WASD, Arrow Keys or HJKL?
The other day I saw this:
author unknown
I decided we need to have a showdown. Which is your favorite movement key combination for gaming and/or text editing?
While we are at it, here is something that kinda bothers me. Do left handed gamers still use WASD? It would seem kinda uncomfortable to have both hands all the way on the left side of the keyboard, and have the wrong hand operating the keys (cause even if you are left handed, your left hand still works the keys left of the home row). Any left handed gamers who read this blog?
Do you guys re-map the keys to something else, learn how to use WASD with your right hand, or do you learn to use mouse in your right hand when you play games? Also, if you use the mouse with your left hand, do you usually swap the keys so that you have the RMB equivalent under the index finger?
It got me thinking because a lot of games don’t even offer this option which kinda sucks from the accessibility point of view.
Related Posts:
September 28th, 2007 at 3:42 pm (6330) [Quote]
Wow! I was expecting to be the only one voting for HJKL.
Long live vi!
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 3:47 pm (6331) [Quote]
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Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 4:22 pm (6332) [Quote]
While I expected HJKL to lag behind other choices, I figured it will beat the numpad keys since it would surely get votes from vi enthusiasts.
I’m glad to see there are at least 3 hard core vi users reading this blog.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 4:51 pm (6333) [Quote]
For gaming, I use S/ALT for up/down and Z/X for strafe left/right
Posted usingThe arrow keys I still use for text editing and pretty much everything else
September 28th, 2007 at 5:09 pm (6334) [Quote]
I like Arrow Keys and the numpad keys the best. Unfortunately, I don’t usually feel like plugging in my external numpad for my laptop, so a lot of time it isn’t worth the effort.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 5:10 pm (6335) [Quote]
Wow, interesting. I never encountered this combination for gaming. Actually it seems like a more natural and comfortable position for your hand to hug the corner like that, rather than to sit on WASD.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 5:13 pm (6336) [Quote]
@Luke Maciak: Exactly. I like my fingers being where they aren’t as likely to hit other keys by default. Also, I’ve played some games in the past that allow you to use the 1, 3, 7, and 9 as SW, SE, NW, and NE keys.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 5:17 pm (6337) [Quote]
@Jake - I was actually responding to EmbersFire but your post jumped in first. LOL
Personally, I’m a WASD person when it comes to gaming. The numpad is just on the wrong side of keyboard for me since I operate my mouse with my right hand.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 5:19 pm (6338) [Quote]
@Luke Maliak: Oh okay. I just assumed you were responded to me. Sorry about the confusion.
Anyway, I can use the mouse with both hands (not much else) and I usually use the touchpad on my laptop, so for me it is more or less irrelevant.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 5:28 pm (6339) [Quote]
@Jake - that’s actually pretty cool! I can’t really mouse with my left hand. It just feels weird. I read something recently that said that practicing using mouse with your non-dominant hand is good for your brain.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 7:36 pm (6340) [Quote]
My right hand is my mousin’ hand, so the hand on the keyboard wants to be over to the left, so it’s WASD for me
Becomes more important when on a laptop - to have my left hand on the arrow keys I have to reach under the hand on the touch pad, which I have to do for one online game, but wouldn’t want to do for any length of time
HJKL feels un-natural.. my fingers are different lengths but the keys are all in a row..
On the other hand (pun intended) when the mouse isn’t required I probably favour the arrow keys - sat conveniently under my right hand
So I guess the rule is that my main hand wants to be on the main controls
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 10:13 pm (6341) [Quote]
I’m a lefty, I got used to hjkl from not only vim, but nethack. However, if it’s going to be a pain in the ass to remap a huge number of keys, I’ll just swap mouse hands. As far as changing the behavior of the mouse buttons, I personally don’t as I remember the behavior of the buttons pressed as opposed to which fingers produce which results.
