Why do I use eadf instead of wasd? Am I the only one?

Don't feel bad. The first 4 years of PC gaming I used the arrow keys for movements. Yes, the arrow keys. But of course, back then games weren't so complicated to need many buttons so it wasn't a big deal. This was back in my Unreal Tournament days.

In all honesty, just putting my fingers on E,A,D, and F actually felt good because my fingers were a little more spaced out and since I have large hands it felt good. WADS feels like my fingers are scrunched together in comparison.
If it makes you feel any better, when I encountered the first game where I had to look up and down I tried playing with the numpad 4568, and 9,3 as look up / down. I think it was Terminator Future Shock. Idk if it had mouselook at all. The first game I played with mouselook was Q1, but even there you had to activate it trough the console.
 
I used to do YGHJ

becsue 6 and 7 which isright above would be rocket launcher and the shafts in quake.
also you have alot more keyes availble to user
 
I used to do YGHJ

becsue 6 and 7 which isright above would be rocket launcher and the shafts in quake.
also you have alot more keyes availble to user

It is interesting how WADS has become standardized when you have so many more keys if you move your movement keys to the center of the keyboard. Also, in games like RPGs and stuff there are sometimes distant keys for using items, accessing inventory, or what have you that could benefit from more of the keys found in the center of a keyboard.
 
It is interesting how WADS has become standardized when you have so many more keys if you move your movement keys to the center of the keyboard. Also, in games like RPGs and
stuff there are sometimes distant keys for using items, accessing inventory, or what have you that could benefit from more of the keys found in the center of a keyboard.

I would love to go back to YGHJ. I changed over to WASD when it became a hell to do all the remapping in games.
really wish some devleoerps would udnerstand we dont need a hell of numbers of keys to control stuff. just make it a simple to use.
 
It doesn't look like Logitech still makes the G13, but that thing is great.

upload_2018-3-8_15-12-26.png
 
I used to use arrow keys and just shift the whole keyboard to the left.

Yar, same here. It was a habit I formed from my original DooM days (arrow keys for movement, right mouse button + arrow key to strafe). Finally for Half-life 2, I played the entire campaign using a WASD setup and never looked back.
 
It is interesting how WADS has become standardized when you have so many more keys if you move your movement keys to the center of the keyboard. Also, in games like RPGs and stuff there are sometimes distant keys for using items, accessing inventory, or what have you that could benefit from more of the keys found in the center of a keyboard.
That's a really good point. I can't remember the last time I used a keymapping further over than H.
 
Silly casuals. Here is what I do for FPS (I blame Quake):
left strafe: w
right strafe: e
back: s
forward: mouse 2
fire: mouse 1
use: a
crouch: f
prone: b
space: jump

invert mouse

secondary fire/aim/scope is usually a side mouse button.
 
Silly casuals. Here is what I do for FPS (I blame Quake):
left strafe: w
right strafe: e
back: s
forward: mouse 2
fire: mouse 1
use: a
crouch: f
prone: b
space: jump

invert mouse

secondary fire/aim/scope is usually a side mouse button.
o_O OK now I feel better about my bindings. :)
 
I use ESDF because of my years of WoW. Needed more space around the movement keys for keybindings. Every other game I still run WASD.
 
Silly casuals. Here is what I do for FPS (I blame Quake):
left strafe: w
right strafe: e
back: s
forward: mouse 2
fire: mouse 1
use: a
crouch: f
prone: b
space: jump

invert mouse

secondary fire/aim/scope is usually a side mouse button.
I just tried to see what that was like and almost hurt myself.
 
I use WERD .

Basically an upside down WASD but it works the best IMO.

W = Strafe Left
E = Forward
R = Strafe Right
D = Back
 
I use WERD .

Basically an upside down WASD but it works the best IMO.

W = Strafe Left
E = Forward
R = Strafe Right
D = Back
I suspect finger length determines this better.
A long middle finger is better suited to WASD.
If your middle finger is close to the length of the other 2, WERD looks decent.
 
I like esdf for the extra keys and home row bump. Much easier to find without looking at the keyboard. All had been said earlier already, but just putting my vote out there. Lol

Lately I’ve been playing games mostly on my htpc so unless it’s an fps, I tend to use a controller. For fps, keyboard and mose is a must.
 
I just tried to see what that was like and almost hurt myself.
Now imagine that is how your muscle memory forces you to play and then you go to a default setup. The first 20 minutes on a new game and I'm just trying to get the feeling right. I haven't gone back to the latest Wolfenstein just because of this fact - can't get comfortable and won't use a controller for it.
 
I like esdf for the extra keys and home row bump. ...
So with esdf, you're using your ring finger to strafe left? Feels weird...but then again, using arrow keys on the keyboard has you using ring finger to strafe right. I suppose anything can feel normal with practice.
 
I remember back in the day, I introduced my friend to gaming. Specifically first person shooters. Rainbow 6 was the game I believe. In any case, by default the key layout for that game was set to arrow keys and numpad. I remember remapping my friend's keys to WASD and he was more blown away that you could change the keys than the actual improvement if gameplay. Sometimes its the little things in life that make us happy.


edit.

is anyone here a lefty, and do they control mouse with left hand? I am lefty but use regular setup.
 
