# Do you invert the Y axis in FPSs? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417 "2009-12-08T07:17:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/1 "2009-12-08T07:17:43Z")
I do, because some of the first games I played were my dad’s flight sims. I got used to the “down = up” idea, so it was natural to invert the Y axis when I started playing FPSs. My brother also does because he just used whatever options I had set for the game. But outside of my family, I can’t remember specifically noticing anyone else who inverts the Y axis. Whenever I take over a controller or keyboard/mouse from someone it seems like 100% of the time I have to immediately change the settings. So I’m curious what the ratio is. From my experience (and the fact that it’s the default setting) I’m fairly sure non-inverters are the majority, but by how much? ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/2 "2009-12-08T07:24:06Z")
Strange, some of the first games I played were flight simulators as well, but I managed get used to the norm for FPS’s. I don’t really have a problem switching if I play a flight sim, though. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/3 "2009-12-08T07:24:42Z")
Yep. I can’t function without inverting the Y-axis. Drives me batty to try to play it the default way. Again, probably because I played flight sims early in my life. ---
**Author:** ![VanillaGorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/4 "2009-12-08T07:55:11Z")
I invert, but not because I ever played flight sims (I didn’t). Was Quake 2 inverted by default? If so, that is probably why I play like that, as that was the first game I ever played that had the type of controls we use for FPS now. Not that I ever play FPS’s anymore. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/5 "2009-12-08T08:00:18Z")
I push up to look up. I remember GoldenEye on N64 was the first game to introduce me to the inversion system- totally messes me up. And I don’t play simulation games really for the record. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/6 "2009-12-08T11:38:39Z")
> [@VanillaGorilla](#): > > Was Quake 2 inverted by default? If so, that is probably why I play like that, as that was the first game I ever played that had the type of controls we use for FPS now. I think so. Or at least, I think that in many early FPSs that inverted was the default. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/7 "2009-12-08T13:31:12Z")
I do. I wonder why it went to non-inverted as the standard. Seems to me that with FPSs being developed out of the flight sim world, the change would stick. How do FPSs work on PCs, with keyboard/mouse? Which peripheral controls the head movement? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/8 "2009-12-08T16:11:27Z")
Hell no. Give me the usual up-is-up controls, please. On flight simulators, I don’t mind the inverted controls, though. ---
**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/9 "2009-12-08T16:41:45Z")
For me, up is up in an FPS, but in a flight simulator it makes sense for up to be down and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/10 "2009-12-08T17:17:29Z")
Here’s the weird thing for me: I want it to change according to my view. When I’m running down a corridor, and I want my character to look up at the ceiling, I want it inverted. That is, I want to mimick tilting the head back by tilting the joystick down. But when I’m looking down a scope and I need to adjust my shot a little to high and to the left, I want to push the controller up and left. That is, I don’t want it inverted. This is because, to me, moving your character’s arms should be literal - up is up- but moving your character’s head should be like an airplane (or your actual head) - down means up. As a result, I’m always terrible at getting it right. I keep screwing it up when I play Brothers in Arms because of all the second-floor-window-watching coupled with all the zoom-down-your-sights aiming. Thus, I never play FPSs. I’ll stick to my flight sims, TYVM. ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Stranger_Me)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/11 "2009-12-08T18:55:54Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Here’s the weird thing for me: I want it to change according to my view. This is exactly why I tend to only play FPS on PC (not to stir up that debate… just a statement). It’s also why third person shooters like MGS4 on the PS3 are so hard for me to get used to playing. But that made me realize I can’t answer the poll. With a mouse, up is look up, with an analog stick, down is up. At least I think so, I’m at work so I can’t fire up Call of Duty and check. Anyone else do this? ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/12 "2009-12-08T19:08:06Z")
Nope. And I’m glad you specified what you meant by the answers since some games invert what they mean by invert. Drives me batty it does. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/13 "2009-12-08T19:47:14Z")
I cannot function without the inversion – on the game controllers, anyway; I’m with **Another Stranger Me** on the mouse up is up dealio… A couple of weekends ago I was playing _CoD-Modern Warfare 2_ with my nephew and he had to have it uninverted. Every time we switched over, I was lost for the first 10 seconds until I could flip the flop. Oddly, though, after playing _Skate 2_ for far too many hours, where I love to make little movies with ther replay functions, I got all ass-backwards. You can’t invert anything within the little video editing feature, so after hours of using that (pusing up to “look” up) and going back to FPS … it was like instant dyslexia. I had to retrain myself practically. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Keen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/14 "2009-12-08T20:13:24Z")
Interesting…it’s a lot closer than I thought it would be (I was expecting about 25% invert, 75% not). And I never considered that some people would invert with the mouse and not with the analog stick, or vice-versa, although this does make some sense as an analog stick is more like a joystick than a mouse is. Also never considered Chessic Sense’s idea about inverting only some of the time. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/15 "2009-12-08T20:47:39Z")
I wonder if age has anything to do with it, since it seems hard for me to imagine that anyone who grew up playing [Top Gun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gun_(video_game)) on the NES could prefer the non-inverted controls. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/16 "2009-12-08T21:13:26Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > I wonder if age has anything to do with it, since it seems hard for me to imagine that anyone who grew up playing [Top Gun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gun_(video_game)) on the NES could prefer the non-inverted controls. Hi. I played a lot of Top Gun. I prefer my missionary control scheme. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/17 "2009-12-08T21:15:44Z")
Weirdo. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/18 "2009-12-08T21:38:51Z")
Invert for flight/space sims on a stick/thumb, non-invert for anything else, non-invert for flight sims played with a mouse. And yes, it always takes a minute or so to get used to it again when I go from one environment to the other. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/19 "2009-12-08T22:07:59Z")
Invert. I didn’t play flight sims much but it just makes more sense to me. I think about moving the head rather than moving to where I want to look. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417/20 "2009-12-08T23:18:11Z")
I played flight and space sims long before FPS was a twinkling in John Carmack’s eye but there’s a division in my mind between the two of them. So I feel no need to invert. I don’t recall any early FPS that was inverted by default though Quake definitely had the option. I recall discussions at that point with people who were more comfortable with the mouse inverted. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-invert-the-y-axis-in-fpss/520417.md?page=2)