Has WASD held back gaming?

[Legend]

The left joystick on controllers is underutilized for movement imo. 99% of the time you're just tilting it full throttle in the direction you want to go. Some games have exceptions like stealth noise in tlou or balance in Death Stranding, but in general it's treated as a d-pad.

Why is that? It's not like our thumb lacks fine motor skills. It feels super natural to partially push around the right joystick.






It's also not like non pc hardware has prioritized camera control over movement. We have had three systems that used a joystick/nub for movement but buttons for the camera. It's actually kinda weird thinking about these systems. From a modern perspective, they seem backwards. Obviously if you could only have one joystick, you'd want one on the right. With the 3DS this demand was so strong that they actually added one.






So what do you think? Obviously game design has influenced hardware and hardware has influenced game design, but do you think WASD has been the primary driving force of left sticks being mostly used as d-pads?

[the-pi-guy]

Interesting things to think about! 

I've got the most experience with the N64, and there were times where the camera controls were abominable.  And I think a big part of that is the buttons.  It certainly seems odd that the 3DS and PSP followed suit.

Dual Sticks feels like something we take for granted today on consoles, but it is not everywhere. 


Whether WASD held back gaming is hard to say.  I think if that were the only factor more fine tune movement would be more prevalent in console exclusives. 

To be honest though I kind of prefer not having to think about how hard I'm hitting something/pushing the stick.  Although maybe that's just because I'm not used to having to think about it. 

[Legend]

Interesting things to think about! 

I've got the most experience with the N64, and there were times where the camera controls were abominable.  And I think a big part of that is the buttons.  It certainly seems odd that the 3DS and PSP followed suit.

Dual Sticks feels like something we take for granted today on consoles, but it is not everywhere. 


Whether WASD held back gaming is hard to say.  I think if that were the only factor more fine tune movement would be more prevalent in console exclusives. 

To be honest though I kind of prefer not have to think about how hard I'm hitting something/pushing the stick.  Although maybe that's just because I'm not used to having to think about it. 

I think WASD has impacted game design and therefore console exclusives don't tend to rock the boat.

I also think it's interesting thinking about the opposite, has the right stick held back camera controls? It obviously hasn't imo, but devs have to use a bunch of tools and cheats to make it feel precise and snappy.



Or maybe most people just are right handed so action goes in the right hand, slow/simple in the left.