Why do some gamers invert their controls? Scientists now have answers, but they're not what you think

"Five years ago, on the verge of the first Covid lockdown, I wrote an article asking what seemed to be an extremely niche question: why do some people invert their controls when playing 3D games? A majority of players push down on the controller to make their onscreen character look down, and up to make them look up. But there is a sizeable minority who do the opposite, controlling their avatars like a pilot controls a plane, pulling back to go up."

"And it wasn't just gamers who were interested. Machinists, equipment operators, pilots, designers, surgeons people from so many different backgrounds reached out, says Corbett. Because there were so many different answers, we realised we had a lot of scientific literature to review to design the best possible study. Readers' responses turned this study into the first of its kind to try to figure out what actually are those factors that shape how users configure their controllers."

Many players use default controls that map pushing down to looking down and up to looking up, but a sizeable minority invert controls, pulling back to look up like a pilot. Curiosity about why inversion persists prompted a large public response and enabled remote experimental research during Covid lockdowns. Researchers Jennifer Corbett and Jaap Munneke recruited hundreds of volunteers, including machinists, equipment operators, pilots, designers and surgeons. Diverse respondent experiences prompted a comprehensive literature review to design rigorous experiments. Reader contributions helped create the first systematic study aiming to identify factors shaping controller configuration across backgrounds and experiences.

Read at www.theguardian.com