Which one do you prefer playing pc games with. keyboard or controller?

for 98% of games:

mouse+keyboard>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>controller

If I'm playing a PC-native genre - first person shooter, strategy, roleplaying, simulation or some third person games - then I will use a keyboard and mouse.

If I'm play a console-native genre - sports games, fighting games, some third person games - then I will use a pad.

Games I've used a pad with are, for example, things like Silent Hill and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Games I;ve used a mouse with are, for example, everything else.

I can appreciate the arguments behind using a pad for FPS games (it's pure chillaxation sitting on your couch), but it strikes me as stupid. You don't use a dance mat to play a driving game. Specialised tools for specialised jobs, I say.

If I'm playing a PC-native genre - first person shooter, strategy, roleplaying, simulation or some third person games - then I will use a keyboard and mouse.

If I'm play a console-native genre - sports games, fighting games, some third person games - then I will use a pad.

Games I've used a pad with are, for example, things like Silent Hill and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Games I;ve used a mouse with are, for example, everything else.

I can appreciate the arguments behind using a pad for FPS games (it's pure chillaxation sitting on your couch), but it strikes me as stupid. You don't use a dance mat to play a driving game. Specialised tools for specialised jobs, I say.

mfsa

What strikes me as stupid is calling other people stupid just because they have different preferences.

TC, I use both, depends on the game.

[QUOTE="mfsa"]

If I'm playing a PC-native genre - first person shooter, strategy, roleplaying, simulation or some third person games - then I will use a keyboard and mouse.

If I'm play a console-native genre - sports games, fighting games, some third person games - then I will use a pad.

Games I've used a pad with are, for example, things like Silent Hill and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Games I;ve used a mouse with are, for example, everything else.

I can appreciate the arguments behind using a pad for FPS games (it's pure chillaxation sitting on your couch), but it strikes me as stupid. You don't use a dance mat to play a driving game. Specialised tools for specialised jobs, I say.

artur79

What strikes me as stupid is calling other people stupid just because they have different preferences.

TC, I use both, depends on the game.

I didn't say they were stupid, I said the idea strikes me as stupid. Smart people can make bad choices, and I think that's one of them. Like you said, preference.

I didn't say they were stupid, I said the idea strikes me as stupid. Smart people can make bad choices, and I think that's one of them. Like you said, preference.

I eff'ing hate it when people use the "calling an idea of yours stupid is not calling you stupid". It's such a cheap cop out. I had a huuuge, deep discussion with someone on the Fallout 3 boards on this particular subject, let's just say we did not come to an agreement. I won't start a philosophical discussion with you right now as it could drag on forever and we would never come to a conclusion, smarter people than you and I have tried and failed.

I just want to add this. It's also about skill. You may find that playing Tomb Raider or Dirt with a keyboard is heaven on earth, some other person would find it unbearable because he/she finds a gamepad to be more proficient in those games. Some people are better with a controller, some are better with a kb + mouse. Saying that kb + mouse in almost any PC-game is the best alternative because you find it more comfortable does not make it a universal truth.

Keyboard & Mouse >>>>> Controller

This is one of the reasons why PCs pwn Consoles. The only usefulness for a controller are for Sport games (includes sims/racing games), and even at that you should use a joystick/steering wheel.

Have always used (customized) keyboard+mouse

I didn't say they were stupid, I said the idea strikes me as stupid. Smart people can make bad choices, and I think that's one of them. Like you said, preference.

I eff'ing hate it when people use the "calling an idea of yours stupid is not calling you stupid". It's such a cheap cop out. I had a huuuge, deep discussion with someone on the Fallout 3 boards on this particular subject, let's just say we did not come to an agreement. I won't start a philosophical discussion with you right now as it could drag on forever and we would never come to a conclusion, smarter people than you and I have tried and failed.

I just want to add this. It's also about skill. You may find that playing Tomb Raider or Dirt with a keyboard is heaven on earth, some other person would find it unbearable because he/she finds a gamepad to be more proficient in those games. Some people are better with a controller, some are better with a kb + mouse.Saying that kb + mouse in almost any PC-game is the best alternative because you find it more comfortable does not make it a universal truth.

artur79

your logic is weak and flawed. not everything is relative, even if a medieval knight would prefer a sword to a gun, it doesn't mean he wouldn't get his ass pwned to space. Mr. Knight would have to adapt to rifles.

