All depends on the game. PC players have options.
Games like Palworld and GTA are better with a controller. Games like Cities: Skylines and any game requiring significant precision are better with a mouse and keyboard.
I prefer over the shoulder games like GTA with keyboard mouse and controller.
Controller for general navigation and when a firefight starts to go down, my right hand switches to the mouse and my left hand is still on the controller, resting on the desk. When the firefight starts getting hectic the controller gets dropped and it’s WASD from there on out.
Really depends on the games.
Well, yeah. Racing games, platformers, and action games are generally more comfortable with controller. Third person shooters, FPS, anything that requires aiming, or RTS games are still best done with mouse.
I don’t really like playing platformers with a controller.
I played through Celeste, Super Meat Boy and Rayman on PC only with keyboard and played Super Meat Boy, Rayman and N++ on the switch. I prefer the keyboard.
For 3D games (even platformers) I prefer the controller though.
I prefer games that can be played with a controller to be played with a controller just to mix up the ways I fuck up my wrists
Steam Deck and the console users that pivoted to PC gaming during the scalpers riddled PS5/Xbox launch are probably the most likely causes for this.
Right, PC gamers aren’t embracing controllers, console gamers are embracing PC gaming.
Nothing will ever be as accurate as a 1:1 pointing device. Using a thumbstick sucks ass for general mouse-work why would it be suddenly good for FPS games? Thumbsticks are best at racing, platforming, flight sims, maybe RPGs and scrollers.
Right tool for the job.
Yeah I’m pretty sure people are just starting to use controllers for the controllers’ usecases. A lot of people (including me) played stuff like space simulators with mouse+keyboard, which are obviously not the right tool for the job.
Trackball controller
Wait, those are a thing?
You might find one as an accessibility option
I’ve been trying to make one in a normal form factor but can’t find anything on how to make a track ball from scratch/program a board to read it
deleted by creator
My problem with touch pads is limited range, you constantly have to recentre. In a competitive environment that’s wasted ms where you are moving your finger back to make your next movement
The thumb ball reduces the amount of that
deleted by creator
I just played through Portal again, using a DualShock 4… up until Test Chamber 18. It was simply not possible to look left/right without ever-so-slightly moving, enough to miss falling back into the portal. Mouse and keyboard- cleared it instantly.
Edit: I may try again, using a controller that has 8-way detents on the analog sticks (i.e. GameCube gamepad)
deleted by creator
When playing through games with both shooting and driving (or horseback riding in RDR2) I keep my controller handy and swap between it and mkb. I find I generally prefer walking around with a controller until I need to shoot; I end up using the controller 75% of the time.
Usage triples <-> 15 % increase
Pick one. Triple is 300 % increase. Article says 15 % is the proportion using them, not the increase.
Thanks for bring this up, now I’ve fixed from “15% increase to " increase to 15% from 5%”. Should be more clear
It’s not that PC gamers were opposed to using controllers. PC gamers love our peripherals. The problem was support for it. Most of the controllers beforehand had proprietary connectors that would never work in the PC. And then even if you could connect the controller there was no guarantee it would work. But now with more standardization around USB and Bluetooth adding and better driver support for the controllers we can finally use them.
Most of the controllers beforehand had proprietary connectors that would never work in the PC.
That was in the 90s… 20 years ago I was gaming on PC with a PS1 dual shock using a cheap adapter, and then switched to the Xbox 360 controller which used a standard USB port.
Not here to comment on whether you are right (because you are) but more to report the whiplash of realising 20 years ago is still in the 2000s. Mentally, 20 years ago puts something early nineties to me.
yeah, I’d have to solder a PS1 controller to printer port back then. even when controller moves to wireless(like dual shock 3) the protocol was proprietary until windows have a proper driver for them.
Steamdeck, platformers, racers, and fighters are all controller preferred games.
deleted by creator
If I need precise aiming, then it’s keyboard and mouse. If not, then I’ll go with a controller just so I can lean back and enjoy things.
I don’t understand controllers. I can never get to use them properly. I grew up playing on computers all my life. My brain simply can’t grasp them and I always forget where all the buttons are.
I said this for years but PC is the biggest thread for the Xbox and Sony, not mobile.
Doesn’t help that plenty of games have stripped down controls that don’t allow you to change keybinds because they’re built for controllers. I don’t know if embracing is the right word.
Edit: I’ll also offer that devices like the Xim look like controllers, but still allow use of mouse and keyboard.
It’s interesting that using Xim-like devices (Cronus Zen/Cronus Max) is a bannable offence on some games. They have to draw the line somewhere… one could build a device using OpenCV to recognize enemy characters and auto-aim towards them, basically adding aim-assist to games that don’t have it.
Maybe controversial opinion:
I’m very much against aim assist in crossplay and online multiplayer explicitly because of Xim and Chronos. Devices like the Xim are pretty much cheats and they exploit aim assist in online play to the detriment of the game. I play a popular online fps game and have thousands of hours of gameplay. I can immediately tell who is using a device that abuses aim assist. It’s blatant and often egregious, it’s essentially an aimbot, but just shy of not quite. It truly ruins gameplay.
I understand the desire for a Xim’s legit capabilities, it offers some assistance to handicapped players, it allows direct use of a joystick in games that don’t allow them, etc… but I think those are the minority. The vast majority use it because “aimbot”. That counts for the console players that use them , but PC players seem to get the most benefit as they’re used to mouse/keyboard setups vs the consoles that may not be. There’s not much need for an actual aimbot/esp/etc. if you have a Xim. Yes, they’re that good.
IMO there should not be aim assist in online gameplay, and yeah, *uck these clowns using chronos/xims. They really screw everything up.
deleted by creator
I’d say it has to do with increased support of controllers. It used to be really hit or miss whether a controller would even work on the computer, much less with games.
I was 95% k+m until the Steam Deck (the 5% being my old Saitek Flightstick).
Since the Steam Deck I’m probably 90% controller.
I will say that k+m offers superior speed and precision, especially in FPSes, but the biggest improvement that I noticed was that I was getting a sore shoulder from repetitive strain sitting too much time in front of computers. Controllers are more ergonomic.
That 15% is the Steam Deck users with Steam input always on and required.
It’s maddening that I can’t get PC glyphs to show on Doom Eternal.
