Scientists are interested in the approach to choosing the type of control.
The Guardian journalists drew attention to a study by British scientists. They were interested in why players prefer one type of control or another.
Scientists from Brunel University London conducted research and shared the results in the article «Why axis inversion? Optimising interactions between users, interfaces, and visual displays in 3D environments».
First, the participants filled out questionnaires and shared their gaming experience:
«Many told us that playing a flight simulator, using a certain type of console, or the first game they played were the reasons they preferred to invert or not. Many also said that their preferences changed over time...».
The researchers found that the choice is actually due not only to one "habit", but to how the human brain processes objects in three-dimensional space.
During cognitive testing, the researchers found that many assumptions about control preferences were incorrect. People who coped with the proposed test tasks faster were less likely to choose inverted controls:
«It turns out that the most predictive of all the factors we measured was how quickly gamers could mentally rotate objects and overcome the Simon effect. The faster they were, the less likely they were to invert the controls. People who said they sometimes invert were much slower at these tasks».
