Poll: mmm.. inverted axis

[TornadoFive]

There's no "correct" way to do it. It all comes down to personal preference.

Sure there is, down = down and up = up. Anything else might be functional, and even preferable for many, but anything where the directions do not match is not correct.

Possibly, but as Charlie Brooker recently said on this very topic, "The analog stick is like your head. You pull back to look up, you push forward to look down."

I can't find the original article but it was a discussion on this topic between him and Dara O Briain.

And it's true. When you think about it, you don't push "up" on an analog stick, you push "forward".

But yeah, I get what you're saying. And my friend constantly picks me up on it whenever I change my settings to inverted. But like I said, it all comes down to preference.

 

[Grayjack]

I always invert. It feels a lot more natural to me.

 

[Irriduccibilli]

I only invert the y axis in 3rd person games... or at least I think, I usually just plays with the default setting... unless it really bothers me

 

[Vonnis]

The only time I use an inverted Y-axis is when I'm playing a flight sim of some kind using a joystick. In that situation it feels natural, in every other situation it doesn't.

 

[Wintermoot]

nope but on a controller it makes sense on a mouse not.

 

[Skylants]

I only use inverted Y for flying sections/games.

 

[Yeager942]

I have no idea why but I've always played it inverted. I can't remember a time when it didn't seem natural to do it.

 

[efeat]

for aircraft sims it should be inverted though, and for quite a few other things it should be as well, but for fps's it just doesnt make logical sense to invert it... at least to me.

On the other hand, one could argue that it doesn't make sense to keep switching based on what game you're playing, and instead makes more sense to pick one scheme and apply it to everything.

The first game I ever played with view controls was a flight sim, so it's become ingrained for me to invert most everything. A few years back I got into a discussion with my sister while playing Kingdom Hearts about the X axis inversion. She was utterly confused as to why I would prefer to invert anything, saying that it made more sense to just push the control stick in the direction you wanted to look. I think explanation I gave her is applicable here, as well.

To me, I usually think of the camera system in a game as a class 1 lever. The camera is the force, the player character (PC) is the fulcrum, and your view is the load. To move your view (the load) you have to move the camera (the force) in the opposite direction, and they will pivot around the fulcrum (PC.) Here's a crappy image to illustrate. Imagine this is a top-down view.

X = Camera, Y = PC, Z = field of view

To swing your view to the character's left, you move the camera (control stick) to the right. The camera will swing around and be looking to the character's left.

You could also imagine that this is a side view, and the player is pressing back on a control stick or pulling back on a mouse to pan the view upwards. In 1st person games, X and Y are the same entity, but some people still use this logic then. It's just preference.

3rd person = inverted X and Y axis
1st person = inverted Y axis, natural X axis

 

[Talydia]

Inverted is the only way to play!

Not really sure why I checked that little box when I started playing CS and TFC. But now I can't stand playing a FPS non-inverted.

 

[Bravo 21]

I use the standard COD/GoW for my FPS games, but when im playing a flying game, Inverted axis FTW

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

There's no "correct" way to do it. It all comes down to personal preference.

Sure there is, down = down and up = up. Anything else might be functional, and even preferable for many, but anything where the directions do not match is not correct.

Possibly, but as Charlie Brooker recently said on this very topic, "The analog stick is like your head. You pull back to look up, you push forward to look down."

I can't find the original article but it was a discussion on this topic between him and Dara O Briain.

And it's true. When you think about it, you don't push "up" on an analog stick, you push "forward".

But yeah, I get what you're saying. And my friend constantly picks me up on it whenever I change my settings to inverted. But like I said, it all comes down to preference.

i absolutely hate that arguement, anytime someone brings that up they never ever flip the horizontal axis then, which is complete bullshit and opposite of that reason (not at you, just the person you were quoting from in the discussion) brought up.


If your going to flip, then flip them both for logics sake, if your going to flip one, fine, awesome, personal preference, but don't try to throw logic at me with it

 

[Outright Villainy]

Invert for console shooters, non invert for mouse. I think starting on Goldeneye got me into the habit, I literally can't play non-inverted for console shooters now. What's odd is my girlfriend is the same, though she started last year, and it wasn't default. So I think some people are just hardwired to prefer it.

