Adventures In Left-Handed Mousing

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The Tech Report has an article posted today on left-handed mousing (not to be confused with "one-handed" web browsing). ;)

The thing is, I don't have to be as good with my left hand. The more time I spend dual-wielding, the more I like the approach. I'm getting used to shifting high-priority tasks to my right hand and more casual mousing to my left. So far, I've been able to lighten the load on my shoulder without completely compromising my productivity.
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I'm ambidextrous so I can use the mouse with either hand. I prefer the left hand when gaming because then I can use the numeric keypad for all of my game controls.
 
I've taken for granted how it is nice being left handed in this computer age.
 
I am in the same place. I switched to left hand mousing because of RSI years ago. Eventually I started having RSI issues on the left side.

Now I have dual mice (right and left) on my desktop and switch between them all the time subconsciously and no more RSI issues.

I prefer swapping the buttons for left hand, so I just rewired the mouse buttons since Windows doesn't really support this well.
 
people being oblivious to your one handed browsing comment is just cracking me up! hey its friday afternoon, who has my beer?
 
One thing that sucks about being a "true" lefty (because many lefties play with a KB on left, Mouse on Right), is virtually every game requires rebinding of keys, many (50%+) have keys that cannot be bound where I like to use them (ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn/[/]/;/' are common offenders), and some (15-25%?) titles have absolutely zero options to rebind keys. Not to mention when random game updates reset your controls (Chivalry did this to me 3 times, in recent memory).
 
I like to sit on my hands until they fall asleep, and then game, so it feels like I'm controlling it with my mind.
 
I've just emailed him because I think he's making a mistake. I did what he did a decade ago (except I switched from left to right) but it failed: I got twinges in my right hand. So I switched to a trackball and it's been bliss ever since. So I've suggested he learn from my experience and go straight to the trackball.
 
I learned left-handed mousing a little while back.

Thing is, I hate lefties with a passion, and I have no friends. So sometimes I game with myself in front of a mirror for company and use my left hand so that the other player appears to be a normal attractive person and not a freak of nature using the wrong hand. Its just challenging having to remind yourself not to look down and notice you're using your left hand, otherwise the person in the mirror won't stop berating you for being a deviant. Not that I should care what he thinks; probably some douchebag with no friends.
 
more than 20 years ago I started computing ... but there was no space for a mouse on the right side of the computer .. so I learned to use it on the left.

It feels natural save for trying to draw with the mouse and trying to find a left handed mouse.

A person ends up being limited to a uni-body mouse like the Logitech g300 that I am still using. But I do prefer buttons on the side vs on the top.
 
Being right handed and suffering nerve issues in my right arm I had to switch to left hand as my arm and hand are completely useless. I don't even bother switching the buttons as I do a lot of troubleshooting at work on other peoples workstations and don't want to have to keep changing their settings. Took me about two weeks to be fully comfortable and able to do fine mouse work. Helps to switch when you can't even move your right hand so you HAVE to use the left only.

Sucks I can't play any fps games anymore :(.
 
damicatz said:
I'm ambidextrous so I can use the mouse with either hand. I prefer the left hand when gaming because then I can use the numeric keypad for all of my game controls.
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I'm mouse ambidextrous for exactly the same reason. I saw my left handed cousin play quake3 and using the numpad seemed like the most logical thing to do.

weebling1 said:
My last Logitech LX8 died recently (lotsa buttons, laser, wireless) and I have yet to find a good lefty replacement. Currently using a Razer Taipan, but the side buttons are narrow and placed on a sharp edge, whole mouse is not as tall, and it's wired :(

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZH7E5M...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2wr3imxkss_b
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Try this http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Kryp...&qid=1383359499&sr=8-1&keywords=aivia+krypton

It's an ambidextrous mouse, I really like it.
 
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lilbabycat said:
One thing that sucks about being a "true" lefty (because many lefties play with a KB on left, Mouse on Right), is virtually every game requires rebinding of keys, many (50%+) have keys that cannot be bound where I like to use them (ins/del/home/end/pgup/pgdn/[/]/;/' are common offenders), and some (15-25%?) titles have absolutely zero options to rebind keys. Not to mention when random game updates reset your controls (Chivalry did this to me 3 times, in recent memory).
Click to expand...
Happens in flash-based webgames as well. When I see a game that only allows WASD--no way. Not playing it. To me, that's just laziness on the game dev (in the same way that presuming that Opera is a cellphone/tablet only browser is lazy for web devs).
 
Years ago, 8+ hours of computer/network admin/support + several more of home use/gaming led to RSI issues in my right wrist and elbow. I am normally right handed. Switched to right hand trackball at work and left hand mouse for home/gaming. After several weeks of cussing, the left hand mousing became natural and is now my preferred style. I use a basic Logitech M310 wireless as I use a light touch on the mouse and the drag of a wire is bothersome. RSI issues went away unless I spend too much time on some game that is keyboard only movement. I have found that 'click to move' games let me relax enough between clicks to avoid RSI issues.
 
i've been dual wielding for like 10 years now... mostly just because my hands hurt from heavy kb/m usage so it load balances the repetitive stress and carpel tunnel :p
 
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