a problem and I find it to give better precision in FPS games.

[Nyx]

This topic is the perfect proof that people respond only to the topic they read and not the actual post xD

[Agador_Spartacus]

The original Dead Space. I didn't find the controls to be that bad, but definately far from optimal. Luckily, I have all Razer gear (I wasn't trying to be a fanboy, it just happened) so their Synapse software let me remap anything to anywhere and smash necromorph face with deftness.

Zefar, you say WASD is more precise for you. More precise than what, specifically? Arrow keys? Controller?

Those of you who have gotten used to WASD, do you think there is room for improvement? I am sure with time it could be second nature to me, but as a perfectionist I think I would always be left wanting a more ergonomic approach.

[Rubik748]

Początkowo opublikowane przez arolston:

If you like WASD, Why?

I actually started PC gaming on a laptop. That is, first person shooters as well as other more older arcade like games on the more flat keyboards.
Trying to use the keys W,A,S,D felt horrible...And yet I wanted to keep trying at it. I just kept playing that AvP demo which was on a Predator 1+2 disc set. Eventually I got used to it.

What was worse I was using a touchpad to look around in that game. Now that really was horrid when its so close to the keyboard and the buttons like that.

Then I got a PC. Felt weird at first using more chunky keys. Was even more overwhelming when I started playing Crysis with more keybinding to memorize with the fingers. But I got used to it.

And after those other games I give an old Doom game a try with the older keyboard layout. No chance.

Początkowo opublikowane przez arolston:

Those of you who have gotten used to WASD, do you think there is room for improvement? I am sure with time it could be second nature to me, but as a perfectionist I think I would always be left wanting a more ergonomic approach.

I want to say its possible to make a customized flat controller that registers as a keyboard (if they haven't been done already). But whatever way you look at it, you would still have to learn with your fingers.

[Zefar]

Początkowo opublikowane przez arolston:

Zefar, you say WASD is more precise for you. More precise than what, specifically? Arrow keys? Controller?

Yes, more accurate than a gamepad. Using a single thumb on an analog stick isn't as good as having 3 fingers on wasd.

There really ain't much you can do to change this other than to get used to it.

[em_t_hed]

the guy who came up with WASD mustve had bigger hands... i played through alot of Half Life with WASD using the default keybinds of the game, and having smaller hands caused cramping after time in the game. Using crouch and walk for the game caused cramps and stretching of my small hand in weird ways. it was horrible.

whoever came up with WASD shouldve been shot.

Moving the whole of WASD over 1 key to the right felt more natural once i set the crouch to the Shift key and Walk to the Z key. No more weird stretching and cramping going on. Imma tell ya, the Home Row keys are the Home Row keys for a reason.

[Docent]

i like wasd Xd

[76561198099059357]

I used to use the arrow keys when I was younger and over time I adapted to the WASD setup because that's usually the default in most games. It actually didn't take too long to get used to. Find a game that you enjoy that uses a lot of movement and just get at it. I spent a week playing WoW with WASD and it felt like second nature.

I read that the TFGH setup is pretty popular just because it allows easier access to bindings.

[Dis Mami]

Mhh i don't have a Problem with WASD. Near to all games uses WASD

[AuroraMantis]

http://www.virtuix.com/

[vindicta feet smeller]

if you have a problem with WASD, you're probably left handed or never or barely used a keyboard for controls

[em_t_hed]

Początkowo opublikowane przez kiss my ass you motherf***er:

if you have a problem with WASD, you're probably left handed or never or barely used a keyboard for controls

and youre just not that bright