# WASD or ESDF?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [June 15, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546 "2011-06-15T09:18:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/1 "2011-06-15T09:18:19Z")
What is your preferred scheme?
---
### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/2 "2011-06-15T09:59:26Z")
HJKL!
But seriously, I’ve played a lot of games and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered ESDF. Reading up on it, it sounds like Tribes 2 used it as a default, but I never played that.
It took me a long time to switch to WASD, though. For a long time I used WAXD because I had always used the numpad arrow keys (2,4,6,8) before I switched to keyboard and mouse.
---
### Author:  [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/3 "2011-06-15T12:40:00Z")
WASD normally, but I used QWES in WoW. Not sure why I changed it back in '04 when I started playing that, but it stuck and now if I play similiar MMOs I reset my keys for that also.
---
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/4 "2011-06-15T12:43:29Z")
WASD is generally most games’ default setup, particularly where mouse control is also used, but were I to encounter ESDF I’m sure it’s pretty much the same difference.
In games where the mouse is not a factor I prefer the arrow keys.
---
### Author:  [@Ambihelical\_Hexnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambihelical_Hexnut)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/5 "2011-06-15T15:24:39Z")
I always used to use the arrow keys - WASD took a lot of getting used to for me because the W isn’t directly above the S. But now that I have got used to WASD I find it clearly superior to the arrows; the abundace of letter keys around this configuration, plus the fact that my thumb rests right on the space bar means no more straining to reach from the arrows to the right shift and control keys.
---
### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/6 "2011-06-15T15:28:55Z")
Anyone who doesn’t say WASD is a freak who should be shunned mercilessly and with the burning fury of a thousand CRT screens until the end of days.
😉
---
### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/7 "2011-06-15T15:35:39Z")
I re-mapped WASD to ESDF for WoW to give me access to more keybinds. It has been a god-send. I can’t recommend it highly enough. For added bonus you also get the nice nipple on your index finger letting you know your hand is in the right spot if you have to move it off-keyboard.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/8 "2011-06-15T15:36:07Z")
I don’t play a lot of games, especially first-person shooters, on a computer, but in the Half-Life Series, I remapped it to WADX. I don’t understand how people find tucking their thumb under to be comfortable. My hand rests more-or-less naturally with WADX.
---
### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/9 "2011-06-15T15:43:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I don’t play a lot of games, especially first-person shooters, on a computer, but in the Half-Life Series, I remapped it to WADX. I don’t understand how people find tucking their thumb under to be comfortable. My hand rests more-or-less naturally with WADX.
I shift my middle finger from W to S when I need to back up. The thumb is for the space bar.
---
### Author:  [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/10 "2011-06-15T15:47:46Z")
Never considered using my thumb for a movement button… I use my middle finger for both forward and backward (although really I use the mouse just as much for movement in WoW).
---
### Author:  [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/11 "2011-06-15T15:51:20Z")
Arrow keys for me because I am VERY right-handed.
---
### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/12 "2011-06-15T16:27:50Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#):
>
> I shift my middle finger from W to S when I need to back up. The thumb is for the space bar.
I had never considered that as a possibility, but that seems to work well. Makes a lot more sense, now.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/13 "2011-06-15T16:31:07Z")
Usually WASD, if the game has use for a mouse (most do, nowadays). But if not, arrow keys (what else would those be used for?).
---
### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/14 "2011-06-15T16:59:22Z")
I use WASD, but my friend keeps trying to get me to use ESDF for larger access to keybinds. It’s probably better, but in the short term the shift is too disorienting for my muscle memory.
---
### Author:  [@eno801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eno801)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/15 "2011-06-15T17:03:19Z")
arrows for me. For some reason I can’t aim with my right with a mouse.
---
### Author:  [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/16 "2011-06-15T17:34:02Z")
When I first got into gaming (Doom), there weren’t established standards (default for Doom was the arrow keys, which was fine because looking around hadn’t been invented yet), so my friends and I all had our own unique keyboard mappings. It made sharing computers a pain. I settled on ASDF (d for down, you can figure out the rest) because it seemed the most comfortable to me. I remember being confused about WASD when later games came out, and insisted on remapping every game I played to ASDF until I finally quit gaming. Now I tolerate WASD, but only because I’m too lazy to remap.
---
### Author:  [@martu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martu)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/17 "2011-06-15T17:35:04Z")
WASD want to try ESDF for the extra keybinds but scared of going through all of my existing WOW key binds, I have a lot.
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/18 "2011-06-15T17:49:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> When I first got into gaming (Doom), there weren’t established standards (default for Doom was the arrow keys, which was fine because looking around hadn’t been invented yet)
It sounds funny when you say it like that, but it’s true.
---
### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/19 "2011-06-15T17:57:36Z")
So to the 25% of respondents who answered “arrow keys”… do you just not use keybinds or do you have a third arm?
---
### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546/20 "2011-06-15T17:58:17Z")
I didn’t even realize ESDF was used.
WASD, since I’m righthanded.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasd-or-esdf/585546.md?page=2)