The Inverted Mouse Poll

[BasketCase]

The scenario: a friend and I are playing Call of Duty (original missions). He gets stuck on a particular mission. I take a try at it, discover the mouse is all backwards, and go to the options and select "Invert Mouse" so the damn thing works correctly. Then next time my friend hops on, he gets all pissy about how I switched the mouse on him, and we get into an argument over which way to do it.

Definite poll material here!

Option #1 in the poll (non-inverted) means pushing the mouse away from you in a first-person shooter causes your character to look up.

Option #2 means pushing the mouse away causes you to look down.

Which way do you do it?

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Pulling the mouse up should make my FPS character look up. That's how Duke Nukem 3D worked, and, therefore, how all subsequent FPSses should work.

 

[Yom]

It depends. On some games, it's regular, but on a lot of console games, my controls are inverted.

 

[Dr. Yoshi]

I prefer non-inverted for FPSes, inverted for flight games.

 

[ainwood]

Moderator Action: Moved to computer talk

At least your game has the option - I've seen ones that don't.

Better than just 'inverted', I have my mouse left-handed and work and right-handed at home.

 

[Turner]

Flight sims I like it inverted. But on my GTA:SA and those kinda games, when I push up I want it to go up. I haven't played a FPS with a mouse in I couldn't tell you how long....

 

[Padma]

I avoid FPSes, so I chose "other". In games I do play, pushing the mouse goes "forward", pulling it goes "back".

 

[Longasc]

I am with Turner. Only the few flight sims I have, and I do not play them anymore, have been played with inverted mouse. It seems more natural and closer to reality to do so.

 

[Mise]

I've never played a flight sim, but in FPSs I push the mouse up to look up. That way, it's more like clicking on people's heads than operating a mechanical shell.

 

[WickedSmurf]

Option #2 means pushing the mouse away causes you to look down.

That's the way it goes here.

 

[The Great Apple]

Inverted all the way!

I think I first started using inverted mouse when playing x-wing, in the good olde days, when it was default (flight sim - like a joystick). I think Jedi Knight had an option, but I can't remember what the default was. That was the first FPS I played which you could actually look up and down in.

I have a friend who can do it both ways. It takes him about a minute to adjust, but then he is fine inverted, or uninverted. Kinda like being ambidextrous. Ambiinverous?

People comment that it is odd, but it's how most people would use a joystick - push the stick forward, and you go down!

 

[stormbind]

Every brain works differently. You should setup controls that come naturally to you.

I use the default mouse movement, but quirks of mineare in the buttons & keys. My setup has not changed since Unreal (original) which was around 1996.

Left mouse: Fire
Right mouse: Forward (effectively always on)
Middle mouse: Toggle flashlight
W: Jump
A: Strafe Left (double-click for jump/roll left)
D: Strafe Right (double-click for jump/roll right)
S: Backwards
Space: Crouch (thumb)
Shift: Alternate fire, or mode switch (pinky)
... and some other stuff

If someone else uses this, they are utterly confused and whine about the strange setup, but it just fits perfectly with my brain. Do not copy other people, just workout whatever your brain feels comfortable with, then the in-game movement will come naturally and enemies will be dazzled by your gymnastics.

Afaik, I was the first person to use W, A , D and S as staple movement keys but it seems rather more popular these days.

 

[WickedSmurf]

Afaik, I was the first person to use W, A , D and S as staple movement keys <snip>

I seriously doubt that.

Edit: 1996 you say? IIRC I used WSAD back in 1993 playing the first Doom... Also, weren't the arrow keys default setting for movement back then?

 

[Zakharov]

I have always used inverted mouse. I also invert the y-axis of the xbox controller's right analogue stick when I'm using that.

 

[Plexus]

I can't stand inverted controls; in everything except flight simulators, they're counter intuitive.

 

[stormbind]

I seriously doubt that.

Edit: 1996 you say? IIRC I used WSAD back in 1993 playing the first Doom... Also, weren't the arrow keys default setting for movement back then?

The arrows were indeed default back in those days

I was quite shocked in around 2000 to see an article advocating WASD, because in all the LAN parties I attended prior to that, WASD was unique unto me.

In Doom, I thought arrow keys were required? I remember, you had to hold down space to look around

 

[Turner]

I was playing Lode Runner on an Apple ][e back in 1982, using the IJKL keys to move them. Because of Apple's screwed up key positioning.

WASD isn't all that different than IJKL....

 

[Grohan]

Non-inverted.

Am I only one who uses arrow keys in FPS games? They are just perfect for FPS games (expect for weapon switching if the game has lot of weapons).

Arrow keys for moving
Ctrl: Crouch
Shift: Jump
Enter: Use
Kp_Ins: Walk
Delete: Prone (or some special action like zoom)
R: Reload
F: Flashlight
Mouse 1: Shooting
Mouse 2: Alternative fire
Mouse 3: Sprint
Mousewheel: Weapon switching

 

[ummmm........]

I use arrow keys to play Doom.

 

[Wolfe Tone]

Non-inverted.

Am I only one who uses arrow keys in FPS games? They are just perfect for FPS games (expect for weapon switching if the game has lot of weapons).

Arrow keys for moving
Ctrl: Crouch
Shift: Jump
Enter: Use
Kp_Ins: Walk
Delete: Prone (or some special action like zoom)
R: Reload
F: Flashlight
Mouse 1: Shooting
Mouse 2: Alternative fire
Mouse 3: Sprint
Mousewheel: Weapon switching

It uncanny how similar that is to the controls I use. Although I use Mouse 3 to reload. Plus I've got 2 more mouse buttons I can assign functions to.