Configuring Controls

I will admit that I am a stubborn person. I tend to act a bit too rigidly. For example, I usually only play games on PC. The main reason is it just more comfortable for me. The thing is that I only use keyboard and mouse for gaming, because that it what I am most accustomed to using. I am terrible at using a controller if I’m being honest. The only major advantage I can get when using a controller is using an analog stick, but that isn’t enough of a merit for me to use a controller when I can’t use the buttons as effectively as I would like. Would practice probably help rectify some of these issues? Most likely, but again I would like to mention that I am stubborn and so learning how to use a controller effectively seems like a bit of waste to me. That, and I don’t own a good controller at the moment and I don’t really feel like buying one right now. Hey, I never said I wasn’t lazy.

This has it’s own share of problems obviously, and that is what I am here to talk about today. You see, there are many games that I have played on my computer and they all usually fall into one of two categories. The first category of games are ones that were designed to be easily played using a setup with a mouse and keyboard. The second type are those that are designed to be played using a controller. Usually the second type is targeted towards those that play console rather than PC. If you play games on people often enough, you find some that have a very strange control scheme that seems to have been made with a different species in mind. It is especially annoying when games do this when many other games have no problem adapting controls between systems. In fact, controllers have less commands than a normal keyboard and mouse, so how is it that hard to reasonably map all of the buttons?

What is even worse though is when they have you stick with annoying controls. Any game that doesn’t have control configuration included in the settings is insane. Personally any game that is ported to PC should have some setting to allow you to customize controls. I can understand that if the game was made for PC you wouldn’t need to have that option available. It is a choice that I can respect. I won’t, but theoretically that is something I could do. However, if a game is ported over and the way the controls are mapped to the keyboard are clunky to use, then I just won’t play the game. I understand that some games work better with a controller and that is fine. There are different ways to design games and how they control. However, if you want me to use a controller to play, at least be upfront about it.

Games always put in that caption of “controller strongly recommended” for games that were originally meant for controller support. However, some games have the audacity to act as though they tried to fit the controls over in a way that makes the experience feel smooth only to basically leave you with no option other than to find a controller. It is one thing if you make keyboard controls harder but still effective. It is another thing when the game is nearly impossible to be played properly and doesn’t allow you to change the controls in the settings. At that point it is clear you do not care.

I know this doesn’t apply to every game. However, it does bum me out sometimes when there might be games I want to try or get back into playing, but it too troublesome to relearn the convoluted control scheme. If I need a guide for every button press I make, my interest will wane considerably. That might be why I prefer games with simpler control schemes. I don’t want to have to study or learn a foreign language to play a game. It is already hard enough navigating through the menus of certain games. I don’t need to make things even harder for myself.

Well, as usual things became a rant on something, but that’s to be expected at this point. I figure that might as well be my modus operandi. Before I go tonight, I want to give a shoutout to Elden Ring for getting Game of the Year. Congrats! Sure you didn’t have much competition with half those games breaking their ankles the second they were nominated, but you still deserved that win regardless for all the work you put in. Good job!