2011 Inverted Mouse Poll

Do you play with an inverted mouse (outside of flight games)?


  • Total voters
    219

-Sn1PeR-

2[H]4U
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Dec 26, 2002
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After seeing a few complaints about the fact that some people still play with an inverted mouse -- I bring you the 2011 inverted mouse poll.

I for one love my mice inverted. The only game this causes me constant grief in is NWN2.
 
I don't play with an inverted mouse. It's counterintuitive as far as I am concerned. The desktop and virtually all other computer usage has the mouse working the other way where up is up and down is down. I tend to think of the reticle or crosshairs in a shooter as the mouse pointer, and I'm just clicking on things to kill. When I'm shooting an actual firearm up is up and down is down. So again inverting the mouse makes absolutely no sense to me.
 
I don't play with an inverted mouse. It's counterintuitive as far as I am concerned. The desktop and virtually all other computer usage has the mouse working the other way where up is up and down is down. I tend to think of the reticle or crosshairs in a shooter as the mouse pointer, and I'm just clicking on things to kill. When I'm shooting an actual firearm up is up and down is down. So again inverting the mouse makes absolutely no sense to me.

+1

it just doesnt seem natural to me.
 
No, I have too much to worry about using mice in lefthanded mode. I think more games support inverted mice than lefthanded mice. PITA
 
One way to think about it is mouse forward leans you forward, mouse back leans you back. That's the only logical way to explain it that I've ever heard. That's not how I think about it -- I don't have to. I just grew up playing a lot of flying games, space games, etc. that defaulted to inverted controls. When I learned to play FPS games I automatically ticked invert. I also invert on a console.
 
One way to think about it is mouse forward leans you forward, mouse back leans you back. That's the only logical way to explain it that I've ever heard. That's not how I think about it -- I don't have to. I just grew up playing a lot of flying games, space games, etc. that defaulted to inverted controls. When I learned to play FPS games I automatically ticked invert. I also invert on a console.

For flying a helicopter in BFBC2 or for playing a space combat game or something, (back in the day) I'd agree. It seemed to make sense in those contexts if a flight stick is unavailable but for general FPS use, RTS and other game types, it just doesn't make any sense to use the mouse that way. You don't invert the mouse for general desktop do you?
 
First real FPS I played was Descent which inverted controls by default. Its stuck to all games ever since. What really bugs me is when games include invert, but don't separate vehicle aiming from regular camera control (looking at you, Darksiders). Moving a targeting reticule up/down (like a mouse cursor) shouldn't be inverted, but camera control should.
 
You don't invert the mouse for general desktop do you?

Of course not! Nor do I expect it to be inverted in RTS games like Starcraft 2.

I know I'm not alone here -- the 2006 [H] poll on the matter showed about 27%+ inverted. It just feels right for some. I guess I don't feel like I'm pointing at things on a 2D surface when I'm in 3d space controlling a camera -- it feels more like I'm looking around in a physical world. I can seamlessly navigate menus with a regular mouse and then jump back into 3d inverted camera control. I also use a regular axis for TrackIR when my mouse is inverted in Arma 2...

Drakenfeng hit the nail on the head with Descent.
 
With Descent I played the game with inverted controls. It made sense and felt natural. It was closer to flying an aircraft and that's why I left the controls like that. When I'd jump into a game of Doom 2, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, etc. I'd use standard non-inverted controls. The transition was never a problem for me.
 
Well this poll is certainly enlightening, I've actually always been confused about why that option exists.
 
Totally chose the wrong option.

For PC I use normal, for consoles I use inverted. Not sure why.
 
Switched from inverted to standard in the early days of Half-Life Deathmatch. Took some getting used to, but after that I never looked back. Many of my older gamer friends are the same way and eventually swapped. One is still a hold-out and uses inverted mouse to this day.
 
