Made popular by Quake, WASD (or WSAD) is a set of four keys on the left-hand side of a QWERTY computer keyboard often used to control the player's movement in first-person/third-person (FPS/TPS) computer games. W/S control forward and backward and A/D control strafing left and right. These mimic the arrow keys, which are also commonly used for movement. A variation is W-A-X-D, used by people who are used to the arrows on the numeric keypad (which has the down arrow a line below the left/right arrows, instead of in between).

Many gamers consider WASD to be superior to the arrow keys for various reasons, including that more keys surround WASD than the arrow keys, allowing the player better access to more game commands, and the hand position for WASD being more ergonomic for right-handed players (one hand stays on the keyboard and the other on the mouse). However, many players who use the mouse with their left hand find WASD less ergonomic and prefer to use the arrow keys, and it is possible for a right-handed player to reach about half of the keyboard while still controlling a character with both the arrow keys and the mouse.

Other Variations

---

Some players prefer to use the ESDF keys because it allows the pinky finger to use more keys. Also, it is a natural typing position, and there's a small spike on the F key, to make it easier to locate it with the index finger. ESDF is the default configuration for several games, including Tribes 2. Players use many other key configurations, since most games provide players the ability to configure their keys.

The PC version of Sega's Virtual On arcade game included a "Keyboard Real" mode for emulating the arcade hardware; this mode used a WASD and IJKL dual-cross to emulate the arcade version's twin joysticks.

Other players prefer QWES, as they are nearer to the number keys for changing weapons and the TAB key for various other uses.

After being popularized by first-person shooters, WASD became more common in other computer game genres as well. Many of the games that have adopted this layout use a first-person or over-the-shoulder third-person perspective.

The WASD layout is sometimes affectionately referred to as "the holy four".

The WASD layout is slightly similar to the "HJKL" (h=left, j=down, k=up and l=right) layout used in the Unix or generally the mainframe computer world. However, those mostly text-based applications use HJKL primarily because the keyboards for the terminals back then commonly either lacked arrow keys or placed them in an uncomfortable arrangement. vi is still today a very popular text-based editor who uses the HJKL cursor movement layout. An example for a game that uses HJKL is the text-based "graphic" adventure NetHack.

Also similar is the "IJKL" layout, which is used by a growing number of DHTML/JavaScript games. These browser games cannot use the arrow keys because many browsers' windows will scroll if the arrow keys are used, thus hindering gameplay. IJKL, like WASD, are arranged in an ergonomic inverted T shape, and, since they are used by the right hand, adjustment is easy for people who commonly use the arrow keys.

Vaguely related is the "zxc" layout, used in many freeware games, and a common setup for emulation and older 2d gaming using a keyboard.

Computer and video game gameplay | Competitive computer and video gaming | Computer keys

WASD | WASD | WSAD