Typing Games Are Cool Again Thanks To Wildly Unexpected Twists

"Keyboards have more than 100 keys, but there are four that are most important to people who play video games: W, A, S, and D. There are games that use more than these keys, yes--StarCraft, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft use all sorts of combinations--but the majority of games rely on a small sampling of numbers and letters on the keyboard."

"There are practical reasons for this, to be sure: Computer games often require one hand on a mouse, the other on a keyboard. There are a ton of keys that are simply out of reach. If you've got two hands on the keyboard, you're probably not playing a video game. But you could be. Typing games have existed for decades, once largely considered educational tools designed to help kids learn to use a keyboard."

Keyboards contain more than 100 keys, yet W, A, S, and D serve as primary movement controls in many video games. Many games use additional keys—StarCraft, League of Legends, and World of Warcraft use extensive key combinations—but most rely on a small set of numbers and letters for core controls. Ergonomics influence control choices: players often use one hand on a mouse and one on the keyboard, leaving many keys out of reach. Typing games originated as educational tools like Typer Shark and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and have recently reemerged with new approaches. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, released in 1987, remains a landmark in the genre.

Read at GameSpot