Do you prefer keyboard(+mouse) or controller/gamepad?

Yeah, from reading the posts here it seems that a lot of this has to do with path dependence—as in, what people have been accustomed to using, such as what people grew up with (was it PC or console gaming).

Which actually makes me even odder, because I grew up on console gaming but then used keyboard for PC gaming...in which I played console style games nevertheless. So in a way it's like I'm a PC gamer for control style, but I'm a console gamer when it comes to genres.

In retrospect, there was a noticeable jump around the turn of the millennium for me. Up until then I'd been playing console games; while I never got an N64 or PS 1, I still regularly played my SNES and Game Boy. However, around 2000, I discovered emulation, which led me to play those same console games...PC instead. So thanks to medium availability I switched to PC, but was able to retain the same content tastes.

Most curious is the role of Japanese (and Japanese-style) indie/doujin PC games. They tend to be much more similar to console games than western games, frequently imitating 8-bit and 16-bit console games. Indie games in general, which we've seen a rise of in the past few years, have also featured more "traditionally" console genres such as platformers (and fewer "traditionally" PC genres such as RTS or FPS) than have PC games in general, in part because of development costs. And games developed on these lower budgets also tend to be less processor- and graphics-intensive, meaning they can be played on computers with less flashy hardware.

My interest in console-style games and lack of interest in the traditionally PC genres also dovetailed with the fact that I tended (and still tend) to have low-end computers, which don't handle top-of-the-line (or anywhere near that) PC gaming well at all, as well as my general sense of frugality (which is well served by the lower cost of older and indie games).

That said, it does help that the keyboard hasn't changed much over the years. Console controllers, however, have.

(This was cross-posted to IJBM: http://itjustbugsme.com/forums/discussion/comment/306011#Comment_306011)

edited 14th Dec '12 10:13:27 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I can play both sides, I prefer consoles for certain genres (Twin Stick Shooters) but Mouse and Keyboard for others

Funnily enough some genres just don't matter, I can platform just as well with either M+K or pad

Even indie games that are almost tailor-made for a PS 360 pad tend to be developed on P Cs because PC game development has much smaller costs. Without equating any dev time with money or factoring in the life expenses of the devs it is, I believe, possible to develop games on the PC at zero cost. This isn't possible with console development. Not yet, anyway.

I've only really started gaming relatively recently(maybe a year or two ago), but I've pretty much gotten used to using a keyboard/ZXC/mouse combination. Maybe it's because I've mainly used a controller when at friends' houses, but analog sticks have constantly felt "slippery" for me. They're good for angles and quick turns, but at the same time moving straight can be annoying. Also, relying more on thumbs for many of the buttons seems to make me feel slower.

edited 13th Dec '12 9:35:43 PM by blueflame724

When it comes to a specific kind of controller, I suppose that the Dualshock and its equivalents (like the Rumblepad I have) control the best for me in my opinion. That's the kind I use for platformers and JRPGs (both emulated and bought). I suppose that the way it hasn't changed for the three generations is little wonder that it's influential to many PC controllers.

Still, keyboard/mouse is king for most everything else. Just something about control settings, hotkeys, and screen navigation which makes me easily prefer it.

edited 14th Dec '12 9:23:41 PM by EarlOfSandvich