Arrows keys or number pad?

[ARTgames]

When you play a games that requires you to use the arrow keys, which arrow keys do you prefer? The one on your number pad (assuming you have a number pad) or just the plain old arrow keys?

My self i use the plain old arrow keys but i can see why some one might want to use something else.

[tehrozzy]

Arrow keys.

[11clock]

Arrow keys.

[Lingus]

Who the hell would use the number pad? It's farther out of the way and the down arrow is in the wrong position.

[EpicPhailure]

Arm4g3dd0nX (a Let's Player) had a similar discussion, but it was WASD vs Num. Pad (Arma uses Num. Pad) here. He does include some advantages of Num. Pad though.

[Lingus]

That Arm4g3dd0nX guy didn't seem to make really any good points. He argued for half of the discussion that the other guy should agree with him simply because of statistics (which he was getting wrong) and he wouldn't state what his reasonings were and wanted to just end the discussion because the other guy agreed with a small portion of his logic. Then, he goes into stating his reasons behind why Numpad is better to which every single point was countered with better logic by the other guy. Most of his reasons actually were proof of why WASD is better, such as the ergonomics. He was saying that a grid format is more cognitive to the human mind and therefore better suited to the hand position, whereas in reality the way the keyboard is designed is to allow your fingers to rest on the keys in the most comfortable position possible.

I have to say, I use the numpad every day at work. I'm an accountant. You can't be an accountant and not use the 10 key without looking. If you do a lot of number input, it just happens. The problem is, I use it with my right hand, because it's on the right side of the keyboard. And it is laid out the way it is so your fingers can easily tell where each digit is. It is not built for ergonomics. Therefore, altering the bind of the keys and using them for something other than number entry is counter-intuitive.

I have to say, the only valid point brought up for why WASD is not as good is because you lose out on some keys on the left hand side. This does not necessarily make the numpad better though. There's less space around the numpad for easily reachable keys, and if necessary, you can just switch to ESDF (which I see as an equivalent of WASD). But either way, the pinky is not all that usefull and if all it uses is shift and control then that's all it needs.

One thing I'm wondering is if he uses 5 or 2 as the Down key. The 2 has the down arrow on it, but I guess you could still bind 5 to the down key. It makes more sense to use 5 as using 2 would mean switching from up to down would require you to move your middle finger farther making it more difficult to do.

In any case, a lot of the points brought up make the arrow keys a bit less usefull. They are farther away from other keys so it makes it hard to have other keys near your fingers to use.

[Looperpuck]

Arrow keys, I don't think I've even tried with the number pad keys.

~Looperpuck

[ARTgames]

I see you feel really strongly about this Lingus.

[Lingus]

I see you feel really strongly about this Lingus.

Haha. I guess. Not entirely.

[EpicPhailure]

He uses 2 as down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSdGRUNtdsA

3:45, you can see that in the Move Forward/Backward, he has Secondary settings set as 8 for Forward, and 2 for Backward.

[Lingus]

That's plain ridiculous. I can't take anything he said on that website seriously now...

[ARTgames]

lol. Why do you care so much what people use for arrow keys? Or are you talking about something else?

[Lingus]

Well, it's just how adamant that guy was that numpad is better, and yet by every logic and reason numpad is far worse. I don't really care. People can use whatever they want. But when they claim to be this advanced professional video game player... whatever.

[ARTgames]

thats fine. i see.

[yottabyte]

The only place I use the numpad is in Garry's Mod. I can't see any other use of it. Why use it when there's arrow keys made for the purpose?