Do you play using W,A,S,D, or do you use the arrow keys Up, Down, Left and Right?

[Silent_Buddha]

,aoe (or is it <AOE ?)
I use Dvorak so thats the WASD position.

I can see how RDFG or ESDF are arguably better but I have used the WASD position since forever.
I played with arrows for Wolfenstein & DukeNukem3D but was definitely on to WASD with Unreal.

Interestingly, Unreal and Unreal Tournament is what finally got me to ditch WASD. I'd been growing frustrated at the lack of configurable keys for my pinky to use when playing Quake and Quake 2 as well as the pain that I would feel in my pinky finger after long gaming sessions if I had to use shift or control a lot with sustained presses (IE - having to hold down shift or control was agonizing using WASD) in other games. So halfway through my playthrough of Unreal I switched over to RDFG. I almost went with ESDF since that would leave my hand on the home row, but I couldn't resist the allure of all those additional configurable keys to the left of my hand.

UT just cemented that as what I would use forever more after that as that was when I finally got fully comfortable with using RDFG after thousands upon thousands of hours online with it.

MMORPGs almost got me to switch to ESDF due to how much typing you tended to do in MMORPGs before Teamspeak and other VOIP programs came into widespread use.

Regards,
SB

 

[Cyan]

IIRC you could run Future Shock through Terminator Skynet

Controls
View attachment 7645

I used to use one of these a Zboard Merc
View attachment 7646

it's the first time I see one of these. Was it worth it or you just got carried away for a review and it didn't do that much for you? It looks like a classic keyboard, no led lights anywhere it seems.

The only issue I see with it, judging by how I play nowadays, is that all those keys are placed by the left side of the keyboardd, and there is an entire keyboard to the right in between your right hand holding the mouse and the left hand using the keyboard. So maybe you could touch the keys with your underarm sometimes, I am guessing here.

 

[Cyan]

,aoe (or is it <AOE ?)
I use Dvorak so thats the WASD position.

I can see how RDFG or ESDF are arguably better but I have used the WASD position since forever.
I played with arrows for Wolfenstein & DukeNukem3D but was definitely on to WASD with Unreal.

was does Dvorak stand for?

Unreal Tournament was my first ever competitive multiplayer game, til I started to play AoE1 and AoE2 -specially-. I have always preferred AoE1 'cos I liked that era more and was my first AoE game but AoE2 is more balanced online.

Of course I used arrow keys when playing UT ,and the countless hours in Facing Towers just honed my skills with the arrow keys. In AoE I didnt need to use the arrow keys.

@milk N64 controls have always been a pita for me. When I got my first console, the original Xbox in 2005, the current use of the AXiS was the standard. I got used to play with gamepads between 2005-2014 after purchasing the X360 and XB1, and left consoles ever since. During that period I used to complete some of the best games of older consoles on my laptops, and when I played a N64 game via emulators, I had to completely change the original controls.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

...countless hours in Facing Towers...

Oh what a glorious meat grinder that map was in CTF with Instagib shock rifle enabled. One shot, one kill, hit scan weapon (although the visual feedback of the shockwave rifle's primary fire implies a delay, it was still hit scan).

It was an accomplishment just to make it to the other base. Then an even bigger accomplishment to actually make it back with the flag. I absolutely loved that challenge on that map.

Regards,
SB

 

[Daozang]

I use this.
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE

I just map the analogue stick inputs to wasd.
Not that I have a problem with WASD.
It's just great when playing MMOs.

 

[MistaPi]

IIRC you could run Future Shock through Terminator Skynet

Yeah I think you are right. Skynet got a 640x480 mode (up from 320x200 in FS) and if you ran Future Shock through Skynet you could also run FS in 640x480. I remember what a difference 640x480 made, but sadly my PC was not powerful enough at the time to run in that mode.

 

[BRiT]

was does Dvorak stand for?

The person who invented the alternate keyboard layout.

Dvorak keyboard layout - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Cyan]

Oh what a glorious meat grinder that map was in CTF with Instagib shock rifle enabled. One shot, one kill, hit scan weapon (although the visual feedback of the shockwave rifle's primary fire implies a delay, it was still hit scan).

It was an accomplishment just to make it to the other base. Then an even bigger accomplishment to actually make it back with the flag. I absolutely loved that challenge on that map.

Regards,
SB

that map is probably one of the best maps made to date for multiplayer. That says a lot.... I loved to launch rockets at random positions where enemies could be, and it worked. Also it worked the other way around, I was caught in a rain of rockets multiple times.

