The Keyboard vs. Gamepad

In the years since the first PC gamepads hit the market, one question has had video gamers divided into two separate camps. It's a question of speed and responsiveness. It's a question of comfort and versatility. It's a question of the best way to aim your sniper-rifle for the game-winning one-shot-kill, the most efficient method of controlling your F-16F Desert Falcon on a bombing run across the Iraqi desert with only 30 seconds left on the mission timer. Which is better: a gamepad, or a mouse and keyboard? Let's start by looking at the latter, as they were the first to be developed.

A computer keyboard is a peripheral that was originally derived from typewriter keyboards, and is designed to be used to input text and characters, as well as to control certain functions and operations of the computer. However, as with fabled Rome, the standard keyboard layout was not built in a day. It slowly came to be through the course of three separate IBM keyboard projects, overcoming many initial evolutionary mistakes and pitfalls. A lengthy discussion COULD follow about the specific layouts of these failed IBM keyboards, but we'll just leave the dead undisturbed for now, resting peacefully under piles of 5" floppies and spare SoundBlaster cards, and move on to the keyboard's partner-in-crime, the mouse. Wikipedia states that, "In computing, a mouse (plural mice or mouses) functions as a pointing device by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface." Thanks Wiki. The computer mouse has had thousands of different forms over the years, depending on technology level, manufacturer, and desired functionality, but most users are familiar with the standard two-buttons-and-a-scroll-wheel version. Some other iterations include, but are not limited to: wireless mice, trackballs, optical mice (which are NOT laser mice), laser mice (which are NOT optical mice), mechanical mice, and touchpads, each with anywhere from one to eight or ten buttons. So, to varying degrees of accuracy, versatility, and comfort, your mouse points at stuff, clicks stuff, or otherwise interacts with…stuff.

Now, when used together, the mouse-and-keyboard combination can create a very powerful tool to use in manipulating the little world you see on you computer screen. But how does it stand up to the demands of video games? Actually, it's becoming more and more difficult to choose anything but the keyboard and mouse combo. With the intense demands and multiple configurable options of most new PC games on the market, you almost need 104 different buttons to play the game effectively. The keyboard is as modifiable as you want it to be, and virtually every key can be remapped to perform a programmed function or macro within your game. The mouse is a remarkable tool as well, giving precise control over the pointer or targeting system you are trying to use within the user interface.

On the flip-side of the coin is the PC gamepad. Let's go back to Wikipedia for a quick second, and see what they have to say: "A gamepad, also called joypad or control pad, is a type of game controller held in the hand, where the digits (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. Gamepads generally feature a set of action buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left. The direction controller has traditionally been a four-way digital cross (D-pad), but most modern controllers additionally (or as a substitute) feature an analog stick." Thank you, oh wise Wiki. All the benefits of a keyboard/mouse combo, with an average of six to ten buttons, as opposed to as many as twenty or thirty keys to wrestle with. Now, while some say the lack of buttons presents a sacrifice of functionality and ease of use, there are many who would argue that the streamlined approach is much easier to grasp (haha), and who wants to try and memorize two or three dozen keybindings anyway? The majority of gamepads on the market today feature two analog joysticks, a design pioneered and popularized by Sony's Dual Shock controller in 1997. The Dual Shock was a slightly-revised version of the Dual Analog controller first announced in November of 1996. Many die-hard game nerds will argue that Nintendo created the analog gamepad in the form of the Nintendo 64 controller, which was unveiled in November of 1995, and hit the shelves less than a year later, getting the jump on Sega Saturn's analog controller, which showed up on the market about a month after the N64 controller . But anyone who has ever held an N64 controller knows that it was a massive, unwieldy hunk of crap, much better suited to throwing at your little brother than to playing video games with, and the Saturn "3-D" analog controller was no better than the N64 controller or its younger cousin, the Dreamcast Big-Funny-Shaped-Box-of-Doom-With-A-Hole-In-It controller.
Where was I? Oh, yeah. Dual-analog gamepads. This just seems like the best way to go, for someone like me who (admittedly) grew up on console games. All the movement is controlled by the thumbs, not some wacky WASD combo. Forward/backward and strafing with the left thumb, and looking/aiming with the right thumb (for additional gross memories, think back to the way the N64 controller handled aiming with the four "C" buttons on the right side of the controller…uber-nasty). Less buttons means less versatility, but it also means less fumbles and less trying to remember which of the 104 keys you mapped you health packs to in the heat of battle.

But the real deciding factor is what game are you trying to play? You may choose from first-person-shooters (Doom 3, F.E.A.R., Quake 4), racing games, puzzle games (Bejeweled, Snood, Wheel of Fortune), role playing games (Final Fantasy, Neverwinter Nights, Everquest), flight/space simulators, sports games, or strategy games (Starcraft, Warcraft III, Empire Earth). Keyboard/mouse combos work very well over the majority of these genres, thereby making them the most commonly used input method. While it is possible to use a gamepad for Starcraft, there's really no call for it. And vice versa, while one could conceivably use a mouse/keyboard setup to play the latest version of Street Fighter, who in their right mind would want to? There is really only one genre where there is even a clear choice between using a gamepad or a mouse/keyboard combo: the first-person-shooter.

"First-person shooter (FPS) is a genre of video games which is characterized by an on-screen view that simulates the playable characters perspective and a focus on the use of ranged weapons such as guns." Sounds like fun, right? Just trust Wikipedia to suck the like out of everything. FPS's are non-stop, rip-roarin' shoot-em-ups where you, the player, get to cruise around your world (be it a historical killing ground, modern-day warzone, or futuristic sci-fi battlefield) grabbing anything you can find to shoot, blow up, or similarly frag your opponents. The simple version: run around and shoot stuff. But how should you do it? Should you stick with the time-honored tradition of a mouse and your trusty WASD keys? Or should you abandon the 104 programmable keys for the sleek-and-sexy feel of a pair of analog joysticks under your thumbs? Well, it's all a matter of perspective. A mouse and keyboard user has the benefit of multiple programmable keys to access his skills or inventory on the fly, while a gamepad user has an easier time remembering which of his six buttons to press to reload in the middle of an intense firefight. The mouse can be said to offer more precise control than joysticks while aiming a weapon, but many gamepad devotees feel that the mouse does not always respond accurately, either not scrolling far enough, or leaving you spinning in a circle. What it really all comes down to, in my humble opinion, is the way you were raised. Those of us who did the majority of our FPS gaming on a PC will always be more comfortable with a mouse and keyboard setup. Those of us who have more confirmed kills on a Playstation or X-Box will tend to favor the gamepad approach. It's really as simple as that. One is not any better than the other. It's just a matter of opinion.