So with esdf, you're using your ring finger to strafe left? Feels weird...but then again, using arrow keys on the keyboard has you using ring finger to strafe right. I suppose anything can feel normal with practice.
Yea. No different than touch typing. I like to tweak bindings on everything anyway so it’s bot really any more work for me anyway.
 
So funny thing: I basically left PC gaming for a decade after DOOM, so I never graduated to WASD. I to this day continue to use the arrow keys for movement. I compensate by using a Logitech G700 mouse; having four keys on the side is a godsend.
 
I've never used WASD and have always used ESDF (probably since Quake 1).

1). You have a couple extra keys to the left you can use with your pinky or ring finger.
2). The indent for touch typing on the F key is easier to find with your index finger if your fingers come off the keyboard.
3). It's the natural position for your hands if you're touch typing anyway. Functions assigned to letter keys come natural as it's the way you type anyway (E.G. "G" for grenade is your normal "G" touch type location).

Quake 2 was when I adopted ESDF (actually I use W and R to strafe but I don't even know what to call that, EWDR? I just find it easier to keep my 3 fingers at the same level). The idea was that it gave more access to easy to hit keys for bindings. Rocket Launcher on A, Railgun on G, Grendade Launcher on Q, etc.

As games have changed, some new conventions have come into play and I simply adopt a set of standards for all games to make things easy. A for use, G for reload, T for melee, Q for grenades, H for flashlight, V for crouch. Those are the most common overall I'd say, at least in some combination for most games.

I've thought about sucking it up and going to WASD for ease even though rebinding isn't much of a problem. Games that suck at rebinding keys are an issue, most notably in my mind was Fallout 4, at least at launch. The damn workshop parts in that game were horrible if you did key rebindings, so bad that I just gave up and used a gamepad for my first playthrough and simply went with a melee build so I didn't have to worry about aiming with a controller.
 
Using a keyboard cramps my left hand so I just use a controller these days. I don't play a competitive multiplayer that much anymore anyway. Even if I do, I don't strike to be the best and I still score a headshot. ;)
 
I use ESDF because of my years of WoW. Needed more space around the movement keys for keybindings. Every other game I still run WASD.

When I was playing WoW I was eventually playing with a ton of keybinds, but never even thought about changing the basic WASD.
 
When I was playing WoW I was eventually playing with a ton of keybinds, but never even thought about changing the basic WASD.

It was probably one of the best things I was shown. At least for WoW. Opened up so many keybindings for me and it only took maybe a day to get used to the feel. That and using s and f for strafing instead of turning. That works wonders too.
 
I actually used a MS joystick for Quake II for quite a while. I was stationed at Okinawa, so I was ignorant. Just being able to buy the game at my local base exchange was miraculous.
 
I played lots of classic shooters with pads. I came from the consoles so I always felt better with a pad. Most PC pads were hunks of garbage from Gravis, but there were a few pads that would emulate keyboard functions. You had to plug them in as a keyboard pass-through, but they allowed you to map any functions you wanted to any buttons you wanted.
Once games started running in Windows I started using the MS sidewinder pad. Most games supported it natively.

In the Quake era, I actually used that pad in my left hand and a mouse in my right. Not a ton of games support that anymore, but it worked great back in the day.
 
do you have an extra finger in between your middle and pointer?

No you just shift your finger over to gain a new set of weapon binds for your pinky, you should have two different keys for each gun in Quake and UT to never have to stop moving in any direction you want.
 
No you just shift your finger over to gain a new set of weapon binds for your pinky, you should have two different keys for each gun in Quake and UT to never have to stop moving in any direction you want.

Honestly my hand is like a claw from wasd gaming for the last 20 years. Similar to how a high heeled shoe tends to reform the foot bones over time till the toes are more or less mashed together. However I did once bind the shooting key to one of my racing sim pedals so that I didn't have to ever smash left mouse and alter my mousing movement to fire. Honestly it worked really well, but my foot would go numb during overnight sessions. I had to limit it to sniping only scenarios for the most port where that extra precision made the difference.
 
Try living in a country with azerty layout :p

Some games will default to ZQSD but most don't and I need to change settings, I can't even play dreadnought since I can't use the abilities on an azerty keyboard and no way to rebind them.

Free tip: change the language in windows typing method. Not even kidding, azerty or qwerty are only the stickers. A keyboard sends matrix codes, not letters, to the computer.
 
Ah this old debate makes a comeback!

I began "standard" gaming with the basic WASD back in the mid-90s and moved onto ESDF after a few years.

ESDF was great for allowing more easy-access hotkeys, but then I started getting into MMOs like FFXI w/ Windower and WoW. ESDF required some crazy finger acrobatics to get to modifier keys for the extra keybinds you could use (looking at you WoW...), and making the move back to WASD just made it easier w/o losing anything critical.

Now I use this and just stick to WASD; I feel secure enough in using everything available in red as a hotkey and under shift-modifier, while the orange outline shows what I can confidently use under ctrl/alt mods. (marvel at my paint skills!!)

IMG_20171011_223439.png


Edit: I also swapped Caps to another Shift while Caps lies on a secondary FN layer.
 
No! No man! Shit no!! I believe you'd get your ass kicked playing like that!

:p
 
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