How did WASD ever become a thing when there are literally keys designed for moving on every keyboard?

How did WASD ever become a thing when there are literally keys designed for moving on every keyboard?

Other urls found in this thread:

please
web.archive.org/web/20160625040013/http://www.please
archive.is/
archive.is/CCvx2
archive.is/3gh2J
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

...

Ease of use with a mouse and being surrounded by other keys that can be used for environment interaction or reloading and such

If you had your left hand on the arrow keys, that'd either leave your pinky to hit ctrl or shift, or your index to hit 0 or 1 on your number pad. Your thumb isn't doing anything, so that means you have only easy access to 6 keys at once. When you have your hand on WASD your fingers and thumb are on keys at all times and you have easy access to at least 20 keys.

...

I used the arrow keys from Wolf3D to Battlefield 2. If I had known that WASD was a thing, that it was the best way to play a game, I would've had even more fun. I didn't discover mouselook until 1998

wasd if i playing casually
esdf if i want to play seriously
jkl; if I'm extremely serious

Did you get your first PC ever yesterday or something ?

It dates back to the original Wizardry, I think.
It was because the computer Wizardry ran on had no arrow keys.

That's a /thread right there.

Tell us more, Grandpa.

Because people put their mouse on the right side due to most people being right-handed

Were used to move the cursor before the mouse got widespread.
Right hand on arrow keys to move, left hand for everything else, i.e. look around in vidya.

Because there's no buttons next.

You can rebind your keys to arrows if you want.

You can put arrow keys on WASD if you wish (my keyboard can straight up switch them)

gay thread

Some Quake pro came up with it, posted it in some forum and everyone started adopting it

protip: it's because you can use your thumb that way

...

fuck off hipster faggot

...

Comfort, you have plenty more access to keys at WASD.
The numbers are at the top, giving you easy access to your equipment in FPS games and hotkeys in RTS games.
ZXC can be used to open different menus and equipment in FPS games.
Q is right next to W and is extremely easy to access, just like E, R, F, Tab, Shift, space and crtl.

TL;DR, more access to more keys.
With arrow keys your thumb is doing nothing, and you only have good and comfortable access to 0, 1, 2 control and shift (which you have to sacrefice your left arrow usage for)

You're pretty good

...

after so many time my hand just goes to AWSD like there are magnets on it, even now i still have trouble using keys that you have to stretch your hand, like M
Something more to the center of the keyboard like YGHJ makes way more sense but you would still want to hit the spacebar with you thumb, because its the jump button, always w

...

Tell me about your keybinds. How do you control the game?

fucking freak

...

Boy, I have no fucking clue user why no one uses the arrow keys anymore you special snowflake.

Fucking pleb

Because the arrows are for scrolling through pages while WASD is in the more natural position for people who play of being on the far left.

To most playing with the arrow keys would feel like controlling movement with the right analog on a controller.

Thresh played with wasd+mouse so everyone copied his config and it kind of spread around

I have no problem hitting M, U, I, P, [], etc. M is my dedicated map or medkit button. You need to train your typing speed and accuracy bro, PC isn't only for games.

Because the mouse is on the right and most people are right handed. Other keys are around it too.

not hard to figure out

Mouse look arrived and the vast, vast majority of people are right handed. Fuck lefties, you are a genetic dead end.

yhgj
is superior coz it has the most keys around it to use.

OKL; represent.

Man, the plebs are looking healthy today

Earlier id games were designed to be played with the left hand over the left control keys and the right hand on the arrows. When they came up with mouselook they just shifted the right hand to the mouse and picked keys on the left unlikely to jam.

>not using RAPE

...

?_?

proximity to asdf back when people knew how to type and didn't just peck like retards

...

...

...

...

Most people are right handed and don't want to be uncomfortable.

Fuck lefties? Do you want problemas familia?

It's you, OP.

LOL

Castle Wolfenstein from 1981 had WASD control if I can recall. WAXD+QEZC to be exact, but S was used to stop walking.

...

Thanks dad.

2/10 made me reply

He's in the most beta male comedy show out there. Of course he's cucked.

Fuck am I the only person that uses the number pad?

what is this the 90's?

Do you exclusively play roguelikes?

Because having your left hand on the arrow keys feels stupid if you have your mouse in the right hand. The hands are too close together.
It allows for a greater lung volume, which reduces the breaths per minute and thus reduces your pulse.
Using WASD makes you more calm and relaxed while playing if you are right handed. The opposite would be the case if you are left handed and place the mouse to the left of your keyboard instead.

I use it when I play roguelikes, but other than that, no I don't use it.

Platformers mostly. I play Terraria exclusivity with the numpad. I use to play Spelunky that way too but I had to switch to wasd because my keyboard is shitty and won't always register multiple keys. Still don't know how I was able to beat it with out being able to run.


I wish.

That's not the best explanation. You could just space the keyboard and the mousepad further from each other.
The real explanation is that if you place your left hand on the arrow keys that's all you can efficiently use that hand for. You cannot really reach anything with your thumb and little finger and your three middle fingers are not close to any other keys.
WASD in contrast allows you to reach other keys quite easily with your left hand. Your thumb almost naturally rests at the spacebar while your little finger sits on the shift key and QERF and with a bit of a stretch GTFV and C are close at hand as well.

