WASD or Arrow Keys?

[pinkxzy]

A friend of mine claims that the Arrow Keys is a better way to play any game, and changes all games that have default WASD to Arrow Keys. I would like to prove him wrong. Please comment what you think is better, and please add in some points to why.

[Cathulhu]

Left handed user, but i use classic WASD and right hand mouse. WASD for the sheer comfort of being able to use the keys around it. Additionally, i never used a computer mouse with the left hand, i started right handed and got used to it.

[Rens Agatha ⁧【レンス】]

I use analog gamepad its have 6 direction can bring it nywhere to couch and other place its better than WASD... Change my mind !!!

[Ron]

I'm right-handed, so i use the mouse with right and arrows with left, maybe who is left-handed could prefer wasd, but, a part this, my personal preference goes to arrows because, all the times that for some reasons i was forced to use wasd instead, it often happened that i was accidentally pressing the q and e or other letters while in some hardcore action session, while the arrows are alone and you can't miss or confuse them with other keyboard keys

[Slappy Pappy]

Arrow keys and I am right handed. I used to play a ton of half life, counterstrike, and TFC. When I do play online, even games I'm not pro at, I do very well vs other players. It's all about skill. I used to play team fortress classic with a really high (300-400) ping most times as a sniper. The lag was real and lag sniping was a skill I perfected. My kill count was so high I was accused of cheating and using an aimbot. It's hard for me to play it now with a low ping because I was so used to lag sniping. The bottom line is all this equipment, WASD, high refresh monitors, gaming mice, gaming keyboard, etc, all this crap marketed to make you a "better player" is just a cash grab. Either you have skill or you don't. I'm at work right now and I could wreck shop with this cheap ass generic HP keyboard, generic dell mouse, and office computer hp monitor if I wanted to. Not because I am so much better than anyone else, but because I honed my skill instead of relying on someone else to give me something that gives me an "Advantage". Bottom line is using arrow keys is no harder or less efficient than using WASD. I normally bind like this

Movement = arrow keys
Delete=grenade (or whatever special)
End= reload
Page down= special attack or whatever
right control = jump
right shift = crouch
insert, home, page up = special attacks
0 on the number pad = run (sometimes)
Enter = run (sometimes)
1 on the numberpad = special
side mouse button = melee
other side mouse button = special (most games I don't have to use this)
mouse wheel click = special (most games dont have to use )
backspace = zoom (if its not mouse 2)
\ = special
space = use interact

One poster said most games wont let you bind del, pge down, home etc. That'st just a lie. I have maybe had 3-4 games total that wont let me bind those keys.
only issue is I will move the keyboard to the left and angle it up so that my left hand is in a natural position. Been playing like this for years (15 year steam badge) and never had an issue. Stop depending on special "gaming" equipment and certain configurations. Get gud.

[Slappy Pappy]

Escrito originalmente por 𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒍𝒐:

Escrito originalmente por Larion.♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥:

arrows are best and thats it. btw there are plenty of buttons around arrows keys

Hello 3 years after. Most keyboards do not have many buttons around the arrow keys. They usually have a little gap in between, and half of them are not usable for most games (Del, End, PgDn, Enter Keys for example).

I have bound some of these before for a game and it broke on the main menu navigation. And it did not have any mouse controls.

WASD has about 2 main unusable keys, Caps and Windows key. Tho I have seen Caps used a fair bit it gets annoying. However there are many more keys around it that are never split up on any keyboard.

The other thing is having to rebind everything everytime you play a new game. If you play one game like CS:GO (Competitive) I can see people using the arrow keys if they prefer it for some slight reason, but for general games you will always need to change your binds, and both are pretty similar except WASD does have better keys surrounding it.

So the point is, why use arrow keys if the WASD is just slightly better and takes -1 seconds to set up in a game? I mean both have the same general feel but WASD is more convenient.

Lastly, do whatever you like with your keys. I only made this thread originally because I was arguing with my friend (A friendly but competitive argument), if I was really arguing fairly with just about anyone else I wouldn't care much what you use. Tho I did want to write this all down after I got a notification after 3 years of this thread being dead. :lunar2019piginablanket:

You are lying. I have had maybe 2 or 3 games where I couldn't bind those keys or had some issue come up when I did. It's nowhere near "most games". Skill makes the difference, not what keys you are using.

