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Can New Game Control Schemes Hope To Match the PC Keyboard?

Posted by Soulskill on from the precision-and-complexity dept.

An opinion piece on Gamasutra discusses how, in spite of the fancy new motion control systems that have come to console gaming, the PC's keyboard and mouse setup is still unreplaceable for many titles and genres. Quoting: "With over 100 keys to choose from (back of the box quotation right there), the possibilities are near endless, if you start to think of shift and control functions altering the purpose of keys. It means that, when the developers start to make their game, they don't have to worry about the limitations of the interface, knowing that, if all else fails, they can always assign the compass to K, even if that's a bit of a stretch to all but the pianists. The keyboard is the friend of ambition, and ArmA 2 is the testament to that, in all its surrealist, broken glory. ... It's the same reason RTS games have found a home on the PC for so long, able to use the skills people accumulate moving around windows and clicking on icons to command troops and manipulate their battle lines. Developers taking advantage of what we already know to teach us something we don't is what gaming is all about."

21 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Control shape is arbitrary, just like the number of possible bindings. Many people use WASD with space for jumping, I use Q and E instead of A and D because it's more comfortable.

    What position my hand rests in is entirely up to me, the controls are never too large or too small. And when you consider that the signals are what counts you've got keyboards in all sorts of shapes and sizes, even balls up wierd "gamepads" and the like.

    I wouldn't be surprised if pretty soon keyboards start shipping with the CTRL ALT and Shift keys moved to the space between the numbers and the F# keys.

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    1. Re:The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by khellendros1984 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Learning to input your commands into a game is *part* of the game. It's one of the skill-dependent aspects, just like understanding the strategies is. A different game would have different requirements (for instance, some sort of turn-based Starcraft would rely far less on speed of the player). It's like many other good games; The challenge exists on multiple levels.

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    2. Re:The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by pantherace · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Solution: Don't play Starcraft.

      I know 40+ year olds who are good at games like Supreme Commander. (I speak as someone who was in the top 100 of FA, in the months after it launched.) Reason being, not because they click like crazy, but because they are devious. (Old age & Trickery, etc) Where Supreme Commander is slow enough people can use thought, and not have to fight the interface, as with Starcraft.

      There are games where you are fighting the interface. It shouldn't be that way, games should have a good interface. If the game requires a clickfest, then the problems are deeper, in it's design. I consider games like that to have flawed designs, if they want to be played by people like me.

      I'm sure someone has done something as crazy as 'real-time' chess, or such. Funny how well that game holds up even in the computer game era.

    3. Re:The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Control shape is arbitrary, just like the number of possible bindings. Many people use WASD with space for jumping, I use Q and E instead of A and D because it's more comfortable.

      What position my hand rests in is entirely up to me, the controls are never too large or too small.

      Absolutely. I'm always a little confused at first by people that claim things about a key being "a bit of a stretch to all but the pianists" because my primary control keys are in the middle of the keyboard (TFHV), and not off to the side like the normal WASD or your QWES. I never did understand why those keys were used, other than someone not thinking of taking the keyboard and moving it a few inches to the left. It's a rare desk that doesn't have the room for it. (At the time that the current primary control schemes became prevalent, notebook computers weren't terribly common in gaming, so weren't a factor in determining popularity.)

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    4. Re:The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by TheLink · · Score: 2

      Yeah I've gone to WASD but I wished game makers standardized on ESDF instead since it means there are more keys around the "triangle" you can use.

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    5. Re:The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by Moryath · · Score: 2, Interesting

      WASD also keeps you nearby to the traditional "alter function" keys - Shift for running/walking, ctrl/alt for strafing or "sneaking", tab for weapon or preassigned group cycling, etc.

    6. Re:The reason the keyboard is popular is simple by Undead+Waffle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That brings up a good issue. Warcraft 2 was arguably harder on the controls than Starcraft. You couldn't queue up unit production, among other things. Then from Starcraft to Warcraft 3 they made spellcasting smarter so you could, for example, select a group of priestesses and cast slow on a unit and let the game figure out which priestess will actually cast the spell. So games are clearly getting smarter about controls and making them get in the way less. Intuitive controls that don't get in the way are part of good game design.

      The article basically points out that console controls just aren't as good as keyboard/mouse for some games. Especially games that try to mix genres and become more complicated. In the end it's all about having an input device that matches the game you're making. For example, I wouldn't want to play a game like Devil May Cry without a controller. And I wouldn't want to play a fighter without a joystick.

      In the end I suspect consoles will have to develop better keyboard/mouse support if they want to become the platform of choice for some of these genres, but then you have the problem of location. Consoles are often next to a couch or some other layout that does not easily accommodate a keyboard/mouse setup. I think solving this problem is more likely than someone inventing some revolutionary new input method. This is mainly because of the hurdles of new input methods. They are expensive to design and build, then you have to convince the users to buy them and hope they are intuitive enough to warrant spending the time to learn. And since one input device is never optimal for different types of games you would be asking people to do all of this on top of buying other controls for other types of games.