[QUOTE="artur79"]

I didn't say they were stupid, I said the idea strikes me as stupid. Smart people can make bad choices, and I think that's one of them. Like you said, preference.

I eff'ing hate it when people use the "calling an idea of yours stupid is not calling you stupid". It's such a cheap cop out. I had a huuuge, deep discussion with someone on the Fallout 3 boards on this particular subject, let's just say we did not come to an agreement. I won't start a philosophical discussion with you right now as it could drag on forever and we would never come to a conclusion, smarter people than you and I have tried and failed.

I just want to add this. It's also about skill. You may find that playing Tomb Raider or Dirt with a keyboard is heaven on earth, some other person would find it unbearable because he/she finds a gamepad to be more proficient in those games. Some people are better with a controller, some are better with a kb + mouse.Saying that kb + mouse in almost any PC-game is the best alternative because you find it more comfortable does not make it a universal truth.

CubePrime_basic

your logic is weak and flawed. not everything is relative, even if a medieval knight would prefer a sword to a gun, it doesn't mean he wouldn't get his ass pwned to space. Mr. Knight would have to adapt to rifles.

Depends. If he means offline, his logic seems pretty sound to me. He is just talking about comfort, not competitiveness. The knight would lose to the rifleman, but the knight isn't competing with the rifleman to begin with - the issue was not how keyboard and mouse stacks up against a pad in a competitive, multiplayer environment - it was about who prefers what and their comfort levels using their preferred tools. If he means online - then the knight will lose quite a bit.

The keyboard and mouse is better, even artur probably wouldn't (and certainly shouldn't) contest that - but that really wasn't his point. Games are about fun, and PC gaming is perhaps best defined as having fun your way - whether it's mods, customisation or peripherals - the PC has the most varied support.

The knight may be better with a sword than with a rifle, but if he isn't competing with the rifleman, it makes no difference - it is all relative.

Not that I disagree with you, though. I strongly believe in using specialised tools. The keyboard and mouse is a better tool to use with a first person shooter, just like a sterilised scalpel is a better tool for a surgery than a rusty bread knife. Skill doesn't enter into it - one is simply better than the other.

It does all ultimately come down to personal preference. We may not understand, like or want to accept it - but really, does it matter? Someone else using a pad is like someone else having weird hair. It may raise an eyebrow, but it's not like it puts us out.

I also don't see anything philosophical in saying that smart people have stupid ideas. One of my friends is a graduate at Duke, he's probably the smartest person I've ever known (though I'm thinking JP_Russell is probably a very close second) and he makes stupid decisions all the time. All the time. I can call his ideas stupid and argue his points down, but it won't make him any less intelligent. Similarly, I think using a pad to play a FPS is stupid, but there is a vast distinction between the intelligence of the idea and the intelligence of the person who had the idea. I'm not calling them stupid. Far from it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O4whApuAUI

FPS, RTS, basically anything besides sports/Racing games i like more on Keyboard and Mouse.

But i preffer a controller for sports and racing games.

[QUOTE="CubePrime_basic"][QUOTE="artur79"]

I didn't say they were stupid, I said the idea strikes me as stupid. Smart people can make bad choices, and I think that's one of them. Like you said, preference.

I eff'ing hate it when people use the "calling an idea of yours stupid is not calling you stupid". It's such a cheap cop out. I had a huuuge, deep discussion with someone on the Fallout 3 boards on this particular subject, let's just say we did not come to an agreement. I won't start a philosophical discussion with you right now as it could drag on forever and we would never come to a conclusion, smarter people than you and I have tried and failed.

I just want to add this. It's also about skill. You may find that playing Tomb Raider or Dirt with a keyboard is heaven on earth, some other person would find it unbearable because he/she finds a gamepad to be more proficient in those games. Some people are better with a controller, some are better with a kb + mouse.Saying that kb + mouse in almost any PC-game is the best alternative because you find it more comfortable does not make it a universal truth.

mfsa

your logic is weak and flawed. not everything is relative, even if a medieval knight would prefer a sword to a gun, it doesn't mean he wouldn't get his ass pwned to space. Mr. Knight would have to adapt to rifles.