 

[KnowYourOnion]

Ew.
I don't get how people can play inverted.

I imagine if I wanted to make a puppet look up I'd pull back on it's head and vice versa. At least that's what makes sense to me!

 

[Omega Pirate]

I don't invert, its just easier for me to push up to look up and push down to look down. honestly I can't play inverted for the life of me.

 

[Outright Villainy]

There's no "correct" way to do it. It all comes down to personal preference.

Sure there is, down = down and up = up. Anything else might be functional, and even preferable for many, but anything where the directions do not match is not correct.

It's forward and back, not up and down. Much like how pressing the left stick forward doesn't make you jump. So, the directions don't match anyway. It's preference, and that's it.

 

[hazabaza1]

Ew.
I don't get how people can play inverted.

I imagine if I wanted to make a puppet look up I'd pull back on it's head and vice versa. At least that's what makes sense to me!

I guess. But to me, it just feels... wrong.

 

[Ghengis John]

please help me with this fellow gamers, my mate here at work uses regular controls on COD and GOW etcetera, where as i invert my axis so that pulling back on the analogue scrolls the camera upwards, much like an aircraft (THE CORRECT WAY!) Its turning into an argument so i'd just like a show of hands to prove me right, thx people
(only joking about THE CORRECT WAY remark, geez)

Looking at the poll, I have to wonder if you're still going to share the results with him. The way I look at it, when I'm playing an fps I'm not piloting a damn plane. Since the reticule in an FPS is most akin to a mouse cursor it makes sense that you move it onto whatever you want to kill without inversion as you would move a cursor onto whatever you wish to interact with. The relationship is further skewed when playing an FPS on a PC. Where the reticule IS a mouse cursor.

Possibly, but as Charlie Brooker recently said on this very topic, "The analog stick is like your head. You pull back to look up, you push forward to look down."

Only it's NOT your head. The anatomical argument is moot considering the stick also controls your arms. If you are holding a rifle do you push and pull to aim up and down? No. You flex up and down at the elbow. For that matter your head is capable of moving forward and backwards as well as up and down.

 

[Okamipsychonaut]

I cut my teeth on FPS movement and camera in the first Turok dinosaur hunter game..so when it came time to use the Ebon Hawk's turrets, I was effed.

 

[TornadoFive]

There's no "correct" way to do it. It all comes down to personal preference.

Sure there is, down = down and up = up. Anything else might be functional, and even preferable for many, but anything where the directions do not match is not correct.

Possibly, but as Charlie Brooker recently said on this very topic, "The analog stick is like your head. You pull back to look up, you push forward to look down."

I can't find the original article but it was a discussion on this topic between him and Dara O Briain.

And it's true. When you think about it, you don't push "up" on an analog stick, you push "forward".

But yeah, I get what you're saying. And my friend constantly picks me up on it whenever I change my settings to inverted. But like I said, it all comes down to preference.

i absolutely hate that arguement, anytime someone brings that up they never ever flip the horizontal axis then, which is complete bullshit and opposite of that reason (not at you, just the person you were quoting from in the discussion) brought up.


If your going to flip, then flip them both for logics sake, if your going to flip one, fine, awesome, personal preference, but don't try to throw logic at me with it

OK, lets not get carried away with this!

As a point of interest, I did used to play with both axis' inverted. I went through the whole of Batman:Arkham Asylam like that. But when I got Mass Effect, I almost had to give up on it, because it doesn't have an option for inverting the x-axis. So I went back and played through B:AA for a week or so, without x inverted, to try and get used to the controls.

And that's the problem. Most games allow you to invert the y-axis, bbut I've only seen a handful that allow you to do the same to the x-axis.

I'm sure if I wanted to, I could re-train myself to use non-inverted controls. But I like playing the way I do. And as long as the games I want to play allow me to invert the y-axis, I shall play them like that.