Arrow keys only really made sense for PC gaming in the olden days where PC gaming was a keyboard only affair.

...

...

Except tons of PC games did use arrow keys you underage retard

GIT
GUD

This. Anyone who can't beat Doom using only the mouse is a scrub.

...

OP never said games didn't use it, retarded shit

Quake

rage? How does that work?
Pinky a, ring e, middle r, index g, thumb space?

Just get so fucking mad that you kill the demons with your mind

...

There was actually an article published on this subject

please use archive.is/how-wasd-became-the-standard-pc-control-scheme/

tl;dr

Whoops

web.archive.org/web/20160625040013/http://www.please use archive.is/how-wasd-became-the-standard-pc-control-scheme/

Use archive.is/

You're not from around here, are you?

archive.is/CCvx2

archive.is/3gh2J


I've just never bothered to post webpages here. I've also only used archive.org

Because those keys are positioned to be used by the right hand. A lot of old keyboard games use those keys.

The main reason keyboard keys are situated like that isn't for games.

Back in the day mice were more akin to a luxury item, you were expected to do mostly all of your computing using a keyboard. In that regard having the arrow keys on the right hand makes sense since you'd use it to move through menus and type using a mixture of your left and right hands.

Once mice became more common and first person shooters took off it became obsolete and people started using wsad

Right after you buy me a bigger desk to do that, and a bigger bedroom to put it in, faggot.

...

...

Why not just get a mouse with the arrow keys on the side so you can play the game one handed.

...

That's actually pretty hardcore

...

This.


I actually do. I rebind a mouse with number-keys to play casual games where you only have to pay attention sometimes, like Subnautica, or Fallout NV

Holy shit.

...

Thresh from Quake

Its like you filthy niggers love sucking cocks

are you one of those esdf faggots or a RAGE faggot?

RDFG

Because muh ingame text chat.and more keys than you'll ever realistically need unless you play ARMA


I would love to hear the unlikely explanation on that one because it's pretty much bullshit (unless you're a lefty), you have a way easier time with your mouse because your keyboard can be totally offset to the left while playing meaning you can have your mouse anywhere you feel comfortable with from right in front to way off to the right instead of being forced to put it way off to the right (unless you space your keyboard and mouse by a lot anyways but then you loose the ability to quickly text chat).


You have easy access to 14 keys ( Ctrl, Shift, Enter, ", del, end, pgdown, 0/1/2/3/4/5/7NUMPAD) more than enough for most FPS that aren't ARMA, although that can vary with keyboard using a lot of spacing between those blocks.

Fucking pleb.

all at huge distances apart from each other. Were you born a contrarian or did your parents beat it into you?

It's like you're a robot or something, moving in 90 degree angles all the time.

MUH NUMPAD
MUH ARROW KEYS

I'm more precise with my dominant hand

What the fuck is this?

Your daily dose

he spent over a hundred dollars on a single keycap,
I repeat a single keycap.

Not really, if you're good at layering priorities in your keybindings and don't have a keyboard with huge spacing the farthest keys are 3 on the NUMPAD and " which are at 3 keys distance aways from your movement so it's no worse than using Y or B with when your setup is WASD, a 5 button mouse does help a bit though since you get 1 instant button and one quick button.

Played DOOM for years and never really managed to get into WASD or any other letter combo afterwards, it just fucks with my brain and even if I muster the autism to try and change that I just end up not being as good as with the d keys so I gave up and just do it the way I like.

The only game I play with the arrow keys are gothic 1 and 2.

...

This is literally the reason why WASD is used. Thresh won a Ferrari using that config.

you realize that some modern laptops dont have those anymore right
died just like numpad

plus ça change…

Tenías que ser asi de puto?

Somepeople deserve death user.

...

What the hell kind of keyboards are you faggots using that don't have a numpad or arrow keys.

Thanks Doc

Because some fucking retard put them on the wrong side.

Not everyone has the desk space to spread them, faggot

How does it feel to be autistic AND have a shit tier keyboard?

Dunno bro you seem to be the expert :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

...

That's vim not emacz

and he did it twice
and said in a thread he would do it again

Nah, man. Depends on the keyboard. I used to play around the arrow keys when I had one of those ergonomic MS keyboards. I used the whole buffalo and was very responsive.

...

...

when i first bought and played half life one as a child i used the arrow keys and bound things like control and shift for jumping and crouching

I had never played any pc games nor had i seen anyone play any pc games up to that point

wasd is very clearly superior

my new keyboard doesn't even have a number pad.

go to the store you bought it from and tell them you want your money back, they ripped you off.

i remember thinking that a long time ago. but after trying wasd out i appreciated how many more keys you have available. perhaps a better question is why wasd and not a position that has access to even more buttons. some anons have mentioned esdf and other fun shit

ESDF makes you unable to use control/shift naturally unless you have some kind of mini keyboard (and when you do so you lose the ability to hit Q/W/A/Z). When you include modifier key combinations WASD comes out ahead.

Arguably less important now that most games have the option to make walking/crouching a toggle rather than a held key, but it used to be a big deal.

yet you still haven't replace your shitty Mini-USB cable like a retard


trust fund babies showing off their shit taste in expensive ways