Depends. If he means offline, his logic seems pretty sound to me. He is just talking about comfort, not competitiveness. The knight would lose to the rifleman, but the knight isn't competing with the rifleman to begin with - the issue was not how keyboard and mouse stacks up against a pad in a competitive, multiplayer environment - it was about who prefers what and their comfort levels using their preferred tools. If he means online - then the knight will lose quite a bit.

The keyboard and mouse is better, even artur probably wouldn't (and certainly shouldn't) contest that - but that really wasn't his point. Games are about fun, and PC gaming is perhaps best defined as having fun your way - whether it's mods, customisation or peripherals - the PC has the most varied support.

The knight may be better with a sword than with a rifle, but if he isn't competing with the rifleman, it makes no difference - it is all relative.

Not that I disagree with you, though. I strongly believe in using specialised tools. The keyboard and mouse is a better tool to use with a first person shooter, just like a sterilised scalpel is a better tool for a surgery than a rusty bread knife. Skill doesn't enter into it - one is simply better than the other.

It does all ultimately come down to personal preference. We may not understand, like or want to accept it - but really, does it matter? Someone else using a pad is like someone else having weird hair. It may raise an eyebrow, but it's not like it puts us out.

I also don't see anything philosophical in saying that smart people have stupid ideas. One of my friends is a graduate at Duke, he's probably the smartest person I've ever known (though I'm thinking JP_Russell is probably a very close second) and he makes stupid decisions all the time. All the time. I can call his ideas stupid and argue his points down, but it won't make him any less intelligent. Similarly, I think using a pad to play a FPS is stupid, but there is a vast distinction between the intelligence of the idea and the intelligence of the person who had the idea. I'm not calling them stupid. Far from it.

Damn it, I thought I had to put him in place, but you certainly did. You're not dumb yourself... Something tells me you're destined for a job in writing instead of the lame ass job you had before. Agree on JP being a smart kid though, he's certainly smarter than 19 year old Artur.

Anyway, ass kissing aside... The whole discussion about ideas would not be whether or not an intelligent person could have stupid ideas or not, they do, quite often. It would be more about whether gaming on a PC with a controller is a stupid idea or not. You do agree that an idea can be thought of as a concept? Well, let's say I have an idea/concept of how to play Tomb Raider in the most proficient, comfortable and fun way. To me that involves using a gamepad. On a PC.

Why does this sound stupid to you? Let's take a surgery example, since you love them that much. One 65 year old doctor is old school and is extremely proficient with a scalpel, but knows squat about robots or how to steer them. Another doctor is 35 and knows quite a bit about surgery done by robots, while not having the same experience with a scalpel as the older doctor. The idea of the first doctor using a scalpel to cut in a man is silly when you have highly advanced robots with almost a 100% accuracy. But is it really that silly when you know he does a superior job with a scalpel than some joystick in his hand? Maybe even (most likely) with better results than the young inexperienced doctor. You could argue and say: He should learn how to use electronics in a surgery-room to give the best treatment, but some people are comfortable with one way to do things and might not be able to learn to do the same job as efficiently with other tools, no matter how much better or precice they are. Back to gaming: Some have used, let's say, a gamepad to play games most of their youth, maybe they will never achieve the same skill-level with kb + mouse in Tomb Raider. So skill is actually a big part of this discussion.

Where the hell was I going with this? Oh, ideas can also be thought as part of what makes you, well... you. We like to think that stupid ideas and thoughts are just static that we learn to ignore/filter away, while the good/intelligent ones are part of our mind (arguably of course). Therefore by calling my sound (and dare I say it smart) ideas stupid, you kinda insult my logical sence/critical thinking, my intelligence/my ability to distinct dumb from reasonable. I would not react the same way if you said: "That's moronic" about an idea like "let's go and jump off a cliff!" Because that idea is stupid. Using a gamepad in PC games is not.

Anyway, I was going to write something else, but this is already way over my head (not the type of thinking I usually do), so I'll give it a rest. Hopefully you have a clearer idea of what I meant, if not, I don't blame you. lol. I find it hard to express myself in English.

Just to clarify, I play PC-FPSs, RTS-games, and most RPGs with kb + mouse. But I respect the fact that people choose to use other tools to have fun. Who am I to judge them? (More people on this forum should think that way too.)

Online, like you said, is a whole other thing. If your skill with a gamepad is the same as with a mouse, you should go with a mouse or you'll die more often than you need to. If you suck beyond belief with kb + mouse (believe me, some people do), then use a controller. So again, things are not as black and white as we make them to be.

this is a bad forum to ask this question in, but...

keyboard+mouse > controller

all day.

