How do you hold your controller thumbsticks?

[thenexus6]

Thread title. Have been thinking about this lately, especially when playing Halo on PC.

The thumbsticks are designed with this circular indent for your thumbs to rest in, however, I really don't like this position. It feels comfortable across the surface of your thumb but it feels unnatural when playing.

I tend to find myself using sticks like this:

However resting your thumb tip on the edge is uncomfortable after a while, but feels way more natural.

This setup doesn't feel quite as bad on the DS4.

I use a thumb grip which is a nice meeting in the middle. I can rest my thumb on the side, but it doesn't feel like a sharp edge as on the Xbox controller.

I think I will get some grips off eBay for my Xbox controller.

But it makes me think, it would be cool for the Elite controller to offer different shapes of thumbsticks but just different heights. This circular indent is a safe design for the masses, but having different groove options would be cool.

 

[TheMadTitan]

If you're talking about the neutral grip, my fingers don't rest on the analog sticks. Thumbs default to the dpad and face buttons with index fingers resting on L1/R1 or in between those and L2/R2.

When I'm actively using them, thumbs rest on top of the sticks. Positioning shifts a bit based on what I'm doing, but I don't do that weird thing that you do with my thumb on the side of the stick unless I'm pushing the stick all the way in any given direction.

 

[defaltoption]

I do it how you do it in the first picture, my whole finger rests on the actual top of the sticks for both the Xbox and PlayStation controller.

It's been a long time but I might've used the N64 stick the other way, can't remember for sure but it popped in my head when I saw the second pictures.

 

[foolishoptimist]

First.

The second position would be insecure if you were to suddenly reverse direction.

 

[ciddative]

If I'm pressing forward my thumb ends up resting with the inside knuckle in the indent. I hate that it does this and I have to reposition it all the time

 

[Delphine]

I have quite small hands and small fingers, and controllers clearly weren't designed with small hands in mind, so I prefer holding my controller thumb-sticks on the sides, like you do. I find it allows me to be much more agile, flexible & precise in the movements I make, while if I had to always fully stick my thumb all over the thumb-stick, I'd end up being limited in the movements I can make due to it being pretty awkward mechanically-wise to execute some movements that way with my thumbs.

 

[Kasey]

My thumb is on the grip for the left stick (being the movement stick, I don't need quick access to any direction since I'm mostly just pushing it forward) and on top of the right stick since I use it to aim.

 

[blame space]

i've always gone by this ancient adage:

you gotta know when to hold em,
know when to fold em

 

[trashbandit]

I rest my thumb joint on the circular part. Unless I'm interpreting the image wrong, how would you do the second rest position on the edge without also engaging the stick input?

 

[Rendering...]

Pro gamers utilize the superior dexterity of the tongue muscles.

 

[Pankratous]

Generally my thumb only touched the bottom of the stick, sort of like your photo. Absolutely not putting my thumb in the centre.

 

[Argentil]

Grant us a poll and let's see the distribution here. I'm in the second group. I find it feels more precise if I rest my thumb tip on the edge of the stick. This does make my thumbs slip off sometimes, so I'm constantly adjusting my grip. It's kinda weird now that I think about it.

 

[Lowrys]

I've long thought that they should angle the sticks toward you in the neutral position so it feels more comfortable to push them up.

 

[NediarPT88]

I don't really use my thumb tip, more like the mid-lower part of it.

All those images seem really unconfortable to me lol

 

[TheRulingRing]

Same as you OP. I really wish designers accounted for that - it's almost like they've never used a controller naturally themselves.

Why tf does the edge of the controller have to be so sharp, especially when you'll be pushing forward so much on the left stick?

It becomes painful after a while, and like you said putting your thumb right on the face of the stick feels like an unnatural position.

 

[Salient_Lion]

I also push the edge of the stick rather than putting my thumb in the intended indent. It seems the most natural way to move the sticks to me, especially if you have to hold it down for long periods.

 

[Salient_Lion]

I also push the edge of the stick rather than putting my thumb in the intended indent. It seems the most natural way to move the sticks to me, especially if you have to hold it down for long periods to move a character etc.

 

[Mirage]

You can definitely tell I use the edge of the stick, this is an old 360 controller of mine.

 

[Pyro]

 

[Kneefoil]

I hold the thumb on top of he stick, but it's not the tip of my thumb that makes contact with the stick, like in the pictures, but the underside of the thumb a bit farther down.

 

[Ego]

Absolutely not putting my thumb in the centre.

Click to shrink...

I can certainly confirm that, my thumbs are never in the center. Using the edges only and that's where the dualsense/dualshock beat the xbox controllers by a country mile in regards to comfort.