      Maybe the ultimate solution would be some sort of modular lap system where you can swap out a joystick, different buttons, connect a mouse, etc.

  2. i love the keyboard and mouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just wish it were taken seriously. Nowadays games are developed for console first, then ported to PC after many months, sometimes never. Even then, the ported games often have incredibly poor controls for moving, camera, and other things. PC gaming should be given the respect it deserves across all genres, not just RTS.

    1. Re:i love the keyboard and mouse by clarkkent09 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm not a gamer so maybe I'm missing something here, but why couldn't game consoles support the regular keyboard and mouse in addition to the controller? It sure would make porting PC games to consoles easier, or the player could be given both options. Seems like the best of both worlds, no?

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    2. Re:i love the keyboard and mouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm not a gamer so maybe I'm missing something here, but why couldn't game consoles support the regular keyboard and mouse in addition to the controller? It sure would make porting PC games to consoles easier, or the player could be given both options. Seems like the best of both worlds, no?

      Most console developers have waged a war to disassociate the fact that a console is basically a glorified, locked down personal computer. The current generation support keyboards (for text input), but go out of their way to ensure that they serve no other function in games.

  3. The reason... by MonkeyINAbaG · · Score: 5, Interesting

    that the keyboard is so hard to match is that it has been used and refined by humanity for such a very long time, compared to other interfaces. Think about it, the alphanumeric keyboard even predates the steering wheel by about 20 years!

  4. unreplaceable? by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Informative
    "keyboard and mouse setup is still unreplaceable"

    Is "unreplaceable" even a word? Try "irreplaceable".

    1. Re:unreplaceable? by Kawahee · · Score: 5, Funny

      "keyboard and mouse setup is still unreplaceable"

      Is "unreplaceable" even a word? Try "irreplaceable".

      Of course it's a word, Slashdot's editors would have changed it when they proofread the article otherwise. Duh.

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    2. Re:unreplaceable? by generic.individual · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "unreplaceable" is a perfectly cromulent word.

  5. Well, can PC keyboards match console controllers? by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are genres for which the PC keyboard will always be stronger -- those that require a massive variety of command input, such as RTS games.

    But for many simple console games, like platformers, will a keyboard ever catch up to the simple elegance of a game controller? I mean, anyone who has played console games on emulators should know that no keyboard mapping is going to feel as comfortable as something like a good old dual-shock controller for quick, repetitive presses of a few buttons. (My knuckle joints kill me after some games on an emulator.)

    So why this idea that any one solution is always better? Different games have different control requirements, and different input devices shape different kinds of gameplay. None is "superior" to the other, and you'll never get a keyboard to give you the same kind of game play as a DDR machine or Wii Tennis.

    So why the e-penis contest?

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  6. Re:Well, can PC keyboards match console controller by TheCowSaysMooNotBoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not necessarily true. I've come to a point where it doesn't matter that I use a keyboard or a xbox controller. It's all a matter of getting used to the input device I think.

  7. Keyboard/Mouse by Bert64 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, keyboard/mouse are far better for some kinds of games... I tried C&C on the xbox and found it virtually unplayable with the control pad, and FPS games really need the immediacy of a mouse rather than the slow gradual (by comparison) movement of a control pad.

    But for everything else a console is so much more convenient, you have fixed hardware and a guarantee that a game you purchase will run with no fuss...

    All the modern consoles support USB, and most new keyboards and mice are also USB... So why don't more games support this as a possible control method? Most console games also have PC versions, or are direct ports of PC games so adding keyboard/mouse support wouldn't even be much of a burden.

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  8. Re:Well, can PC keyboards match console controller by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Quite dead on.

    There are games that are unplayable with a keyboard. Likewise, there are games that are unplayable without. But it's even less the keyboard, more the mouse, that I miss in console games. Keyboard/mouse input is, at least in my opinion, superior in games where pointing and clicking is a sizable part of the game. Whether you point and click on an interface, as in a RTS, or whether you "point" your crosshair and "click" to fire as in a FPS. I just can't get into controling a FPS game with a console controller.

    Likewise, playing a platformer or a racing game with mouse/keyboard is a nightmare to say the least. Use the right input device for the right game, why bother asking what input is superior? None is in every aspect and for every game.

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  9. Keyboards aren't optimal. by Toonol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the keyboard is better than a controller because it has a hundred keys, then would a new device with 200 keys be even better? Of course not.

    The keyboard and controller serve two different, but related purposes. The keyboard is an immobile device that is placed on a surface. It is worked on. A controller is held. Both have different optimal configurations, a reflection of their different purposes. Certainly, some games benefit from keyboard control, just as some games benefit from controller control. Comparing the two, as if they were competing entries for the same role, is silly.

  10. Re:Arma 2 by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Informative

    game
    noun, adjective, gamer, gamest, verb, gamed, gaming.
    -noun
    1. an amusement or pastime: children's games.

    An amusement or pastime? A simulator game qualifies.

    We're speaking English here. Come on and join the big parade, so you too can participate in our discussion. On second thought, please also discover paragraph breaks first.

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  11. K? by mister_playboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm a Dvorak typist, you insensitive clod!

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