lefties... the switch yes /no /maybe?

hello left handed people


i was hoping to get some input (pun??) from y'all, due to any number of reason I have used a right handed set up for ever... however I've never been entirely happy with it, also as a left handed person I kinda don't like bowing to "righty" so i try to get left handed equipment when possible in most things in life...just on the pc working with so many daily it would have been a drag switching them around.


if you are left handed and have made the switch once you get use to it is it much more natural for you?...is it just too much of a bother? did you realize...holy sh*t i'm pwning moar noobs than evar now?


anyways experiences thoughts equipment recommendations for the left hander looking for a proper Left Handed desktop experience.


do you have a left handed keyboard also?...they seem to exist but not in all the great variety..

I'm a righty by sometimes I'll play left-handed just to make it feel like someone else

well i've found the first big snag

using a old ambidextrous intellimouse and a right handed ergo keyboard...

keyboard shortcuts require coming off the mouse ... firefox doesn't seem to allow customizing shortcuts out of the box but a addon enables doing so.

it seems likely after 20minutes of experimentation a lefthanded keyboard would probably be required for optimal usage of the left handed setup.

hmmmm

being a leftie has the advantage that you can control your mouse with your right hand and still work your joystick with your dominant left hand.

hmm looked a some lefty keyboards they ain't going to solve the shortcut problem

you'd have to remap or resign yourself to lifting left hand off mouse to use the shortcuts.


crap..you god d***ed right handed people are a pain in the a$$

atarione said:

crap..you god d***ed right handed people are a pain in the a$$

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Don't blame us; you're the one with the weird brain.

I'm left handed, but I can not use left-handed devices to save my life.

if i'm honest

trying it out hasn't gone the most smoothly.... since i've got 20yrs or so of being use to computing like a right handed simpleton the mechanical memory alone is problematic trying to switch

and on top of that since i'm a heavy shortcut key user that is a huge pain in the ass going left handed.

I guess it will be hard to say if when i first started using computers if i had gone left handed from the get go if i'd "pwn more noobs" but at this point it might be a bit late to try to switch.

much like with guitars (only worse) there isn't much selection of lefty gear anyways... hmm.. not giving up on the idea entirely yet..but it isn't off to a promising start.

I write with my left hand but do everything else with my right hand.

I'm left handed too... But never felt the need to go left handed on anything (instruments, sports, anything) because usually it's a huge PITA to get anything left handed while right handed stuff is readily avavilible. So I just used right handed stuff and got used to it, and now left handed anything feels weird and unusable! I see it that in games I have more dexterity on my left (keyboard) hand so movement is better...or something

The one exception is wacom tablets, because of the pen I use them left handed. You could use something like that as a mouse replacement I suppose. One of my friends plays starcraft with it too.

I am extremely left hand dominant. Lefties had a big advantage in old school arcade games. All you needed your right hand for was button mashing while the dominant hand controls the joystick. Same applied to older d-pad based games which is why I rocked at punch out and ninja gaiden.

In computer gaming, the hardest part has always been finding high-end left handed joysticks. As a kid I had to content myself with hand neutral low button count sticks and that led me to quit playing combat flight sims after a while.

The next biggest challenge was the number pad, which I hate using, and have trouble using, right handed. Using the left hand alphabet keys just as bad because they do not properly align.

I can use, and do use, a right handed mouse. It's decent for web browsing but my fine motor control is awful (I have lost so many games of mine sweeper from that!) and provides a good supplemental excuse for me to not play FPS games.

atarione said:

if i'm honest

trying it out hasn't gone the most smoothly.... since i've got 20yrs or so of being use to computing like a right handed simpleton the mechanical memory alone is problematic trying to switch

and on top of that since i'm a heavy shortcut key user that is a huge pain in the ass going left handed.

I guess it will be hard to say if when i first started using computers if i had gone left handed from the get go if i'd "pwn more noobs" but at this point it might be a bit late to try to switch.

much like with guitars (only worse) there isn't much selection of lefty gear anyways... hmm.. not giving up on the idea entirely yet..but it isn't off to a promising start.

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I am right handed so I know this is not nearly as big a switch but I have completely changed keyboard layouts 4 times in my life for gaming. Yes it is hard but if there is an advantage you will get better at it in less time than you think If you stick too it. I also retrained myself how to type properly after pecking. Alot of people make a really big deal out of breaking habits and just will not do it. But if there is an advantage which their should be for you it is worth it. The worst case you are better than everyone else because you can plop down on a right handed set up and fly without much thought that will stick with you for years or for ever if you do it regularly. So my point is stick with it you will get it and it will be good for you I think.

I doubt very many people are too dominant with one hand or the other given a task that is completely new. But, no task is entirely new.

If you were forced to write right-handed, like lots of people were, you would go your whole life thinking you are right handed. Chances are you picked up stuff with your left hand a few times, had parents that let you be lefty, and you were branded a lefty.

