Because most people are right handed so wasd allows for right handed mouse use?
Fr. When the arrow keys were in use, you pretty much only used the keyboard. There are so many games from the 80's and early 90's that don't even have any mouse support at all. As soon as mouse look became normalized, the arrow keys went out the window for most people.
At the time, the mouse wasn't really that important because your line of sight was bound to a plane. You couldn't look up or down.
There are more keys available for other functions in the keyboard as well. ESDF and for some RDFG are even better than WASD for a similar reason.
Nope. It already was WASD around 1980, when I got my first computer. It even had the arrows printed on the keycaps to be used with the CTRL key, as it didn't have a numpad or cursor pad at all. You had to use WASD to move around.
I used to play Doom with keyboard only. Right hand on the arrow keys, while the left hand shot with Ctrl, ran with Shift, activated with Space and toggled strafing with Alt. I even played Descent with the arrow keys. It took me hours to get the perfect keybindings for that one down. I think I flew up and down with A and Z.
Jedi Knight was the first game I played with mouselook. Not with WASD, but with the numpad. I thought I was a genius for discovering that. I put my main force powers around that and probably switched weapons with the mouse wheel.
Can't remember when I switched to WASD. Probably around Unreal or Half Life.
Here I am using the mouse with my left-hand but WASD. I should try the arrow keys again!
5123 on the numpad is the lefty WASD
Because it was like that in Starsiege: Tribes and was obviously the way to go after you played that compared to moving with the mouse and aiming with the keyboard lol.
Wait, what¿! People would aim with the keyboard when then had a mouse? What. The. Fuck? That sounds pants on head retarded -_-;
I remember playing Wolfenstein 3D with the mouse. There never was a question of what the mouse was for. It was for looking. The only question was what part of the keyboard to use. I started with arrows and Ctrl/Shift and used that for many years.
Can't remember what game made me switch but it was when the controls became more involved with reloading and healing and such requiring specific keys and being very commonly used during gameplay. Probably Half-Life? I know it wasn't id Software's games, at least. Mmh... I'd love to remember, now.
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