Left Handed Gaming

[Marvin.Star]

Hey guys, the primary purpose for this thread is to pose a question but hey feel free to post anything even remotely related to left handed gaming!

So here is the issue: I am working on a game, my team and I were discussing some of the controls, specifically the key bindings, when one of them mentioned having a left handed key bind setup. I had not considered this because the only left handed gamers I know use all the same controls as I do on consoles and PC. I am wondering from the perspective of a left handed player and from the perspective of developers, should we have a specific left handed key bind structure? Do you left handed gamers often change the hotkeys for games to suit your needs? If so which keys do you prefer? For example our game uses WASD and 1,2,3. What would be the left handed variant of this?

teehee... silly monkey, he thinks he's people

[Skjalg]

I remember being good friends with one of Norways best quake players back when quake 3 had just come out. He was left handed and played with the arrow keys (right hand) and the mouse (left hand). He used the right cltr+shift and keypad extensively as well in other games that required more keys.

[dux]

I'm right handed and use the arrow keys. Being whatever handed makes screw all difference. Why, do you ask? BECAUSE CONSOLE GAMEPADS ARE UNIHAND! trotrotlrtorl

Que disagreement with this comment.

[Taylor]

Also, I really don't think it matters. People with the mouse in their right hand can still use WASD, cursor keys, numpad or whatever just fine. The main attraction of WASD is there's so many more keys over there.

[PogoP]

I am a lefty and use the arrow keys. I find it annoying every time I play a game that I have to re-bind everything to be based around the arrow keys, mainly just because there are less keys around the arrow keys than there are around WASD.

My reasoning for using the arrow keys makes sense... As a kid, I thought, oh I wanna move left, I'll press that left arrow there on my keyboard. Who in their right mind would think, I wanna move left, I'll press A!

[mjens]

There was no helping for left handing in video games when I was young and I got used to it. I don't need to change anything in binds, they are all fine on any platforms. I was playing Q3A on WSAD and I had no problems with getting all the weapon binds and even some "say " shit near my right hand.

I know a guy that is playing on IJKL instead of WSAD but he's a freak anyway. Don't bother with left handed binds

[Marvin.Star]

Appreciate the feedback everyone, evidently some differing opinions, but it appears that some gamers do care.

I am a lefty and use the arrow keys. I find it annoying every time I play a game that I have to re-bind everything to be based around the arrow keys, mainly just because there are less keys around the arrow keys than there are around WASD.

My reasoning for using the arrow keys makes sense... As a kid, I thought, oh I wanna move left, I'll press that left arrow there on my keyboard. Who in their right mind would think, I wanna move left, I'll press A!

Pogo, you specifically mention disliking having to re-bind keys, we do intend to have the arrow keys function properly by default, but if I said you have three skills to use what hotkeys would you rather use to activate them? My best guess might be the Right CTRL, keypad 0(zero), and keypad 1?

[Marvin.Star]

I'm right handed and use the arrow keys. Being whatever handed makes screw all difference. Why, do you ask? BECAUSE CONSOLE GAMEPADS ARE UNIHAND! trotrotlrtorl

Que disagreement with this comment.

What would your hotkeys of choice be if you had three or four skills to assign hotkeys to?

[Jake Gilla]

Pogo, you specifically mention disliking having to re-bind keys, we do intend to have the arrow keys function properly by default, but if I said you have three skills to use what hotkeys would you rather use to activate them? My best guess might be the Right CTRL, keypad 0(zero), and keypad 1?

Sucks for any lefty's on laptops.

[dux]

I'm right handed and use the arrow keys. Being whatever handed makes screw all difference. Why, do you ask? BECAUSE CONSOLE GAMEPADS ARE UNIHAND! trotrotlrtorl

Que disagreement with this comment.

What would your hotkeys of choice be if you had three or four skills to assign hotkeys to?

I use ctrl, shift, enter, ~ @ : }{ / . , delete end insert pgup pgdown and the numpad. Plenty of available keys.

[PogoP]

Here are the binds I use for most FPS games if they have these commands.

Ctrl - Crouch

Shift - Jump

Enter - Sometimes as the 'use' button, used it for wall walk in AVP2 recently.

Del - Sprint or melee attack etc.

End - Flashlight/Map.

Page Down - Reload

I also use Insert, Home, and Page Up. 0, 1 and 4 are handy on the num pad too actually.

[Skacky]

I'm left handed too, I use the mouse with my left hand and I also use the arrow keys.

Some of my binds if you're interested:

RCTRL: Jump (I used MOUSE2 to jump in Natural Selection)

RSHIFT: Run/Walk (depends)

ENTER: Use

MOUSE3: Reload

': Lean left

\: Lean right

/: Crouch

DEL/HOME etc: Inventory or that kind of stuff.

[Thrik]

I'm right handed and I tend to use the arrow keys out of sheer habit. Unless it's a game that makes use of like five buttons it really annoys me when I can't completely customise the controls to suit my convoluted life-long habit of putting certain functions on certain buttons, and puts me off playing it altogether.

[PogoP]

I remember when Dead Space was first released, you couldn't rebind the keys from WASD to anything else. I felt like an absolute retard playing that game.

[Marvin.Star]

Thanks a ton guys, and don't worry we'll be sure to let you rebind keys !

I remember when Dead Space came out, I played it on 360 where it was meant to be played!!