What key do you use to 'Move Forward'?

What key do you use to 'Move Forward'?


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Rev. Night

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
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So this question came up recently and I would like to know what you all use. In games, especially FPS, what key do you use to move forward? I'm well aware that WASD is the gold standard for many of you, but there are a few of us that don't use W. Personally, I use Right Mouse Button. It sounds strange, but bear with me: right now if you use WASD, your left middle finger is basically permanently attached to the W key at all times. This limits your hand to the QWEASD keys. With RMB, your right middle finger is always pressed down, but your hand could still cover the mouse anyways so this isnt a problem. But now your left hand is free to press any key on the left side of the kb.

I actually enjoy it, as I can both look, move, and shoot with one hand (my right). Also makes drinking a beer and moving easier too. W is used to jump. Space is interaction

I think Tribes 2 introduced me to the ESDF binds, the theory being that you get more keys to use. I never got into it though. As for the arrow keys, well, how do you look? This isnt Wolf3d

What sayeth you?
 
Currently using "W", as I am sitting at (in front of) a traditional desk, and with the mouse on my right-hand side. My former setup had me sitting astride the desk with the keyboard in my lap and my left-hand on the mouse. In that configuration I used the cursor keys with my right hand, which gave me a whole range of options; the keypad, the six keys directly above the cursor keys, and the right-side of the keyboard. Every weapon was bound to a key which I was able to select instantly and without hesitation; after years of this I had an intuitive reflex for them. As a bonus, it was easy to find my way back to the cursor keys in the dark because they are in their own little area.

I'll have to try the ESDF bind in my current setup, as it would open up some more keys to the left I could use.
 
I think Tribes 2 introduced me to the ESDF binds, the theory being that you get more keys to use.
Yeah, Tribes 2 introduced that setup - which I immediately changed.

Actually, for a long time I used the Arrow Keys for movement, and surrounding keys for other functions (ie: right control for jump, right shift for sprint, etc). I did this due to playing original DooM with the arrow keys. It wasn't until Half-Life 2 where I finally forced myself to learn WASD (by playing through its single player campaign). Never looked back and cannot understand how I controlled with anything but WASD.
 
So this question came up recently and I would like to know what you all use. In games, especially FPS, what key do you use to move forward? I'm well aware that WASD is the gold standard for many of you, but there are a few of us that don't use W. Personally, I use Right Mouse Button. It sounds strange, but bear with me: right now if you use WASD, your left middle finger is basically permanently attached to the W key at all times. This limits your hand to the QWEASD keys. With RMB, your right middle finger is always pressed down, but your hand could still cover the mouse anyways so this isnt a problem. But now your left hand is free to press any key on the left side of the kb.

I actually enjoy it, as I can both look, move, and shoot with one hand (my right). Also makes drinking a beer and moving easier too. W is used to jump. Space is interaction

I think Tribes 2 introduced me to the ESDF binds, the theory being that you get more keys to use. I never got into it though. As for the arrow keys, well, how do you look? This isnt Wolf3d

What sayeth you?
A lot of FPS games use the right mouse button for ADS, so I usually go WASD for movement in those so all my gun controls are with my right hand on the mouse.
 
Not sure why I never thought of shifting to esdf, q-a make more sense for keys than tabs/cap lock, I will have to try but I do not see any obvious down side to it (outside being os used to wasd and having to remap the buttons has most game will come already setted for wasd)
 
I rock WASD. I run Logitech keyboards with the macros on the left. I can tag about three or four keys with my pinky. I use macros in just about every game.
 
I rock WASD. I run Logitech keyboards with the macros on the left. I can tag about three or four keys with my pinky. I use macros in just about every game.

I personally find it much better to use the arrow keys because it's easier to remap everything around it...the arrow keys are isolated...with WSAD everything is crowded around it...I also like using all 5 mouse buttons
 
I also don't use a normal keyboard when I play FPS games, use the small mini keyboard controller.
IMG_6769.JPG
 
"8" on the numpad.

