Inverted. And it really gets me into trouble as soon as you have a cursor on screen in the FPS view - Operation Flashpoint was very weird there, iirc.
I don’t play a lot of video games but, when I do, whether FPS or over-the-shoulder third-person-type games, I have to invert. It drives me crazy, for some reason, playing the non-inverted way. I just can’t get used to it, my natural instinct is to pull back to look up.
In the earliest FPSs, it was irrelevant, because there were no controls for looking up or down at all. And by the time such controls were implemented (I think Hexen was one of the first), they were all copying Doom, not copying flight sims, so how it’s done in a flight sim was irrelevant.
I invert everything, no matter what controller. Pulling back has always meant looking up ever since I learned how to play my first flight sim in the early 80s.
Here’s another question: does anyone actually invert the x-axis? I’ve noticed this option on a handful of games and can only think of a single time where I got confused not having an inverted x-axis (Assassin’s Creed 2’s boats, for some reason).
I usually invert the y-axis though, not sure why, I used to always keep it standard but at some point my brain magically flip-flopped its preference.
Here’s my completely bullshit pop-psychology explanation: Which you prefer depends on where you view the seat of your consciousness. If you prefer the normal mouse, you think of the “you” as residing right behind your eyes and so it moves up when you move up. If you prefer an invert mouse, then you believe the “you” is located at the back of your head and needs to be pushed down for you to look up.
People who have their “you” closer to their eyes are more perception oriented and are focused on the outside world and experiences. People who have their “you” at the back of their heads are more reason oriented and are focused on reasoning and logic.
I invert the x-axis in third person games like Assassin’s creed or GTA4 where the camera’s not directly tied to the playable character (meaning you can rotate the camera around the character). I guess it’s because I visualize it that when I press left, the camera should move left of the character (the PC is always in the center) showing what’s on the right side.
----------> Camera views to the right
A_ Playable character
<--------- Camera moves to the left
In games where the camera is tied directly to the PC like Max Payne (you always see his back), I don’t invert.
I invert it for the same reason as the OP - Got used to it from flight sims.
A game without the Y axis inverted is horrible to play.
I also remap just about all the keys. I’m left-handed.
I play a lot of Battlefield 1942, which has both non-vehicle FPS positions, and in-vehicle FPS positions.
For infantry mode, up is up. No invert.
For flight mode, up is down. Inverted as a regular airplane control.
Somehow not confusing to me… thankfully the control configuration allows both.
The terminology is wrong in the poll question. With an “inverted” system, to look up you pull back. Mentally, I’m controlling the head/camera. Think about it: if you have your hand on top of someone’s head and you want them to look up, you pull it back.
Another way to visualize it is to make a “gun” with your hand, index finger pointed, thumb up. The index finger is the camera. Grab your thumb with your other hand and make your finger point up.
A related question, regardless of inverting or not, what does left and right do on the same joystick that controls up and down. Do you rotate or strafe?
In the poll I gave the definition of inverted as: when I push the mouse/stick down, my character looks up
How is that not the same as the definition you gave? Unless you somehow interpret “push the mouse down” as meaning pushing it away from your body, towards the monitor.
The axis in the “inverted” system has no up nor down, it’s forward and back.
You mean the same thing but it is the terminology that is different. You don’t normally move a mouse or joystick down or up, you move it forward and backward.
I invert. My first games were flight sims, I’ve also flown real aeroplanes in some form since I was 16. I’m not sure if that is the prime influence or not. To me it makes sense in the same way it does to garygnu, my thumb/hand is on top of the character’s head so to move the eyes up, I pull back on his/her head.
I was once a FLIR operator in an aircraft, most of the other FLIR operators did not invert the Y axis of the camera.
I’m weird.
FPSs I don’t invert(up is up)
Flight sims, inverted(down is up)
Space sims, not inverted(up is up)
I think its because space sims react more like fps games, while in flight sims you actually have to fly, so playing it like i’m using a joystick makes more sense.
I do and have done since the first time I played an FPS where I could. I don’t know why though, perhaps because I had a bit of a thing for flight sims/arcade games at one stage and it carried over.
I don’t invert. I started out in flight sims, but it always felt wonky for me. One of my best friends plays inverted and he’s never touched a flight sim.