Why is it that PC-only fans can't admit that controllers have any advantages when they clearly do? I know you want to be right, but you can still be right while admitting the other side has legitimate points. The fact is millions of people prefer gamepads to KB + M. They must have their reasons.
I personally prefer gamepads over KB + Mouse for FPSs. I'll outline my reasoning below. These won't apply to everyone, but surely you can all agree that I have at least some legitimate points. I game for fun and immersion, so those are the criteria on which I am basing the advantages/disadvantages. I also work 8+ hours a day in a computer chair on a KB + Mouse. Therefore if your life differs from mine, I concede that KB + M may, in fact, be best for you.
KB + Mouse Advantages:
- Better aiming precision
- Significantly faster turning speed
- More buttons
- Lean (which I never remember to use)
- No auto-aim required
KB + Mouse Disadvantages (Note that I work 8+ hours a day on a computer chair with KB + Mouse.)
- Less comfortable on couch or recliner, which I prefer to game on.
- I have concers about developing repetitive strain injuries if I spend both my free time and my work day repeating the same motions.
- Unlike with a gamepad, I am constantly aware of my hands hovering over the keyboard and mouse (due in part to the above concerns). This detracts from the immersion
- Requires me to sit close to the screen, which makes flaws, sprites, aliasing and other visual problems much more noticeable, reducing the perceived graphical quality. *
- Fingers can get momentarily lost on the keyboard. Locating some buttons requires looking down. It doesn't help that ASDW is the standard over SDFE (anchoring on the home row)
- Movement looks spastic and less convincing visually (to me), destracting from the immersion. The lack of spring tension reduces the feeling of weight to both moving the player and aiming a heavy weapon.
- No force feedback.
- Clicking a mouse is a rather ginger, dainty movement compared to pulling a controller trigger (which is more viscerally satisfying)
- No analog movement control
Gamepad Advantages:
- Ideal for couch gaming, resulting in greater comfort
- Allows me to sit back from the screen, which, to my eyes, greatly reduces the appearance of flaws, improving the percieved quality of the visuals. *
- Analog movement control
- Fingers cannot become lost on the gamepad
- Different ergonomic conditions than work. Physically and mentally, that difference means a lot to me. It lets my body and mind know it's time for fun.
- Gripping handles is more suitable for an intense experience than hovering hands over KB + mouse. The natural reaction of the hands during an intense experience is to grip. I prefer not to deny them that.
- Squeezing trigger + feeling force feedback feels much more viscerally satisfying than clicking a mouse (even if the controller trigger does not resemble a real weapon trigger)
- Spring tension adds more believable visual weight to the movements, increasing immersion. (movement is less spastic looking)
Gamepad Disadvantages
- Worse aiming precision
- Significantly slower turning speed
- Fewer buttons in total
- Generally no lean.
- Auto-aim can feel cheap or appear distracting (fighting the helicopter in HL2 is the most distracting example I've come across)
So as you can see, for me there are more advantages to the gamepad than disadvantages, and most of the advantages have to do with immersion (which is very important to me) at the expense of precision (which is less important to me). More precise does not equal better if you have other, more heavily weighted criteria. For example, an F1 car is faster and more precise than a human, but F1 Racing isn't neccessarily a 'better' sport than sprinting.
And ultimately I'm not doing a spreadsheet in my mind when I play. I can just feel myself having more fun when gaming with a gamepad. Playing on KB +M feels like I'm gaming at work.
*Note: I have a feeling some people might take issue with my assertion that games look better when sitting back from the screen. Let me make a comparison: have you ever seen a Monet painting? How does it look up close? Pretty lousy, right? How does it look far away? Brilliant. In my opinion, games are still at a point where they don't look good close-up. You can see too many of the seams, the jaggies, the polygonal edges, texture and geometry pop-in, etc. Sit back, and they look much better. IMO, that's the main reason why the layman has no idea PC game graphics surpass console graphics. Try playing Crysis while sitting back 4 feet from the screen. Brilliant. (GTX 275, by the way).
EDIT: I used the word "concede" way too many times.
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