Player has been raiding in the PC MMORPG for years with a controller and no one notices

As part of our “Gaming Storys” call to the community, reader Daniel reached out to us. He wrote to us about how, despite all the problems and prejudices, he has successfully played the MMORPG SWTOR with a controller for years.

What are Gaming Storys? Normally, we tell many stories from the gaming community in our articles, about streamers, eSports athletes, or just players who have done something cool.

But we are also interested in your stories. We want to know what special or unusual experiences you have had while gaming. That’s why we launched a call for you to share your own stories with us.

One such email came from MeinMMO reader Daniel, who has played the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic with a controller for a long time despite all obstacles.

SWTOR is one of the games that does not offer native controller support. Accordingly, players have to either settle for keyboard controls or look for ways to get a controller working.

How that works, Daniel reveals in our conversation.

Progress Raiding with Controller and Nobody Notices

MeinMMO: Hello, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

Daniel: Hi, my name is Daniel and I am from Kaiserslautern. When I am not gaming on the console, I help my wife raise our little 2-year-old or I am streaming. I started DJ streams about 1 ½ years ago. I mainly play synthwave.

Also, I love pen-and-paper role-playing games, but I have had to neglect this hobby a lot lately. The week just doesn’t have enough days.

MeinMMO: In your email to us, you wrote that you started as a console player. What exactly bothers you about keyboard control? 

Daniel: Generally, I don’t mind keyboard control; I played on a 486 in the 90s, but I prefer the comfort of a gamepad when I play from the living room couch (my favorite gaming spot).

MeinMMO: You mentioned that you ran raid content in SWTOR for a long time with the controller. Can you tell us how your teammates reacted when you told them? Did they even notice?

Daniel: I probably kept my control to myself at the time, as I was well aware of the “PC Master Race” setup.

Only after the instances, if a conversation developed, did I “confess” to the others in the group that I was playing with a gamepad. They were usually very surprised, as you couldn’t tell.

In SWTOR, this topic never really came up, as no one expects someone to not play with a mouse and keyboard. Before the endgame (which was before the release of Rise of the Hutt Cartel), I ended up in a wonderful guild where fun was the priority. The group was called Dark Sun, led by Emperor Helron, and they were exclusively on the Empire side.

Even within the guild, I always let people see me play first before I told them that I was on the gamepad. I initially went raiding within the guild on content that most had already mastered internally. I was part of a group of “latecomers.”

Little by little, however, I was able to convince the officers in the guild that I was usable as a tank and was then invited to one of the progress groups after some time. Outside my guild, I never raided at that time. We were big enough that it was never necessary.

With the Right Tools, Everything Works

MeinMMO: To play the MMORPG SWTOR, you specifically installed an emulator. What is the name of the emulator? Can you briefly explain how exactly it works?

Daniel: I had two emulators running at the time: motionjoy and X-Padder. With motionjoy, I could assign any gamepad button either to a keyboard or a mouse button.

At the time, I assigned the directional pad and X, O, triangle, square of my DualShock 3 controller to the numbers 1 to 8 on the keyboard and assigned Alt and Control to the buttons R2 and L2. This allowed me to distribute 32 skills. WSAD were assigned to the respective axes of the left stick.

With X-Padder, I could use the right stick to move the mouse cursor and switch between mouse button pressed or not pressed with a toggle function when pressing R3, allowing me to control either the camera or the mouse with the right stick.

I aimed to cover as many buttons as possible. The idea of using Alt and Control came to me since many PlayStation games utilize L2/R2 to cover skills; Demon Stone, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect immediately come to mind.

MeinMMO: Which controller did you use? Was it your first choice, or did you have to try several before it worked out? 

Daniel: Since I came from PlayStation, my first choice was naturally the DualShock 3. Many people complain that it is too small for their needs, but I was very satisfied back then. However, I wouldn’t want to part with my PS5 controller today (laughs). Everything worked out great back then.

MeinMMO: What were the biggest challenges? 

Daniel: The biggest hurdle was moving the camera. Thanks to X-Padder and the toggle effect, this was possible.

MeinMMO: Did you have to forgo certain controls because the buttons were missing?

Daniel: Not really. Of course, I had to get a small Bluetooth keyboard to communicate in the various chat channels of the game. But I joined a guild early on that maintained a very active TeamSpeak server, so I didn’t have to use the keyboard very often.

MeinMMO: What other MMOs have you also played using the controller through the emulator? Were there any that didn’t work at all? 

Daniel: None. I switched to the re-release of Final Fantasy XIV (A Realm Reborn), and that game was designed for gamepad control. I was pleased to see that the developers had almost the same idea for gamepad controls. I felt right at home in the game. 

My wife quickly became interested in Final Fantasy as well, even though she isn’t really a gamer. So I played on the PS3 whenever she was online while I left the PC free for her.

When the PS4 version came out, I switched to that version as it was equivalent to the PC version at the time. And I found the ability to also play from the bedroom via Remote Play on the PS Vita genius.

We thank Daniel for the conversation and the explanation about the controller support in SWTOR. If you also have a unique story you would like to share with us, send us an email at [email protected]

Final Fantasy XIV: Player uses 24 accounts simultaneously, pays over 300 € a month