I guess I'm more alone than I thought cause I've always used the mouse inverted. I guess my reasons date back to the Commodore 64 where I played a boatload of flight combat games (F15 Strike Eagle, Spitfire Ace, Gunship) for hours on end so its ingrained in my brain that to look down you push forward.
 
inverted all the way. There have been a couple of games that didn't offer the option and it made me want to die.
 
I don't invert my mouse. However, on the rare occasion I play a console game, I invert the joystick on FPSes.
 
Inverted mouse really is stupid when you realize that the human brain doesn't care which way the mouse is oriented, and will adopt either one as completely natural with sufficient use.

Yes, I was one of those inverted mouse guys, and it would seriously mess me up to play otherwise.

But after getting annoyed (and annoying others) by having to change settings on shared systems, I decided to make the switch, and now inverted mouse screws with my brain. So IMO, don't be a douche like I was, and just switch to the norm.
 
Inverted due to magic carpet. Its not really intuitive, just a matter of practice. I'd bet that i could do both inverted x and y axis just as well after some practice.
 
Inverted is more natural in a small subset of environments like flight sims. however, the second a targeting reticle is visible normal wins hands down.
 
I've played using an inverted mouse since Quake. It's still the only way that makes sense to me. When playing an FPS, I feel like the mouse represents my head in a 3D space as opposed to a cursor on a flat surface like a desktop. To look up, you pull your head back. To look down, you push your head forward. The mouse has to correspond to this movement for me.
 
Played with an inverted Y axis since Descent. I tried to get used to playing with a "normal" mouse when Quake came along but that turned out to be an exercise in futility for me. For some reason, inverted is more natural to me. It's working just fine for me and I've done it for so long, I don't have any intention of switching.
 
I grew up on inverted. It feels natural considering when I look up, my eyes and head roll back, and when I look down, my eyes and head pitch forward.

The only time inverted mouse didn't work for me was when I played Freelancer. It's a space shooter, but the game uses a relatively fixed camera angle with a crosshair that's independent and can roam freely around the screen; it was way too difficult to use inverted mouse given that perspective.
 
Inverted here since the very first time I ever tried mouse look-style controls in Terminator Future Shock. Of course I tried it non-inverted first and I could never ever get used to it. *shrug* I'm a lefty too, in case that has anything to do with it.
 
Yep, have since I grasped my first mouse back in 93, I like my airplane controls no matter what I play
 
Yes, I always have done ever since I first tried FPS games many moons ago, I cannot use regular mouse controls, funnily enough my brother is the same and most of the regulars at our LAN partys are as well.

I know the "normal" way is more common for sure but there's a decent amount of people that use it inverted. I take it this was started due to my complaint about The Witcher 2 lacking invert controls which basically all other games have? Inexcusable if you ask me.
 
i guess i play with inverted, i don't know. never thought about it. i just use what evers set by default in the game. its rare i ever change any of the controls unless they are just completely stupid and make no sense. i know for sure i play with inverted controls on the console. i have no clue how people can play any other way.


scratch that.. now after thinking about it and moving my mouse around.. i don't play with inverted controls. so -1 on the inverted answer in the poll.
 
I play inverted almost exclusively for FPS. RTS and similar games, I play non-inverted. I am not sure when I started but I can recall using inverted controls since Duke 3D in some manner or another. In FPS games, it just feels weird to not be playing in inverted. I've tried to force myself to go to the up is up way and it just doesn't click.

Even when I played World of Warcraft, I had my mouse inverted also for free look. Black Ops kind of threw a wrench at me because during gameplay, I was inverted but when I had to shoot rocket launchers, for some reason it defaulted to non-inverted. akdjskfdsjf.
 
I play inverted when using joysticks. It seems to depend on the game though. Used inverted in Halo, for example, but not in some others.

I use non-inverted in PC games, though it probably wouldn't kill me to switch.
 
non-invert with a mouse. inverted on consoles, it's the only way FPS is enjoyable for me on 360.
 
I've played using an inverted mouse since Quake. It's still the only way that makes sense to me. When playing an FPS, I feel like the mouse represents my head in a 3D space as opposed to a cursor on a flat surface like a desktop. To look up, you pull your head back. To look down, you push your head forward. The mouse has to correspond to this movement for me.

