Does anyone else hold their controller this way?

..Or am I just crazy.

I hold a controller fairly regularly, except for one thing. Instead of having my right index finger on the right trigger, I curl it up and rest it on the face buttons. Then I have my middle finger pulling the trigger. I mostly only do this in shooters, so I can reload, jump and more while still being able to aim.

(and yes I know out of 8 billion or so people there's no way "i'm the only one" stop being a jerk, it's a figure of speech, I'm just wondering if it's a common thing.)

I just tried it. I see the use, but it feels like it would get very uncomfortable. Most games are designed under the assumption that you can't use the face buttons and the right stick at the same time, so sometimes it's going to break the balance and other times it's going to make life harder for you.

If I'm reading your description correctly, that's the "claw technique" (I think?) that's more common than you'd think among competitive FPS players. I think it's crazy and painful but I've seen it done.

You're crazy! I don't think I could ever play like that.

That's the way you hold a controller if you watch a lot of porn.

No and you will probably have problems with that index finger over time honestly. Haha.

@Cr0ssbow said:

If I'm reading your description correctly, that's the "claw technique" (I think?) that's more common than you'd think among competitive FPS players. I think it's crazy and painful but I've seen it done.

To be clear, my index finger is rested horizontally, and I push the buttons down with the side of my finger.

@Jason_Bourne said:

@Cr0ssbow said:

If I'm reading your description correctly, that's the "claw technique" (I think?) that's more common than you'd think among competitive FPS players. I think it's crazy and painful but I've seen it done.

To be clear, my index finger is rested horizontally, and I push the buttons down with the side of my finger.

Could be awesome, if I got used to it. Already switched to 4-finger stance regarding shoulderbuttons since about a year, it's second nature now. Adding your cripple finger tactic to the 4 finger stance, that'd be a handy 8 hotkeys without ever taking my thumb of the thumbsticks....

...but alas, I think I'll not try it. It'd take a game with a controlscheme benefitting from such a thing, to make do it. Like what Vanquish did for me and the 4-finger stance.

only when i play monster hunter, and that hurts my hands.

Nope. Slower reflexes that way.

I do that in Dark Souls when I need to have complete control over my character's movement while also having complete control over his actions.

i play inverted with the controller upside down.

I've heard of people playing the same way as the OP before. They call it the 'claw' or something, and it's fairly common among Call of Duty players since it means that they can hit all the face buttons quickly, as well as using their middle finger for grenades or shooting at dudes.

Nope. Never had an issue with not being able to hit face buttons. I am one of the crazy people that can play 6 button fighting games on a controller with just my thumb just as well as I can with my fingertips on an arcade stick.

Nope. I hold my controllers like normal. Left thumb on analog stick, right on either analog stick or face buttons, index fingers on shoulder buttons, and the rest of my fingers holding the controller. I tried to hold the PS3 controller with four fingers on the top for a while, but I just couldn't stand it, so I went back to normal.

However, I must admit to having placed my left index finger on the directional buttons on the PSP on occasion. Due to lack of buttons, important functions were sometimes placed on the directional buttons and I had to get to them pretty quick.

@Jason_Bourne said:

..Or am I just crazy.

I hold a controller fairly regularly, except for one thing. Instead of having my right index finger on the right trigger, I curl it up and rest it on the face buttons. Then I have my middle finger pulling the trigger. I mostly only do this in shooters, so I can reload, jump and more while still being able to aim.

(and yes I know out of 8 billion or so people there's no way "i'm the only one" stop being a jerk, it's a figure of speech, I'm just wondering if it's a common thing.)

That's the exact way I play console shooters.

I bet you would be great at Monster Hunter.

Classic claw technique bro!

Nope. Also who else solves the titlte problem.

Depends on the game. When I need to use the face buttons and analog stick at the same time, I do this method. In GTA4 for example, you can press the A button to move quickly while you have your gun drawn and are aiming at enemies, however it's not possible to use it unless you do the claw maneuver. This is why I say there should be a third trigger/shoulder button for each hand.
 
Then there's the move where you stretch your right thumb across the controller to press a direction on the d-pad to select an item or weapon while still using your left thumb to manipulate the left stick. I find it much more difficult to pull off on the PS3 controller due to the swapped position of the left stick and d-pad. I hope next generation controllers have both sticks on the outside and the d-pad and face buttons on the inside for this reason.

No, I think it would be useful if you could get used to it but I just tried and I can't get my middle finger to tap fast enough. I am sure if I used it enough I could learn but I am afraid of people laughing at me.

I place my right index finger on the left mouse button so I have no idea what you're talking about.

It sounds like a good way to get carpal tunnel syndrome.

(and yes I know out of 8 billion or so people there's no way "i'm the only one" stop being a jerk, it's a figure of speech, I'm just wondering if it's a common thing.)

@MrKlorox said:

Depends on the game. When I need to use the face buttons and analog stick at the same time, I do this method. In GTA4 for example, you can press the A button to move quickly while you have your gun drawn and are aiming at enemies, however it's not possible to use it unless you do the claw maneuver. This is why I say there should be a third trigger/shoulder button for each hand.

I got my 50 year old dad a 3rd party controller for xmas because he's been wanting to get back into playing games again (I used to play Halo, split screen with him, and I dutifully pressed the quicksave in Max Payne when he told me, good times.) The controller I got him has a bunch of extra features including 4 bumper buttons and two triggers. The 2 extra bumpers are entirely programable.

I use to do that for Halo 3 so I can jump and aim at the same time but then found the bumper jumper layout and have been using that for each Halo game since.

@Jason_Bourne said:

(and yes I know out of 8 billion or so people there's no way "i'm the only one" stop being a jerk, it's a figure of speech, I'm just wondering if it's a common thing.)

Well actually you didn't begin your thread with "Am I the only one ____" so I think you can be spared the ridicule.

Ack, no way. My hand feels uncomfortable when I even imagine the claw technique. I understand the usefulness of it, but it doesn't seem worth the discomfort.

Nope, because ergonomics.

@Jason_Bourne said:

@Cr0ssbow said:

If I'm reading your description correctly, that's the "claw technique" (I think?) that's more common than you'd think among competitive FPS players. I think it's crazy and painful but I've seen it done.

To be clear, my index finger is rested horizontally, and I push the buttons down with the side of my finger.

It's called "Playing Claw" and it's rather common to see in the competitive field mostly with COD. Me personally, (as I play a lot of competitive games on gamebattles.com) I feel its use isn't as great as some think and being able to jump and aim in COD isn't as useful as a drop shot. Plus I'm pretty good at jumping and aiming without playing claw.

my index finger are on the L1 and R1 and my middle fingers are below the L/R2 rarely on them

This sounds like a good way to develope hand problems later on... I'll pass

I first heard of "the claw" a few years ago. I tried it and actually got used to it (mostly), but it did get uncomfortable at times and I'm just not competitive enough to go to such lengths to get an edge on my opponents.

I've done that but not regularly, only in odd cases.

Sounds like controllers need to be redesigned so that most of the buttons are controlled with fingers instead of thumbs if we continue using our thumbs just for movement.

As for your silly claw hand. I do that sometimes too. I don't rest my index finger on the face buttons, but I can move it done to them easy enough if I need to jump and turn or reload and turn.

.This is why fps shouldn't be played on consoles. Also autoaim.