Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog

So Microsoft released a Windows 7 Beta last weeked with the touch screen operating system for which a mouse is not required. ( I won’t be testing it..  😦 )

It also has a multitouch  feature, meaning you can use more then one finger!

So imagine playing Wow on a touch screen…………….

Imagining over?

Firstly Next to my desk would be a box of screen wipes to remove my fingermarks from the screen that would obscure my graphics.

Secondly while playing wow both my hands are just about continuously occupied. One on the mouse for movement, one the keyboard. Could this be replicated on a touch screen?

I’m not convinced that our current computer desk/chair /keyboard /mouse ergonomic set up  could be adapted  to using a touch screen while gaming, at least for playing wow.

The 1st picture would see you getting neck problems  as you would be looking down at the screen contantly, and the second would see your arms and shoulders getting  strained as you constantly reached out to the screen.

I think how we sit at our computers would need to drastically change for extended use of flat screens,  not just for gaming where you are more likely to remain stationary.  I think that the touch screen would be better used while leaning back to take strain off our shoulders, and arms,  and the screen postioned close enough so that our elbows are supported close enough to the body, or even with elbow cushioning  so we have free range of movement  to use the screen.

I like the idea of touch screens.  I use duel screens at home and at work juggleing multiple applications and imaged documents between screens using a mouse. The idea of being able to use both my hands to drag and drop and move and target, open and close things makes me very interested in the idea of using a touch screen.

Now relating this back to how I see someone gaming, or playing wow more specifically using a touch screen, even with the ergonomics of how we would use the screen fixed, Would pressing the location of the boss be quicker then using a  keyboard shortcut to target him?

I doubt it.

Would pressing a button on the screen that would be binded to an action be faster then holding down Alt – and what ever key you use?

I doubt that also

 You would have to use alot more visual buttons for functions on the touch screen. Granted you would also probably have a bigger screen too, but alot more buttons and actions would be visable to confuse you.

Would moving on screen be faster then using a mouse? I’d say no. You would still need to have one hand on screen ready for quick movement, using click to move isn’t ideal, and its a waste of a hand on the touchscreen.

BUT

Like it takes time to adjust to new keybindings – I think that we would adjust to a touch screen just as easily,  if you consider that though  the screen might be larger,  doesn’t mean that the game screen needs to be as big as the physical viewing area,  the screen itself could have an oversized mouse tracking pad, and a onscreen keyboard – so we actually don’t lose any bindings, or functionality,  just that the keyboard and mouse as  a seperate entitys becomes redundant.

As unless we want 300 seperate buttons on a screen for functions I think the mouse and keyboard as information input devices still have a long future a head of them, if not as seperate objects then at least graphically represented on a touch screen for the same function.