TITLE
How WASD became the standard PC control scheme
AUTHOR
Tyler Wilde
PUBLICATION
PC Gamer
YEAR
2016
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
WASD feels inevitable today. Once mouselook became standard in 3D games, it made little sense (at least for right-handed players) to hold your left arm across your chest to reach the arrow keys. The WASD keys were more comfortable, and offered easy access to Shift and Space. But even though WASD seems like the obvious choice now, far fewer players used it 20 years ago.Our favorite four letter word was never a foregone conclusion, and didn’t become standard through some gaseous enlightening that spread to every PC gamer simultaneously. The new movement scheme took several years to catch on, and while we can’t know whose fingers found their way to WASD first, we do have a good idea of who popularized the style: the greatest Quake player in the universe, Dennis “Thresh” Fong.
GAMES MENTIONED
Half-Life
Quake
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Dennis Fong [Thresh]