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Escrito originalmente por Trash Gordon:

Arrow keys and I am right handed. I used to play a ton of half life, counterstrike, and TFC. When I do play online, even games I'm not pro at, I do very well vs other players. It's all about skill. I used to play team fortress classic with a really high (300-400) ping most times as a sniper. The lag was real and lag sniping was a skill I perfected. My kill count was so high I was accused of cheating and using an aimbot. It's hard for me to play it now with a low ping because I was so used to lag sniping. The bottom line is all this equipment, WASD, high refresh monitors, gaming mice, gaming keyboard, etc, all this crap marketed to make you a "better player" is just a cash grab. Either you have skill or you don't. I'm at work right now and I could wreck shop with this cheap ass generic HP keyboard, generic dell mouse, and office computer hp monitor if I wanted to. Not because I am so much better than anyone else, but because I honed my skill instead of relying on someone else to give me something that gives me an "Advantage". Bottom line is using arrow keys is no harder or less efficient than using WASD. I normally bind like this

Movement = arrow keys
Delete=grenade (or whatever special)
End= reload
Page down= special attack or whatever
right control = jump
right shift = crouch
insert, home, page up = special attacks
0 on the number pad = run (sometimes)
Enter = run (sometimes)
1 on the numberpad = special
side mouse button = melee
other side mouse button = special (most games I don't have to use this)
mouse wheel click = special (most games dont have to use )
backspace = zoom (if its not mouse 2)
\ = special
space = use interact

One poster said most games wont let you bind del, pge down, home etc. That'st just a lie. I have maybe had 3-4 games total that wont let me bind those keys.
only issue is I will move the keyboard to the left and angle it up so that my left hand is in a natural position. Been playing like this for years (15 year steam badge) and never had an issue. Stop depending on special "gaming" equipment and certain configurations. Get gud.

I'd disagree that using WASD is "special" equipment of any sort; it's rather standard on a keyboard.

That said, I'm quite happy to see someone who actually made the WASD setup work for them for FPS games.

Do you put your left hand or right hand on the arrow keys? If the latter, does that mean you use the mouse with the left hand?

I have used arrow keys + left-hand action buttons for 2D platformers since pretty much DOS days (in DOS it was Ctrl/Alt; nowadays it's ZXCVASDF), but it took some me getting used to WASD for FPS games at first. I wanted to use arrow keys, but either I had to learn to use the mouse with the left hand and or I had to deal with putting my left hand on the arrow keys that were shoved all the way to the right on a laptop keyboard, which is why I opted to learn WASD instead.

(That said I'm pretty sure I learned how to play TF2 on a machine that's so low-end that I got less than 60 frames per second on it; it's surprisingly doable and it becomes a matter of learning how to time-lead one's actions.)

[Crazy Tiger]

WASD is not a "special" anything, it's just a layout that some people find more comfortable. The choice between arrow keys and WASD always has been one of comfort.

I learned to use WASD in UT99, with space for jumping. In MOHAA: Spearhead when I played in a snipe only clan I also found it more comfortable, as I could use Q and E for leaning aroung the corner, space for jumping and left shift for crouching.

Personally I find the buttons surrounding WASD much easier to reach and configure than any of the buttons around the arrow keys. It feels as a much more natural position for my hand, to the point that nowadays when I sit at a keyboard my left hand automatically lies with the 5 fingers on the left shift, A, W, D and space. Even when I'm not gaming, it's my natural starting position on a computer.

[CORBINLORD]

Depends if you want to play left handed or not...
I always play with the arrow keys, especially on bullet-hell games, but can play both ways on other things.
It just depends on what's comfortable for you.

[ReBoot]

WASD simply because there's way more keys in close proximity than for the arrow keys. That, and with the mouse right to the keyboard, that's a pretty convenient arm position. That's 2:0 for WASD. IJKL fits the first criteria as well, but very awkward when the mouse's on the right.

[Sazzouu]

Escrito originalmente por Hextravert:

Because it's basically the exact same layout.

Actually thats wrong
Keyboards can have many different layouts. For example on my one the arrow keys are edge-on-edge while my W is somewhere between A and D (tending to D)

[moodiddy]

i play with wasd cuz i always did so it would be hard for me to play with arrow keys

[Peter]

Warning for replying to this thread with....

TGFH

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Arrow keys all the way. I have 12 thumb buttons on my mouse which helps the lack of access to keys although even when I had a lesser buttoned mouse it was never a problem.

[Z]

Depends on the game.

[Start_Running]

Since I use the mouse leftyhanded more times than not. I windup using the arrow keys or keypad.