I use this.
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE

I just map the analogue stick inputs to wasd.
Not that I have a problem with WASD.
It's just great when playing MMOs.

do you mean the G4, G10, G11, G12 keys or the analog stick to the right? I can see that stick working for me for instance so maybe I could never have to change from WASD to arrow keys ever -my Mars Gaming MKCLOUD keyboard has a function for that but it doesn't have the typical QWERTY key distribution. Too bad 'cos it's my favourite keyboard, for typind and it'd be also my favourite for gaming, but it's meant to save some space and weight so the arrow keys are there, but surrounded by other keys, and no numpad, which makes it harder to use for me.

I have quite a few Logitech devices, but never spent that amount of money of anything Logitech. My most expensive Logitech device is the Logitech 604 Lightspeed mouse, which did cost like 100€.

 

[Cyan]

The person who invented the alternate keyboard layout.

Dvorak keyboard layout - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

ah okayyyy. I see... After studying typing for about 5 years, I write by memory -if I place one single finger out of position, every other letter is going to be typed wrong- and it cold be literally impossible for me to learn Dvorak layout nowadays. Impossible is the word, no matter how hard I tried, I just wrote too much in my life on computers til now, from forum posts, to a couple of books, Diablo guides during Diablo 2 heyday, and so on and so forth.

I wonder which is the % of people that use Dvorak, but maybe B3D forumers are above the average judging by the variety here.

 

[Daozang]

do you mean the G4, G10, G11, G12 keys or the analog stick to the right?

The analog stick.
That way all the keys are free to be used for other functions, and honestly, at least for me, it's a lot more ergonomic that way.
I used to feel a lot of wrist fatigue after long sessions using WASD, but with the stick, my wrist won't hurt at all.

Edit.

I have quite a few Logitech devices, but never spent that amount of money of anything Logitech. My most expensive Logitech device is the Logitech 604 Lightspeed mouse, which did cost like 100€.

When I read this I was a bit confused...
Then I saw the price on Amazon.
WTF???????
I bought that G13 at least 10 years ago, and I'm pretty sure it was less than a hundred euros...!!!

 

[hoom]

I wonder which is the % of people that use Dvorak, but maybe B3D forumers are above the average judging by the variety here.

<Keyboard Veganing intensifies> really not many, but we're loud Might be only me tbh

literally impossible for me to learn Dvorak layout nowadays

I learnt to touch type QWERTY first (still can with a bit of transition & lots of whining), did the switch at like 28 & it definitely took some doing.
Its kinda delicious irony that I shy away from trying RDFG or ESDF for the same reason of inertia most people use to not try Dvorak

Back in the day I bought a Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic Commander & it always seemed like it could be a good WASD substitute but again never put the time in to try to learn to make it work.


To those who use arrow keys: what do you do for Q,E,R & F equivalents? Most setups use R for reload, F for Use & Q/E for lean or other useful things, I don't see an easy way to replicate that with arrows
Similar question for the WQES (which does otherwise seem like an interesting setup)

 

[hughJ]

Generally WASD. If it's a game like Quake1/2/3 where I need to have direct weapon binds for 7-8 weapons then my preference is to use UHJK or IJKL, as that gives me more keys on either side of the movement directions, and it allows my thumb to utilize spacebar, r-alt, and the r-windows and menu keys (which I'll remap to something else so they can be bound). I've generally been a mouse2=jump player, so my thumb doesn't have to be dedicated to spacebar. Again, that comes from a Quake background where shooting and jumping are important and there's no need for an alt-fire or zoom.

My first mouse/keyboard "FPS" was Magic Carpet circa 94/95, and I believe the defaults there were arrow keys, so that was how I first learned to play, but it eventually got corrected to WASD when I started playing Quake as you really can't play that properly with the arrow keys. One thing that has remained with me from Magic Carpet is that I'm still an invert-Y player.

In terms of keyboard placement you see a lot of Russian Quake players with their keyboard on their lap. It makes a lot of sense considering it gives you consistent arm/wrist/keyboard position regardless of what chair and desk you're sitting at (important for LAN events), and it allows you to use the entire table top for your mouse. Supposedly it came about because the Russian Quake player 'Polosaity' broke his arm at one point and had to learn how to play with his arm in a cast which forced him to move the keyboard to his lap, and he stuck with it. Because he was the equivalent of Thresh in Russia at the time a lot of the new generation of Russian players adopted it, and enough of those players went on to become well known in the scene that they spawned their own crop of imitators. The top Quake player of recent years is American and he plays that way.