I can't even stand playing C&C:Tiberium Wars on 360 with my frikkin controller.
definitely mouse + keyboard ftw

Which one do you prefer playing pc games with. keyboard or controller?dopeboy206

Keyboard/mouse.... of course :P

Keyboard + Mouse for games where Keyboard + Mouse is best.

Controller for games where Controller is best.

We all know which is which. Even the ones that say they like using a Controller for FPS. Deep down in the back of their minds they know.

Only games I'm thinking of that I would want a controller for are fighting games (nope, not even racing and sports games.) - for example - no way in hell I could play Devil May Cry or Tekken with a keyboard and mouse, but now that I think of it, since keyboards are less clumsy (I hate when you try to press two buttons at once on a controller, and it just doesn't respond correctly.) I may do even better than I usually do on tekken :| Since you don't need camera control I could use both hands on the keyboard.

On DMC though, I HAVE to use a controller.

Why does this sound stupid to you? Let's take a surgery example, since you love them that much. One 65 year old doctor is old school and is extremely proficient with a scalpel, but knows squat about robots or how to steer them. Another doctor is 35 and knows quite a bit about surgery done by robots, while not having the same experience with a scalpel as the older doctor. The idea of the first doctor using a scalpel to cut in a man is silly when you have highly advanced robots with almost a 100% accuracy. But is it really that silly when you know he does a superior job with a scalpel than some joystick in his hand? Maybe even (most likely) with better results than the young inexperienced doctor. You could argue and say: He should learn how to use electronics in a surgery-room to give the best treatment, but some people are comfortable with one way to do things and might not be able to learn to do the same job as efficiently with other tools, no matter how much better or precice they are. Back to gaming: Some have used, let's say, a gamepad to play games most of their youth, maybe they will never achieve the same skill-level with kb + mouse in Tomb Raider. So skill is actually a big part of this discussion.

Where the hell was I going with this? Oh, ideas can also be thought as part of what makes you, well... you. We like to think that stupid ideas and thoughts are just static that we learn to ignore/filter away, while the good/intelligent ones are part of our mind (arguably of course). Therefore by calling my sound (and dare I say it smart) ideas stupid, you kinda insult my logical sence/critical thinking, my intelligence/my ability to distinct dumb from reasonable. I would not react the same way if you said: "That's moronic" about an idea like "let's go and jump off a cliff!" Because that idea is stupid. Using a gamepad in PC games is not.

artur79

Good point well made. I guess this means I'm a bigot.

Good point well made. I guess this means I'm a bigot.

Well, that's a bit harsh... You just have certain strong opinions and like to discuss, nothing wrong with that. And I'm sure there is a way to spin this whole thing around so that my point is moot.

keyboard and mouse of course

For me it all boils down to whether survival requires precise and quick aiming to shoot a target or not. It isn't the keyboard I need for a shooter, it is that pointing device--the mouse. Gears of War is a great example. If I'm not quick and accurate and kill the enemy I'm out of ammo and dead. Even with the mouse and Gears of War I'm not having any fun with the game. I can't imagine the hell I'd be in trying to aim with a controller.

I think it is high time the gaming industry grows up with this aiming issue in shooters. If I play a console shooter there should be a way I can use a mouse for aiming and shooting instead of the darn controller. Otherwise I rather enjoy using controllers to move a character around.

I use and prefer Mouse and Keyboard for all genres with the exception of Flight/Space Sims which I use Flight Sticks, Sports and Racing titles which I use gamepads for.

Strategy(RTS,TBS,4X) - M/K all the way

RPG/MMO - M/K all the way

FPS - M/K all the way

TPS - M/K all the way. Lost Planet and Gears PC felt much better once I could use a M/K.

Flight/Space Sims - Flightstick unless it's more casual in controls which I would use M/K than. Freespace plays great with M/K, as well as Freelancer.

Adventure - M/K all the way

Racing -I use the dual shock rumble from Logitech, it works great. GTR2 and Race are fantastic games if anyone hasn't played them yet.

Platformers - M/K or Gamepad. A game like Psychonauts for instance plays very well with M/K and I easily prefer it over a gamepad.

Sports - Gamepad for action sports games. and the M/K for obvious Sport Sims games like NHL Eastside manager.