Are you really a lefty or are you a righty that has done everything with your left hand for your entire life??

To become significantly left-handed you basically tie your right hand behind your back and never use it. No one is born genetically 'significantly' left handed or right handed. A decade of using a right handed mouse will make you significantly right-handed when it comes to using a computer. In this case using your right hand will probably end in better results even years down the road. The years it will take your left hand to catch up could have been used to increase your ability to use a mouse right handed.

There should be no one using left handed mice unless they have some sort of disability or cause they were dumb and started using a left handed mouse to begin with.

Stick with a right handed setup. Just getting your left-hand to be were your right hand is will take a very very long time. A better question may be if you should start writing right-handed. If the right side of your body is significantly worse than the left side your body you probably had a stroke.

When it comes to computers, you either have your mouse on the right side of the keyboard, or the wrong side.

lol.. a couple of these last replies are hilarious.


I'm quite left handed (and PROUD to be) I also kick a ball w/ my left foot ..my left eye is strongly dominate ..just natural born lefty as is my mom and as was her Dad.

I have no desire to write right handed ...and very limited ability to do so. I can't shoot right handed (and would would actually be very reluctant to try for fear of injuring myself or others. pretty much if you can do it left handed I do..the one and only exception is with the computer where my first experiences had right handed set ups.. and at school everything was set for right handed people..so i just got use to it.

I'm going to stick with the "experiment" for awhile and see how it develops.

ambidextrous here so... I game as a righty but every day typing as a lefty.

At least I write left handed so I'm in my right mind.

so mouse control is awesome lefthanded...

hmm however keyboard usage in gaming right handed is pooor... I'm actually sort of wondering if you right handed bastards kinda f*ck yourselves with the right hand mouse thing.. cause dominate hand on the keyboard seems to have some significant gaming upsides

I think that would heavily depend on the game. Certainly most FPS games would favor the better hand on the mouse but some RTS games might be better if the right hand is on the keyboard.

DeathPrincess said:

I'm left handed too... But never felt the need to go left handed on anything (instruments, sports, anything) because usually it's a huge PITA to get anything left handed while right handed stuff is readily avavilible.

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I actually hit into this when I was golfing back in high school. What happened was I basically ended up learning to golf right handed, until my instructor found out I was left handed and dug out an old left handed set that had been sitting around. Everything sucked until I found out I putt better left handed than right handed. So now I have a full set of right handed clubs and a lefty putter.

Teenyman45 said:

The next biggest challenge was the number pad, which I hate using, and have trouble using, right handed. Using the left hand alphabet keys just as bad because they do not properly align.

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This was actually a huge plus when I had to do sales with Peachtree Accounting. Swapped mouse to my left hand so I could click around in the process payment window and use my right hand to type in numbers. Typing in product codes in the rest of the window was a non-factor since I didn't use my mouse at all outside of payments once I learned all the keyboard shortcuts.

That said, as a lefty, I do use a right handed mouse. Pretty much 99.9% of computers I use have a right handed orientation (minus the Peachtree computer I mentioned above ) so why bother? I don't feel particularly impeded by it. More power to the OP tho for stepping out of his comfort zone and trying something new!

atarione said:

so mouse control is awesome lefthanded...

hmm however keyboard usage in gaming right handed is pooor... I'm actually sort of wondering if you right handed bastards kinda f*ck yourselves with the right hand mouse thing.. cause dominate hand on the keyboard seems to have some significant gaming upsides

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If your mouse control with your left-hand is already better than with your right hand maybe you had a stroke that you did not know of? You said you had how many years playing right handed?

What games are you attempting to play left-handed?

If you really wanted to do this then why even ask in this thread? Most lefties that don't have the urge to be different, or aren't searching for hope that their lack of gaming skill has an easy fix fault, will tell you that it is not worth it.

meh.. i play fps (left 4 dead/ L4D2 , counterstrike..TF2..etc)

I asked cause I was curious to see if other left handed people found advantages switching to a left handed mouse.

I don't give a goodly god d*mn about being different, but I don't also don't intend to 'adapt' to right handed ways of doing things just for the sake of convenience..

also ... nice dig at the end... i've been gaming for a long ass time.. I'm generally at the top couple places on scoreboard in games..so yeah not trying to fix a lack of n00b pwning skillz... just interested in trying out the left handed set up and seeing if it is better for me.

If you have been gaming for a long time there is no way your left hand caught up that fast. Don't get your hopes up and think it will. That's like some one switching to writing right-handed and saying it took a week cause they are that much of a righty. It's just going to take a while and have very little, if any advantages. And many disadvantages especially for some games. Your not adapting to being right cause its the easier path, you are doing it because its probably going to be better in the long run and the short run. If you are trying to get better your time is better spent elsewhere.