I remap all the keys to use the numpad.
7 and 9 are strafe left and right.
5 is interact
slash is reload
minus is flashlight
asterisk is second special ability if there is one
+ jump
enter crouch
delete prone
2 backwards
If a game has lean left/right, 1 and 3
4 and 6 are turn left and right
page up and page down = weapon cycles
 
"8" on the numpad.

I remap all the keys to use the numpad.
7 and 9 are strafe left and right.
5 is interact
slash is reload
minus is flashlight
asterisk is second special ability if there is one
+ jump
enter crouch
delete prone
2 backwards
If a game has lean left/right, 1 and 3
4 and 6 are turn left and right
page up and page down = weapon cycles
Drugs are bad mmkay
 
So this question came up recently and I would like to know what you all use. In games, especially FPS, what key do you use to move forward? I'm well aware that WASD is the gold standard for many of you, but there are a few of us that don't use W. Personally, I use Right Mouse Button. It sounds strange, but bear with me: right now if you use WASD, your left middle finger is basically permanently attached to the W key at all times. This limits your hand to the QWEASD keys. With RMB, your right middle finger is always pressed down, but your hand could still cover the mouse anyways so this isnt a problem. But now your left hand is free to press any key on the left side of the kb.

I actually enjoy it, as I can both look, move, and shoot with one hand (my right). Also makes drinking a beer and moving easier too. W is used to jump. Space is interaction

I think Tribes 2 introduced me to the ESDF binds, the theory being that you get more keys to use. I never got into it though. As for the arrow keys, well, how do you look? This isnt Wolf3d

What sayeth you?

The problem with using right click to move is you're now applying inconsistent pressure to your mouse which is hindering your aiming accuracy. I typically don't use "hold to aim down sites" and instead use "toggle ADS" because of that.

I just use W because it's what the default is for most games and it's a bit of a pain to rebind everything just to try out a new game.

But something I thought would be cool to try is using "ASDF". It's the most ergonomic way to position your fingers and since your fingers are in the normal typing position you don't need to adjust them to type at all. It would just take a bit of brain re-wiring to get used to.
 
I use the WASD setup but I always have W mapped to the easiest to reach side button on my mouse and most of the time use that unless I'm in a situation where I'm strafing or backpedaling frequently. I also have shift or whatever the sprint key is mapped to the side mouse button right above the one mapped to W making it easy to sprint by squeezing a little harder with my thumb.
 
First it was the arrow key, up until about 1995, then when games started dropping where you could look up / down I switched to num8, with pgup and pgdwn as look up / down. Then as mouselook become a regular thing I Switched back to the up arrow for a while. Until more complex games came around that needed more keys in reach of my left hand. I switched to W between 2000-2005, don't know when exactly.
 
Pretty sure I switched to WASD from arrow keys for the first Half-Life or maybe Unreal Tournament soon afterwards. I've never played a game where movement was on the mouse by default outside of RTS games.
 
I used the arrows for the longest time, but eventually I caved to WASD around the time Far Cry came out.
 
I use W almost exclusively unless the game comes with an auto run or something, like wow, in which I use the side mouse button (forward) to set auto run.
 
I use E because my F key has a little tab on it that lets me get my hand back into position quickly and easily after hitting a function key or grabbing a beer or whatnot.
 
I'm a lifelong arrow key user. There aren't a ton of downsides, BUT it does force me to use keyboards with a number pad and certain (luckily common) layouts to be happy.
 
WASD user here, but in MMOs I use simultaneous R+L mouse buttons for forward movement when traveling out of combat quite often. Q is always autorun.
 
G13 thumbstick. I think spreading out your directional control over multiple fingers isn't living your best life.
 
I think Tribes 2 introduced me to the ESDF binds, the theory being that you get more keys to use. I never got into it though. As for the arrow keys, well, how do you look? This isnt Wolf3d

What sayeth you?
Funny you say that, as I went from arrow keys with left and right to turn to UT'99 dragging me kicking and screaming into the WASD and mouse aim era (keep in mind that I was mostly playing DOS-era FPSs in singleplayer before then) to Tribes 2 specifically converting me to ESDF. Having that QAZ column open for additonal binds really helps a lot, and it keeps my left hand in proper touch-typing position.

