Should PC games always include some kind of "walk" key modifier?
Something that can either be held or toggled to slow the rate of your character's movement speed temporarily.
I've found that I tend to miss this in many games, and I wanted to know if anyone else felt the same, or if it would just be a waste of time.
With games becoming more story driven (or at least attempting), I'm finding that many of them have moments of quiet downtime, even if only briefly, and I cannot (and I'm sorry for the use of this overused term) immerse myself in the games downtime when I'm still zipping along at full jogging speed because I made the unfortunate choice of using a mouse and keyboard.
As we all know, a keyboard is severely limited in how it can transfer movement into a game. You typically only have four major movement keys, where as a controller uses analog control allowing you to input minute changes in movement with lesser joystick angles. So when using a controller, you can dexterously input a characters actions in just about any speed you choose, which is great and then makes sense to have moments in a game where you need to briefly follow a character or observe your environment.
However, when using a keyboard, you're often forced to stop moving entirely or awkwardly bump against NPCs since you cannot control the celerity of your character, or you have to constantly stop moving in jittery patterns just to look at the environment or object up close.
A "walk" key is a solution to this. Several games have had walk modifiers, such as the Fallout/Elder Scrolls series so you can appreciate the world they built, while others have a movement modifier so you can time jumps correctly, or allow you to keep an eye out for secrets.
However, the majority of our video games don't let you use these modifiers because they don't exist. Maybe developers consider it too redundant, and I'll admit right now, maybe this concept I've been droning on about isn't exactly something anyone else cares about. But I'm a stickler for pacing, pacing that I can control. There are times where I want to take in the area of a game, to possibly feel the serene atmosphere.
There are of course games where a walk key would be useless, such as the Serious Sam games, or any shooter that keeps it's fast pace throughout it's entirety, but something like the Metro series, or Far Cry, where there's beautiful worlds to look at and tense, silent moments to take in, I just want to be able to slow down a bit.
Do any of you share this particular obsession with immersion? Is there any merit to my concerns? I'd love to know your thoughts.
Something that can either be held or toggled to slow the rate of your character's movement speed temporarily.
I've found that I tend to miss this in many games, and I wanted to know if anyone else felt the same, or if it would just be a waste of time.
With games becoming more story driven (or at least attempting), I'm finding that many of them have moments of quiet downtime, even if only briefly, and I cannot (and I'm sorry for the use of this overused term) immerse myself in the games downtime when I'm still zipping along at full jogging speed because I made the unfortunate choice of using a mouse and keyboard.
As we all know, a keyboard is severely limited in how it can transfer movement into a game. You typically only have four major movement keys, where as a controller uses analog control allowing you to input minute changes in movement with lesser joystick angles. So when using a controller, you can dexterously input a characters actions in just about any speed you choose, which is great and then makes sense to have moments in a game where you need to briefly follow a character or observe your environment.
However, when using a keyboard, you're often forced to stop moving entirely or awkwardly bump against NPCs since you cannot control the celerity of your character, or you have to constantly stop moving in jittery patterns just to look at the environment or object up close.
A "walk" key is a solution to this. Several games have had walk modifiers, such as the Fallout/Elder Scrolls series so you can appreciate the world they built, while others have a movement modifier so you can time jumps correctly, or allow you to keep an eye out for secrets.
However, the majority of our video games don't let you use these modifiers because they don't exist. Maybe developers consider it too redundant, and I'll admit right now, maybe this concept I've been droning on about isn't exactly something anyone else cares about. But I'm a stickler for pacing, pacing that I can control. There are times where I want to take in the area of a game, to possibly feel the serene atmosphere.
There are of course games where a walk key would be useless, such as the Serious Sam games, or any shooter that keeps it's fast pace throughout it's entirety, but something like the Metro series, or Far Cry, where there's beautiful worlds to look at and tense, silent moments to take in, I just want to be able to slow down a bit.
Do any of you share this particular obsession with immersion? Is there any merit to my concerns? I'd love to know your thoughts.
