Fascinating. I've never actually thought about using ESDF but that actually makes a lot of sense if you grew up with home row typing.
I grew up with WASD so my typing style evolved to match that. Trying to use ESDF would be rather alien for me.
I don't even remember the last time I used a keyboard to play a game
[editline]24th June 2016[/editline]
its always a gamepad and a mouse or a controller for me
[editline]24th June 2016[/editline]
I always forget how normal keyboards aren't quite as good as a keypad for games
[QUOTE=Artix3;50587031]Fascinating. I've never actually thought about using ESDF but that actually makes a lot of sense if you grew up with home row typing.
I grew up with WASD so my typing style evolved to match that. Trying to use ESDF would be rather alien for me.[/QUOTE]
I could never do ESDF because the little thing on the F key would make my fingers feel too uneven.
I find even as a person who uses the mouse left handed that WASD is extremely comfortable for use.
[QUOTE=Artix3;50587031]Fascinating. I've never actually thought about using ESDF but that actually makes a lot of sense if you grew up with home row typing.
I grew up with WASD so my typing style evolved to match that. Trying to use ESDF would be rather alien for me.[/QUOTE]
I've been contemplating writing my own article over keybinds for a long while, regarding the fact that WASD has been so ingrained into PC gaming culture that it's a hindrance nowadays. It made sense early on due to just wanting your hands spread out better but over time games have gotten more sophisticated and complex and demand far more keybinds than we know what to do with
As a lefty, I already have to rebind [i]everything[/i], and while I used to do the 'end of the keyboard' thing and just take over the numpad (pretty comfy), I've found a lack of keys to be an immediate problem and moved over to home row. IJKL is my WASD, and let me tell you, your pinky is CAPABLE OF SO MUCH. For GW2 for instance, my p[]\ keys represent the F1-4 keys, which are incredibly necessary to use or switch between constantly for my favorite classes, elementalist and engineer. ' is my tab targeting and ; handles some camera controls, the only downside is accidentally tapping enter or / now and again and bringing up the chat window. I'm the worst offender of "wwwwww11212ww1" mistakes (especially in overwatch right now), but damn that one finger does a lot of legwork compared to the rest
So, here's a challenge- Try ESDF, but if you're feeling risky push it a bit. RDFG is probably the best proxy to my IJKL (minus the comfort of index finger on homerow key), if the tab key were two separate keys and capslock suddenly stops you in your tracks and leaves you confused for a few seconds before you notice your chatbox popped up
[QUOTE=Ehmmett;50587106]trying to wrap my head around the ASXC config mentioned in the last paragraph there like woah wth is that[/QUOTE]
I assume your hand comes in at an angle, so it's left/forward/backward/right? Consider how DDR arrows are linear on the screen though they represent 4 directions-
[t]http://people.umass.edu/brent/DDR/DDRLogo.jpg[/t]
With my IJKL setup, my hand comes in a bit from the right and rests more on IJKO, in games where I can use U/O (Q/E equivalent) to strafe. Given that's in GW2, holding right click down means both UO and JL will strafe, so my keys are pretty universal depending on the position. I can let go of right click to reposition mouse, target, and perform other functions while knowingly using JL to turn in conjunction with the strafe keys otherwise
[editline]e[/editline]
a major point of why I wanted to write about this so badly is the fact that the WASD standard is poisoning the practicality of gaming configuration into the future. Not just on the basis that it's CONSIDERED a standard, but because any keyboard even hinting at being a great for gaming has to have giant red WASD caps with custom curved ridges that don't flow with anything else you do on the keyboard and LEDs and it's fucking dragging the ship down. Even the keyboard I settled on, which is thankfully not bound to a set color scheme and you can do whatever with it, has some extra exposed linework for the LEDs to shine through and it's only slightly annoying in concept
[t]http://gaming.logitech.com/assets/53558/g910-orion-spark-rgb-mechanical-gaming-keyboard.jpg[/t]
[editline]e[/editline]
[img]http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/item/23/828/23-828-003/003_092915.jpg[/img]
holy shit
Just a few weeks ago I tried to play ROTT and I couldn't do it, I just couldn't do it without a mouse
I'm basically WSAD standard except I use one of the thumb buttons on my mouse as my "move forward" key
This config arose out of a "need" to eat food with one hand while running away from other players in Quake mods and I've stuck with it ever since
I'm probably the only person ever using WASD on an AZERTY layout. That's the equivalent of ZQSD on a QWERTY keyboard.
Everyone finds it weird, but I like it, not to mention I don't have any issues playing if keybinds can't be changed for one reason or another. :v:
[QUOTE=Nabile13;50587800]I'm probably the only person ever using WASD on an AZERTY layout. That's the equivalent of ZQSD on a QWERTY keyboard.
Everyone finds it weird, but I like it, not to mention I don't have any issues playing if keybinds can't be changed for one reason or another. :v:[/QUOTE]
QWERTY-wise, how are your fingers aligned? I could see it being almost comfy if you were using Q and D for left/right, with S/Z for forward back
[QUOTE=dai;50587819]QWERTY-wise, how are your fingers aligned? I could see it being almost comfy if you were using Q and D for left/right, with S/Z for forward back[/QUOTE]
Yeah, you are correct, except that Z is forwards and S is backwards.
