- Joined
- Dec 17, 2019
Alright, get ready because I am about to educate you on this shit.
Traditional analog joysticks work on the basis of using a two axis potentiometer. The said potentiometer works on the basis of rubbing two metal plates together, which leads to differnces in resistance, which are then read as values of the position of the X and Y axis and then they are interpreted by the game as movement. And because they work on this basis, with time the material deteriorates and the readouts start to be skewed, leading to the drift. That's also you felt like you were "scraping" against something.
If you were to buy a brand new Xbox controller, plug it into your PC and see the exact readout of the analog sticks, you would notice that even that has unwanted readouts. Hence every single game actually has a built-in deadzone that compensates at least for that, otherwise your camera and movement would drift even on a brand new controller. Postal 2 has a configurable deadzone, and you can turn it all the way down disabling it, and you will experience drift on a brand new controller. Also the Xbox controller has something of a slight wobble, however it does send an input, but then again, all games have a deadzone. I am assuming that the JoyCons have the exact same values, and the devs also implement software deadzones to nullify them, since that's the nature of analog sticks.
Now, the Hall effect sticks work on a different principle. The only real physical mechanism you have in the stick is only there for it to act like an analog stick should. Because the actual electronics that do the readout use what is known as Hall effect, which allows you to read differences in voltage caused by magnetic fields. Yes, it uses fucking magnets to work. And because it uses magnets, there is no wear and tear of the actual mechanism that does the readout, which is why the stick will never drift. And it's also why you don't feel any "scraping", as you only feel the mechanism meant to force the stick back in the upright position.
And why aren't these Hall effect sticks an industry standard? Simple. They are more expensive, and Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo already make the hardware at a cost, and also they develop the drift, therefore you are more compelled to buy a new controller later on, which fuels the hardware sales.
