[Jatsie]

This is a question I'm curious about. I haven't played console games for a while, but since buying my PS3, in every game I've had to alter the settings to invert the Y-axis in order for it to feel normal for me. Given that it's only just come to my attention, I'm not really sure how long this has been going on for, or how it even began, but a quick survey of my friends revealed that I'm the only one who does this. So really I just want to see what the general consensus on this issue is.

I'm hypothesising that I like this setup as I move the analogue stick in the same way I would move my head. To look down I would tilt my head forwards, and to look up I would tilt my head backwards, so following this pattern with the controls seems most logical.

[UPtimist]

Not usually. Depends on the game though, I think that I do it if there's for example flying involved. I'm not sure why it's that that makes me need it though...

But when simply looking with a character, I guess I don't think about it like head movement but more like eye movement.

(Edit): BTW, I also have one friend that I know about (though I don't really have many gamer friends) that always inverts the Y-axis.

[Quadriflax]

I invert joysticks but not the mouse. Is that weird?

I hate swapping off FPS games on consoles with my friend because he always de-inverts my settings, which totally screws me up. Not that I play FPS games on consoles a whole lot, but still...

[MdaG]

Not for FPS, but flight simulators and similar I do invert the controls.

[stepurhan]

I played a game where a section the controls were completely inverted (by the game as a challenge) I had to lie so I could view the monitor upside-down to pass that section.

[Huz]

Wouldn't it be easier to turn the controller upside-down?!

[stepurhan]

The controller was a mouse and I had to be able to press the mouse buttons as well. I found it surprisingly awkward to do comfortably, even with both hands.

[Sik]

Voted yes since I do so sometimes. 10 years ago when I played a lot more action oriented games, I did it all the time with 1st person games, since it would simulate leaning better. Now, I find it more intuitive that the crosshair moves the same way my mouse does. Maybe I've become more distanced or something. I don't know.

Anyway, with games where the mouse controls the camera, I usually have to invert the y-axis, and sometimes the x-axis to make it feel natural. It's usually in games developed for consoles I end up inverting both. Might have to do with the center point being fixed, and moving the mouse becomes like tilting the camera right to look left, left to look right etc.

[youfightlikeadairyfarmer]

No! I'm not a plane!

My brother used to always do that though and it pissed me off because we'd play the same game and I'd have to change it back. WHAT A JERK I HATE HIM!

[Trumgottist]

I'm confused.

It's possibly because I don't play that many action games so I may have the terminology wrong, but I thought inverted controls meant the kind used by flight simulators (forward = up). Your (Jat316sob) post seems to indicate the opposite?

[Davies]

I was thinking inverted = left-right (as in mouse buttons). Shows you how many action games I play. Then again, I don't own a console.

It just struck me that "do you invert your controls" sounds like a euphemism for something. Not sure quite what, and not sure I want to guess.

[Sik]

Originally Posted by Trumgottist

I'm confused.

It's possibly because I don't play that many action games so I may have the terminology wrong, but I thought inverted controls meant the kind used by flight simulators (forward = up). Your (Jat316sob) post seems to indicate the opposite?

When talking about inverting controls, it's (as far as I know) always about inverting axis. Imagine your screen looks like this:

.........^.........
.........|.........
.........|.........
X----------->
.........|.........
.........|.........
.........Y.........

Yeah, poor drawing, I know, but there's a horizontal axis X from left to right, and a vertical axis Y from bottom to top. When using a mouse, you expect forward/backwards to move your cursor up and down along the Y-axis. Left/right should move the cursor left and right.

Now, in any situation where you have a cursor that can be moved around on screen, this is intuitive. However in a game where mouse/joystick movement mimics a camera or head movement, it might not be. Moving the cursor (may or may not be represented by a crosshair or similar in the middle of the screen) upwards, the screen moves with it. This would look similar to your character leaning backwards, so inverting the y-axis (vertical) will give your mouse "lean backwards" and "lean forwards" behavior when moving it.

When the mouse is supposed to control a camera behind you, it may sometimes feel natural for right and left to be inverted, i.e. mimic pushing the camera to the right and left, though this is not as common.

Of course, the act of inverting the controls for a game might be interpreted as just changing it from the default behavior. If so you may end up playing with controls that are not inverted afterwards if inverted y-axis was the default setting.