Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Touchscreen gaming
Raised as a usability problem by 13 people on Hacker News over 12 years (2012–2023), in 12 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Controller-designed games are hard to play without physical buttonsUnreviewed
20122026- Controller-designed games are hard to play on touchscreens: no tactile buttons, thumb overload, fingers block the screen2023-09-14
- Touch screen games lack tactile response and block the screen with thumbs2020-01-30
- Touchscreen controls for real-time games have no tactile feel, so players must look for buttons2017-03-01
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 13 complaints
- Controller-designed games are hard to play on touchscreens: no tactile buttons, thumb overload, fingers block the screen2023-09-14
- Touch screen games lack tactile response and block the screen with thumbs2020-01-30
- Touchscreen controls for real-time games have no tactile feel, so players must look for buttons2017-03-01
- Virtual controls are less intuitive than physical buttons for sustained input like holding to sprint2016-09-08
- Action games that mimic gamepad buttons on touchscreens are awful to control2016-09-08
- Touch controls lack precision and physical feedback, and fingers hide the screen2016-04-28
- Soft buttons block the view and are hard to tell apart without looking2014-08-12
- Touchscreen games require looking at the phone, so the TV-watching experience is unpleasant2014-05-17
- On-screen drawn buttons make NES games awful to control on phones2014-02-02
- Touchscreen-only input makes 3D games terrible to control2013-05-08
- Controlling 3D games with a touch screen is awkward, so the player quits after the first level2013-02-21
- On-screen controls hide much of the play area and give no tactile press feedback2012-10-10
- Players must look at the screen to hit the right button, losing attention on the game2012-03-02