The History of WASD

What is your gaming control config?

  • Total voters
    31
DarthMol

DarthMol

New member
I came across this fascinating PC Gamer article on How WASD became the standard PC control scheme.

It was interesting to see how the WASD configuration became a gaming standard (at least for right-handed players).

Can you remember when you started using WASD to play games? What config did you use before that? What do you currently use if not the default WASD? (check the poll)

I'm left-handed but use the mouse in the right hand with my left on WASD.
 
It took me a while to adapt (change over) to WASD. My brother had his settings like that (playing Nerf
Arena Blast and Quake 1). I would change them to accommodate my Arrow/Number style of gameplay. He'd get annoyed if I did not revert back to his config. As a result, that's when I think I made the change-over.
 
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ESDF seems like quite a great idea, since you have an 'a' to the left instead of a caps lock (which is pretty useless) but I suppose with more buttons on mouses this becomes less important.
 
I started off with arrow keys because that was the default back then.
When games started moving to WASD scheme, so did I.
 
I change dependand on the game, racing and rts i use arrows for the driving and camera manipulation. WASD i use for everuthing else.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
Back in the day WSAD became mainstream and I was like WTF that is odd, why not just use the arrow keys? I figured WSAD was better and arrows are lame now
 
Hagan said:
It took me a while to adapt (change over) to WASD. My brother had his settings like that (playing Nerf
Arena Blast and Quake 1). I would change them to accommodate my Arrow/Number style of gameplay. He'd get annoyed if I did not revert back to his config. As a result, that's when I think I made the change-over.
Click to expand...

cfg files! We created our own CFG files back yay, I still have my original file. You just placed your unique named CFG file, like virtual.cfg in the ID1 folder, opened the game, dropped the console, typed in "exec virtual" and pressed enter. It'll overwrite the default config.cfg file and you'll have your own custom setup.

Here's mine :
Code: 
//Generated by VirtualForce ... Do not modify
//This is my cfg phile for Quake ....

// Aliases
alias glshoot "impulse 6; wait; +attack; wait; -attack; wait; impulse 7"
alias dm1 "map dm1"
alias dm2 "map dm2"
alais dm3 "map dm3"
alias dm4 "map dm4"
alias dm5 "map dm5"
alias dm6 "map dm6"
alias dm7 "map dm7"
alias dm8 "map dm8"
alias uv "map ultrav"

// movement keyz
bind SPACE "+jump"
bind a "+moveleft"
bind d "+moveright"
bind s "+back"
bind w "+forward"

// weapon bindingz
bind mwheeldown "impulse 0"
bind mwheelup "impulse 1"
bind 2 "impulse 2"
// bind c "impulse 3"
bind q "impulse 5"
bind f "impulse 3"
bind e "impulse 7"
bind r "impulse 4"
//bind z "impulse 4"

// Player Setup
m_pitch "-0.022000"
m_yaw "0.022000"
sensitivity "4"       // 38 for PURE DOS Quake
color 13 4
viewsize "100.000000"
+mlook
crosshair 1
fov 110
cl_backspeed 400
cl_forwardspeed 400
cl_movespeedkey 400
cl_sidespeed 400
sv_aim "1"
m_filter "4"
cl_pitchspeed 150
cl_name "VirtualForce"
gamma "0.500000"

// Special bindingz
bind MOUSE2 "glshoot"
bind CTRL "+rljump"
bind o "god"
bind p "impulse 9"
bind MOUSE1 "+attack"
bind MOUSE3 "impulse 8"

// Misc Shit
bind PAUSE "pause"
// d_mipscale 999
gl_flashblend 0

I initially used the arrow keys with Doom, but somewhere around Quake I started using the mouse and WASD. Remember this guy ripping me a new one at a internet cafe, started to learn how to use the mouse and man that was hard....felt so unomfortable at the started.

and btw, real men play wtih mouse inverted! :D
 
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I honestly do not remember using any other keys but WASD for most games. Even back in the day of Duke Nukem 3D - only used the keyboard but would have 'R' for reload, 'F' for kick, 'T' for shooting and so forth.

If I played WWF4, Mortal Kombat or Super Karts with my brother, we both played on the same keyboard and if I played on the right, I would use the arrow keys and then the Num Pad for the buttons, my bro would use the Num Pad for direction and the Insert, Home, etc keys for buttons. We both used WASD though on the left.

ESDF is interesting and strange that no-one is using it so far according to the poll. Also that I have never given it thought before.
 
Avantar said:
I honestly do not remember using any other keys but WASD for most games. Even back in the day of Duke Nukem 3D - only used the keyboard but would have 'R' for reload, 'F' for kick, 'T' for shooting and so forth.

If I played WWF4, Mortal Kombat or Super Karts with my brother, we both played on the same keyboard and if I played on the right, I would use the arrow keys and then the Num Pad for the buttons, my bro would use the Num Pad for direction and the Insert, Home, etc keys for buttons. We both used WASD though on the left.

ESDF is interesting and strange that no-one is using it so far according to the poll. Also that I have never given it thought before.
Click to expand...

Well to be fair, "back in the day of Duke Nukem 3D" is rather late in the development of early FPS games. The first couple of years didn't even have a third dimension. But I get what you're saying.

As for the ESDF configuration, the biggest reason I personally wouldn't use it is because of the extra effort required to reach Ctrl, Shift and Tab. My fingers are pretty flexible, but even I have to stretch a little to reach the Ctrl key, which is one of the core modifiers in modern shooters, especially as it's usually mapped to crouch/walk, which is crucial in some games.
 
DarthRiven said:
As for the ESDF configuration, the biggest reason I personally wouldn't use it is because of the extra effort required to reach Ctrl, Shift and Tab. My fingers are pretty flexible, but even I have to stretch a little to reach the Ctrl key, which is one of the core modifiers in modern shooters, especially as it's usually mapped to crouch/walk, which is crucial in some games.
Click to expand...

Yes, same here, I'll have a hell of a time retraining my self. CTRL is for crouch and SHIFT is for Running/Walking. ALT is also used for game specific stuffs, mostly going prone. Except for games that has a thousand diffirent stances, *looks at ARMA and Rainbow Siege*
 
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