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My favorite kind of video game is a sports game (FIFA, PES, NHL, ...).
However I never gotten around to use game pads for those games and always sticked to the old school keyboard. My question now is:

Do you have a chance of reaching a "game pad level" with a keyboard? Or is using the game pad that much superior? If that is the case: Explicitly why is it superior?

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are game pads superior? – Xantec Sep 18 '11 at 12:25
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Voting to close because this seems to be a question prompting discussion with no clear problem to solve: a better question would be one like this that presents a specific problem. – Dave DuPlantis Nov 4 '11 at 20:44

1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Well it depends on your personal playstyle, but the advantages a controller has over a keyboard are as follows:

  • 360 degree movement (as opposed to 8 directions of movement)
  • More precise ability to pick your speed etc. (You can move really slow, or really fast depending on how far you push the stick, with a keyboard it's either fast or off).
  • Access to more buttons without stretching your fingers all over the place
  • Easier access to certain moves which default to the right stick on controllers (like one touch controls in FIFA, or the Hit stick in Madden)

Really, I use a gamepad in pretty much every type of game except 1st person shooters and some third person shooters, because you're generally sacrificing precision (mouse being more precise than the control stick, keyboard is less precise than the control stick) for convenience, and you don't need much precision except in shooters.

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Did you mean to say that mouse + keyboard is more precise than a control stick? – Anna Lear♦ Sep 18 '11 at 18:51
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@AnnaLear Nope, I was saying that a mouse is more precise, but a keyboard is less precise. I'll be editing my post to clarify that now. – Mr Smooth Sep 18 '11 at 18:53
An analog stick not only gives 360 degrees of movement, but it also typically allows you to move at different speeds depending on how far you push it, whereas keyboard keys are either pressed or not. – hammar Sep 18 '11 at 20:26
@hammar, yes! I completely forgot about that. It's super important in racing games, where with a computer you have to tap the left or right keys over and over again to turn slightly, whereas with a controller you just push it slightly left or right. – Mr Smooth Sep 19 '11 at 9:07
Thx for this elaborate posting. The reason why I ask is that I am thinking on converting to a controller. Its just so much more relaxing for me to use a keyboard. But I guess practice makes perfect... +1. Before I accept I would rather see other peoples opinions on that though – Woltan Sep 20 '11 at 6:38

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