Posted usingSeptember 28th, 2007 at 11:53 pm (6342) [Quote]
As must as I’d like to say I learned hjkl from Vi, honestly I think Nethack had more to do with it. Long live Nethack!
Posted usingSeptember 29th, 2007 at 2:24 am (6344) [Quote]
Oh, I forgot about nethack. Though I distinctly remember using arrows for that game back in the day.
Actually, Nethack for WinCE was the killer app for my Dell Axim pocket pc. That and Pocket Gnu Go got me through all the boring gen-ed electives in college.
And yes, playing that game with a stylus was a bit weird at first, but you got used to it after a while.
Posted usingSeptember 29th, 2007 at 8:41 pm (6346) [Quote]
I’m left handed. I use the left mouse button for move forward and the right button for move back. a and s for strafing left and right, shift to fire, d to crouch, usually x for use and the other keys surrounding asdf for whatever else. I just can’t wrap my brain around using the mouse buttons to shoot (or do anything but move back or forth really).
Posted using Debian IceWeasel 2.0.0.6 onSeptember 29th, 2007 at 8:51 pm (6347) [Quote]
Interesting. For me mouse shooting seems natural. Go figure.
Posted usingSeptember 30th, 2007 at 1:04 am (6350) [Quote]
I actually expected the HJKL keys to score higher because of the Vi users out there. Still going strong though. I don’t play many games anyway so the keys are used primarily for editing. There is a Firefox plugin for Vim keybindings but I don’t use it. Anyway, in the words of some famous Linux persona, “Give me Vi or give me death.”
Posted using Debian IceWeasel 2.0.0.6 onSeptember 30th, 2007 at 1:18 am (6351) [Quote]
I suspected that WASD will have a big lead over all the other choices because there are so many gamers out there. There are definitely more gamers out there than people who use HJKL with vi.
Posted usingSeptember 30th, 2007 at 7:00 am (6354) [Quote]
Gaming - that’s not my stuff. But as for text editing - what’s wrong with ^b ^f ^p and ^n. That was not even an option on the poll.
Posted usingOctober 13th, 2007 at 11:42 am (6551) [Quote]
I’m a gamin’ leftie and am driven insane by always having to map the multitude of keys needed by today’s FPS games. Forwards, backwards, left, right, jump, crouch, prone, reload, shoot, change weapons (quickly)…
I have the mouse in my left-hand but don’t re-map the buttons, LMB shoots (clicked with my left-hand middle finger) and RMB is usually zoom (like aiming down a sniper rifle scope, etc) pressed with my index finger.
Typically arrow keys to replace WASD, CTRL to run, shift to crouch. End (directly above up arrow on my keyboard) is USE (for any kind of in-game interaction, open doors, etc). Usually, any keys on the keypad I can reach with my right-hand pinky for switching weapons, flashlights, med-packs, et. al.
Return/enter to jump.
Call of Duty 2 (if I remember correctly) felt best for me as I was able to map changing stance up/down to the mouse wheel. Mouse wheel up went from prone to crouch to stand and mouse wheel down from stand to prone to crouch. It felt very natural.
I’ve tried mousing with my right hand and using WASD - it would sure make getting into a new game that much easier but I am just useless with that configuration.
My brother uses LMB/RMB for forwards/backwards like someone else here. It seems really weird NOT using the mouse to shoot but maybe it’s something else to try.
Posted usingNovember 3rd, 2007 at 7:10 pm (6814) [Quote]
I use ESDF for gaming which has no option in your poll.
[b]Why ESDF and not WASD?[/b]
Easy: Using ESDF gives you a “circle” of other keys around your movement keys (RTGBVCXYAQW) which can be mapped for direct weapon selection or other actions.
Posted usingNovember 3rd, 2007 at 7:43 pm (6815) [Quote]
@Alexander -actually, that’s a good idea. I never thought about using ESDF but it does give you more keys for mapping additional functions. I might need to try this out one day.
Posted using