Grelite
Well-Known Member
So, I'm left-handed and I've grown up using the mouse with my left hand. I don't use left-handed settings (mirrored button functions), but I do always need a symmetrical mouse.
Why am I posting this here? Well, some time ago some students were trying to advertise a LAN-party for students at the Beta faculty of my University. They had set up some systems you could play a game that they were developing and I had to confront them because they only had asymmetrical mouses set up. The person I addressed about this realized he had never thought about this left-handed problem I was facing. This made me think about the differences between left-handed and right-handed gamers and/or pc-users in general.
During my years playing games and watching gamers there are certain things I have noticed about right- vs. left-handed gamers. Now, in games like tennis, left-handed players have a certain advantage in pulling off motions the opponent doesn't expect (because (s)he is used to playing against right-handed people), but would this apply in gaming? There might be. For instance, most right-handed gamers, when controlling and avatar, prefer going counter-clockwise when turning around, whilst left-handed gamers turn clockwise. (Or was it the other way around?)
A bigger difference concerns the positioning of the hands. With your left hand on the mouse and your right hand on the keyboard there are certain things that come into play. Say you're playing an FPS. You have your right hand mainly on the WASD-keys and have to weirdly bend my thumb onto the spacebar (how do I not have RSI, right?). But, this does mean that I can use my pinky to hit a lot of buttons on the right (I also have pretty long fingers and play the piano giving me that little extra dexterity).
I also don't like using the numpad, because it's so far away from where my hands usually are. For the longest time I'd never understood why anyone would use the numpad, until I realized that was because I am left-handed.
I just wanted to share these thoughts because I thought they were somewhat interesting. Something to think about. What do you think? Are you left-handed also, and/or what comes up when you think about this?
Why am I posting this here? Well, some time ago some students were trying to advertise a LAN-party for students at the Beta faculty of my University. They had set up some systems you could play a game that they were developing and I had to confront them because they only had asymmetrical mouses set up. The person I addressed about this realized he had never thought about this left-handed problem I was facing. This made me think about the differences between left-handed and right-handed gamers and/or pc-users in general.
During my years playing games and watching gamers there are certain things I have noticed about right- vs. left-handed gamers. Now, in games like tennis, left-handed players have a certain advantage in pulling off motions the opponent doesn't expect (because (s)he is used to playing against right-handed people), but would this apply in gaming? There might be. For instance, most right-handed gamers, when controlling and avatar, prefer going counter-clockwise when turning around, whilst left-handed gamers turn clockwise. (Or was it the other way around?)
A bigger difference concerns the positioning of the hands. With your left hand on the mouse and your right hand on the keyboard there are certain things that come into play. Say you're playing an FPS. You have your right hand mainly on the WASD-keys and have to weirdly bend my thumb onto the spacebar (how do I not have RSI, right?). But, this does mean that I can use my pinky to hit a lot of buttons on the right (I also have pretty long fingers and play the piano giving me that little extra dexterity).
I also don't like using the numpad, because it's so far away from where my hands usually are. For the longest time I'd never understood why anyone would use the numpad, until I realized that was because I am left-handed.
I just wanted to share these thoughts because I thought they were somewhat interesting. Something to think about. What do you think? Are you left-handed also, and/or what comes up when you think about this?