 

[Cyan]

Generally WASD. If it's a game like Quake1/2/3 where I need to have direct weapon binds for 7-8 weapons then my preference is to use UHJK or IJKL, as that gives me more keys on either side of the movement directions, and it allows my thumb to utilize spacebar, r-alt, and the r-windows and menu keys (which I'll remap to something else so they can be bound). I've generally been a mouse2=jump player, so my thumb doesn't have to be dedicated to spacebar. Again, that comes from a Quake background where shooting and jumping are important and there's no need for an alt-fire or zoom.

My first mouse/keyboard "FPS" was Magic Carpet circa 94/95, and I believe the defaults there were arrow keys, so that was how I first learned to play, but it eventually got corrected to WASD when I started playing Quake as you really can't play that properly with the arrow keys. One thing that has remained with me from Magic Carpet is that I'm still an invert-Y player.

In terms of keyboard placement you see a lot of Russian Quake players with their keyboard on their lap. It makes a lot of sense considering it gives you consistent arm/wrist/keyboard position regardless of what chair and desk you're sitting at (important for LAN events), and it allows you to use the entire table top for your mouse. Supposedly it came about because the Russian Quake player 'Polosaity' broke his arm at one point and had to learn how to play with his arm in a cast which forced him to move the keyboard to his lap, and he stuck with it. Because he was the equivalent of Thresh in Russia at the time a lot of the new generation of Russian players adopted it, and enough of those players went on to become well known in the scene that they spawned their own crop of imitators. The top Quake player of recent years is American and he plays that way.

guess those keyboards that Russian players use doesn't weigh much or aren't the typical QWERTY keyboard with a numpad nor the typical arrow keys and Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down...., maybe they aren't mechanical keyboards either, because they tend to weigh more. I tried to place my Newskill Serike keyboard on my lap and while I am not a giant person I am not small either -1.82m-. The Newskill Serike is quite heavy -close to 1Kg-, plus is relatively long (around 49cm) for my lap.

My other gaming keyboard, the Mars Gaming MKCLOUD doesn't have a numpad, nor some of the other keys the Newskill has, so it's much smaller, but it's a mechanical keyboard with blue switches and it weighs around 600gr.

To those who use arrow keys: what do you do for Q,E,R & F equivalents? Most setups use R for reload, F for Use & Q/E for lean or other useful things, I don't see an easy way to replicate that with arrows
Similar question for the WQES (which does otherwise seem like an interesting setup)

In the picture above the numpad is close to the arrow keys. Guess you could use the Num 0 instead of E, Num 1 instead of R, or Delete, Insert, etc. However, while I map those keys, I do so for secondary commands that you don't have to use most of the time. For those I use a gaming mouse with 12 to 15 buttons, and you are good to go. There are games like Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2 which I play without touching the keyboard at all.

My favourite -of those I tried- is the Logitech 604 Lightspeed, but I also like the Sharkoon Drakonia. The Sharkoon Drakonia has 12 buttons, but the one I prefer is placed at the right side of the mouth, and I use it as E. Wish the Logitech 604 had a button there like that, or a couple of them.

 

[hughJ]

guess those keyboards that Russian players use doesn't weigh much or aren't the typical QWERTY keyboard with a numpad nor the typical arrow keys and Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down

I didn't mean to suggest Russians don't use arrow keys in Quake -- really no one does/did/could because of how crippling it is. With arrow keys you have to move your hand and disrupt your ability to move in order to reach the 6 keys above them, so you really only have the r-ctrl, r-shift with your pinky, and kp_ins, and maybe kp_end with your index, and you altogether lose the ability to use your thumb on the spacebar (which would by default usually be jump).

Ideally your input config should be setup so you can depress any combination of keys needed at the same time, or at the very least only have to move the finger you need to press the other key. This is why usually for Quake (for example) the most important weapons are best to be bound on keys that you don't require you to lift your 3 movement fingers.

Theorycrafting aside, there's the odd top level Quake pro that have really wonky configs. 'Toxjq', a Swedish player and once the top player in the world, uses: L-ctrl=crouch, z=left, x=right, c=fire, spacebar=jump, and mouse1=forward, mouse2=back, and then all the weapon binds above the z/x/c keys. As unintuitive as it may sound, it still adheres to my point about having your movement keys not being completely disrupted by having to reach for another key. He's just one of those cases where he made his own keymap before the days that WASD became standardized and never switched.

Of course this is a vestige of a time when PC games were PC games. Since the advent of PC games shifting to console and being ported back to PC you tend to have games built to accommodate a gamepad, so the number of actions you need at any one time are pretty limited.