Submitted by salimiles
We can, and should, support alternative inputs (Joystick & Gamepad) as game controls to make our game more accessible.

This provides a couple of additional challenges beyond mouse-less input (bug 3258079):
1)  There are a limited number of "buttons" so context sensitivity is a must
2)  Some sort of alternative text-entry system is needed
3)  It needs to be turned on/off (e.g. rb908) as some laptops have an "internal" joystick setting

So yeah, probably should be addressed after reorganizing the context-sensitive input (bug 3258046).

Posted by salimiles
It should be noted that I wrote a large number of patches which basically filled this request -- however they were rejected.

The reason for the rejection seems to be that they extended the existing input system rather than rewriting and simplifying, e.g. bug 3258046.