Ditto.

It's counter intuitive to me that in a first person view you are pushing the mouse pointer. T o me it's your viewpoint that is moving, and this corresponds.

I've seem some explanations suggest it depends on where your pivot point is mentally. If your pivot point is your neck (natural to me), then inverted make sense (pull your head down to look up mentality). If your pivot point is your eyes or the top of your head, you prefer standard (push down to look down mentality).
 
Ditto.

It's counter intuitive to me that in a first person view you are pushing the mouse pointer. T o me it's your viewpoint that is moving, and this corresponds.

I've seem some explanations suggest it depends on where your pivot point is mentally. If your pivot point is your neck (natural to me), then inverted make sense (pull your head down to look up mentality). If your pivot point is your eyes or the top of your head, you prefer standard (push down to look down mentality).

That may be it, that it is dependent on how you perceive the world yourself. Personally I always think of myself as looking up as opposed to tilting/leaning my head back.
 
With normal mouse movement, it goes like this in the average person's mind:
Look up, eyes move up, mouse moves up.
Look down, eyes move down, mouse moves down.
With inverted, it goes like this:
Look up, eyes move up, mouse moves down.
Look down, eyes move down, mouse moves up.


For people who play flight sims, it makes sense; they are pretending that the mouse is a flight stick, and that's how flight sticks behave in planes. For everyone else, especially the ones who have never cared for or played flight sims, it is the opposite of natural.
 
Inverted IS the correct and intuitive way, at least in FPS's
here's why

it's not up or down as far as mouse movement it's forward or back
when you look down, in reality, you move/tilt your head forward, so the mouse would also be moved forward
when you look up, you tilt your head back, so the mouse would in fact be pulled back

think of your mouse as the top of your skull, put you hand on it and look up or down and then it makes sense:)

that's how I always ran my games anyway
 
Inverted IS the correct and intuitive way, at least in FPS's
here's why

when you look down, in reality, you move your head forward, so the mouse would also be moved forward
when you look up, you tilt your head back, so the mouse would in fact be pulled back

that's how I always ran my games anyway

I have to stop reading this thread. I feel like you inverted players are going to corrupt my mind and make me an inverted person too. This makes a lot of sense and is already making my question my non-invertedness.
 
I have to stop reading this thread. I feel like you inverted players are going to corrupt my mind and make me an inverted person too. This makes a lot of sense and is already making my question my non-invertedness.

Honestly that makes no more sense than what I wrote. You don't use your desktop mouse inverted. Shooting in games is the same as clicking on icons. And when you aim a firearm, up is up and down is down. Either way can be rationalized. I guess whatever you are comfortable with can be considered correct by some and wrong by others.
 
They both make sense, it's just different strokes I guess. But now that I'm thinking about it in my head it's making non-inverted not seem like the only possible option anymore(I've played inverted in the past but now non-inverted is so ingrained into my head). I doubt I'll switch, but it's just gotten me to imagine it in my head more.
 
it's not up or down as far as mouse movement it's forward or back
when you look down, in reality, you move/tilt your head forward, so the mouse would also be moved forward
when you look up, you tilt your head back, so the mouse would in fact be pulled back
Actually, when you look down, you tilt your head down. Moving your head forward makes you look like you're impersonating a hunchback:
images


Most people see their looking organs (eyes) as the point of reference when they're using their mouse to look. Eyes up, mouse up. Eyes down, mouse down.
 
Honestly that makes no more sense than what I wrote. You don't use your desktop mouse inverted. Shooting in games is the same as clicking on icons. And when you aim a firearm, up is up and down is down. Either way can be rationalized. I guess whatever you are comfortable with can be considered correct by some and wrong by others.

It's simply a difference in perception. My friends see things just like you do, just like clicking icons on the screen. I see it as if I'm a puppeteer, standing behind the character. Pulling = looking up. Neither is the "better" way like you said, It's simply different.
 
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