[QUOTE=Nabile13;50587800]I'm probably the only person ever using WASD on an AZERTY layout. That's the equivalent of ZQSD on a QWERTY keyboard.
Everyone finds it weird, but I like it, not to mention I don't have any issues playing if keybinds can't be changed for one reason or another. :v:[/QUOTE]
€60 games that do not automatically detect you're not using a QWERTY keyboard are the worst.
WASD always seemed like a waste of a shitload of keys for the left side
In our family we usually always went for configuring most games to RDFG with crouch on Z and then you have plenty of keys to bind for the pinky finger, while still being able to strafe etc.
[QUOTE=Mooe94;50588086]WASD always seemed like a waste of a shitload of keys for the left side
In our family we usually always went for configuring most games to RDFG with crouch on Z and then you have plenty of keys to bind for the pinky finger, while still being able to strafe etc.[/QUOTE]
if you read my first post, I'm so glad other people already get this
[QUOTE=dai;50588161]if you read my first post, I'm so glad other people already get this[/QUOTE]
God my GW2 key layout was so funky. I could do most from my mouse but then basically flat palmed my keyboard for various shit on my guardian.
I used the arrow keys until I learned WASD
never looked back
I used arrow keys early on due to experience with mmo's that had it bound there by default, though I eventually got sick of rebinding fps games so I eventually caved and got used to wasd. Strangly enough my early console fps days I used inverted aim but stopped using that after a while since it wasn't the norm.
Who knows what control scheme we'll use if wasd ever gets replaced in the future.
It's so strange that I can't even use wasd in games anymore as too many years using a touchpad + arrow keys for laptop gaming is so integrated into my brain.
ESDF is the superior choice. It opens up so many more convenient buttons around it in comparison to WASD. I only stopped using it because of the deluge of console ports in circa-2008 that had godawful control rebinding support.
Tribes 2 made perfect use of ESDF with its huge array of controls. Within easy reach of my left hand I had grenades, mines, zoom, voice comms, quick weapon swaps, command mode, chat, and beacon placement - all of which could be accessed without taking my hands off the movement keys. Simply not possible with WASD.
[QUOTE=Ehmmett;50587106]trying to wrap my head around the ASXC config mentioned in the last paragraph there like woah wth is that[/QUOTE]
ASXC kinda makes sense to me actually. If you put your fingertips down on the edge of your desk, your index finger will naturally rest a bit shorter than the middle and ring fingers.
This article made me think of something; do people typically put their ring finger on A in the WASD configuration? Because I have my pinky finger on A and basically follow the "home row" approach for my left hand except my ring finger rests on W instead of S.
I remember using the arrow keys forever until one day the right arrow key on my shitty keyboard broke. Decided to try WASD and never went back.
if I went back to keyboards I'd probably use rdfg because you have Z, x, and shift for pinkie stuff, then C, V, B, N, and M for thumb stuff as well
WASD has to be the best. Shift, Control, Alt are easier to get to than from ESDF. And while those 3 are slightly harder to get to than from WASD, ESDF does give you better access to more of your numbers for skill slots while 1 also remaining as easy to hit, and also opens up a few more keys around ESDF, including W, A, Y, G, B, H for skills. I may have to try ESDF in an MMO
I've been on ESDF for years now. I admit that having to rebind every game gets very old, especially if the game won't let you bind to keys that are already bound.
Some games are also just broken, like if you try ESDF in Far Cry 3 or 4 some vehicle controls were hard bound to WASD. On Fallout 4's launch ESDF would totally hose the game because so many crucial UI elements were reliant on WASD.
[editline]25th June 2016[/editline]
[quote]Interestingly, Valve boss Gabe Newell doesn’t use WASD. “I personally don't like WASD as it takes your hand away from your typing home keys,” he wrote in an email to PC Gamer. “I always rebind to ESDF.”[/quote]
I feel vindicated.
[QUOTE=TheTalon;50590948]WASD has to be the best. Shift, Control, Alt are easier to get to than from ESDF. And while those 3 are slightly harder to get to than from WASD, ESDF does give you better access to more of your numbers for skill slots while 1 also remaining as easy to hit, and also opens up a few more keys around ESDF, including W, A, Y, G, B, H for skills. I may have to try ESDF in an MMO[/QUOTE]
you have keys other than shift, control, and alt
who even uses alt though
As for the lack of ctrl on ESDF, I've always bound crouch or whatever to C and the tons of other keys I gained back always more than made up for it.
Just based on this thread ESDF seems better because of the massive increase in buttons, but I still wouldn't use it. Don't want to deal with have to rebind everything for every game I play.
[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;50589965]ASXC kinda makes sense to me actually. If you put your fingertips down on the edge of your desk, your index finger will naturally rest a bit shorter than the middle and ring fingers.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I'm finding it ultra comfortable.
[QUOTE=J!NX;50591070]you have keys other than shift, control, and alt
who even uses alt though[/QUOTE]
Bethesda. Stock Skyrim bind for sprinting is alt
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