This leads to much frustration when I see gaming laptop keyboards highlighting the WASD keys specifically (my OMEN X 2S even has an additional bump on the W key like the F and J keys), or having to rebind pretty much everything in FPSs to conform to the ESDF layout and subtly breaking things in the process because other game UI elements can't be rebound.

A few examples: Skyrim's map screen recentering every time I press E to scroll up, even though the other directions are fine, No Man's Sky generally being very good at rebinding actions and UI navigation alike EXCEPT scrolling the build menu with the mouse wheel when the keyboard keys are rebound or unmapped (yet the quick menu remains unaffected), and Tribes: Vengeance of all things having a quick menu centered around the QWEASDZXC cluster. (As it turns out, Tribes 2 is the ONLY game in the franchise with an ESDF default map; cue rebinding everywhere else.)

As for the notion of reassigning movement to a mouse button, it's an interesting idea, but I don't think I could adjust too easily given how overtaxed my mouse buttons tend to be.

My laptop mouse of choice is a Logitech G502, and that thing has what I consider to be a bare minimum of buttons for some of the games I play - three thumb buttons, a tilting scroll wheel, and I use every single one of 'em (scroll wheel tilt for selecting inventory items/spells/something other than primary weapons, thumb buttons tend to be melee and other actions like throwing grenades/mines and grappling hooks) in the more bind-overloaded games I play.

Worse off, it doesn't have the context sensitivity of my Swiftpoint Z (my desktop mouse of choice) in that I can't specifically pick it up and tilt it to switch profiles and DPI settings, so I have to leave some of the additional buttons like the DPI switch buttons beside the left mouse button tied up with that at all times.

Considering all of this, it's no surprise that my first thing to do upon starting up any new PC game is to make a beeline for the control options and rebind everything. Sometimes it takes me the better part of an hour to figure it all out when the menu explains certain actions poorly, or I find out that remapping some things unmaps others.

As for really antiquated layouts, who the hell thought QWPL was appropriate for Exile, with UIK being the keys to adjust and center your aim? There's a lot of European games in particular that do these nonsensical movement key layouts with computer games.
 
My keybinds since Doom/Quake/Duke3d

E=Forward
W=Backwards
A= Strafe Left
F= Strafe Right
Space = Jump
LH ALT = Crouch
Z= Prone
S= Will be a lean if there is a lean feature, but can be assigned to other stuff game specific
D= " "
Q = Drop or other game specific
R = Reload
G = Grenade or Flashlight (Half Life)
TAB = Invetory
LH Shift = Run / Walk
CAPS LCK = PTT for VOIP in game.. V is bound for my Discord PTT
 
I used to use right mouse button with some odd combination of keys, but switched to WASD after many years. I want to say the RMB was default in a '90s PC game or something. Forced myself to switch because I got tired of reconfiguring keys.
 
I was an arrow user when I first started pc gaming, but converted to WASD around 2005.
These controls we're from Rainbow Six (1998) and I just used it up until 2005.

Anybody remember Msn Gaming Zone and MPlayer? That was the hub for R6 Clan matches.
Strafe Frag and F1 (third person view) on corners we're what the good players used.

arrows - movement
Shift - jump
end - crouch
delete - reload
home - walk
num pad 1-8 - weapon choices
num pad 0 - open doors, pick up items etc.
 
I was an arrow user when I first started pc gaming, but converted to WASD around 2005.
These controls we're from Rainbow Six (1998) and I just used it up until 2005.

Anybody remember Msn Gaming Zone and MPlayer? That was the hub for R6 Clan matches.
Strafe Frag and F1 (third person view) on corners we're what the good players used.

arrows - movement
Shift - jump
end - crouch
delete - reload
home - walk
num pad 1-8 - weapon choices
num pad 0 - open doors, pick up items etc.
I remember The All Seeing Eye and Kali (Kali95) as well. I still have my "Keys" for both of them.
 
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