Left-Handed Keymapping

[Mr Blobby]

So, I'm currently doing the utter pain in the arse which is the 'shifting of PCs' - which means having to re-install many, many PC games [amongst other things]. Which means in my case, having to re-do all the default keymapping. Sometimes this is easy enough to do [though is a pain], but not on say Mass Effect; have to screw around with the .ini to accept the main cluster to be around the arrow keys rather than WASD [which it doesn't allow normally].

I'm just curious; am I in the minority of lefties who a) use the mouse in the left and b) constantly has to fight with the damn keymapping?

[Rodin]

So, I'm currently doing the utter pain in the arse which is the 'shifting of PCs' - which means having to re-install many, many PC games [amongst other things]. Which means in my case, having to re-do all the default keymapping. Sometimes this is easy enough to do [though is a pain], but not on say Mass Effect; have to screw around with the .ini to accept the main cluster to be around the arrow keys rather than WASD [which it doesn't allow normally].

I'm just curious; am I in the minority of lefties who a) use the mouse in the left and b) constantly has to fight with the damn keymapping?

I've only ever known one person who used the mouse with their left hand, so I'd think so. I'm a lefty and I've always used a right-hand mouse, but then again I'm pretty close to ambidextrous anyway. The only thing I do exclusively left-handed is handwriting.

[Sian]

not nearly the same, but when I can get away with it (and its not much of a hassle), I prefer changing the keymapping from WASD to ESDF, to give me a couple buttons on the left.

[Seerow]

I've only ever known one person who used the mouse with their left hand, so I'd think so. I'm a lefty and I've always used a right-hand mouse, but then again I'm pretty close to ambidextrous anyway. The only thing I do exclusively left-handed is handwriting.

Pretty much this. I'm nowhere near close to ambidextrious, but I am a lefty who has always used my right hand for the mouse. I've had one or two people in the past look at me funny for it, but it just seems like the way things are done *shrug*.

[factotum]

I'm a lefty and I've always used a right-hand mouse, but then again I'm pretty close to ambidextrous anyway. The only thing I do exclusively left-handed is handwriting.

Ditto. I write left-handed, but eat right-handed (e.g. knife in right hand) and use a mouse right-handed. I *can* use the mouse left-handed if I want to, but rarely see a reason to do so. I wonder how much of that is down to training? I always used a mouse right-handed and thus it seems natural to me now to do so--maybe if I'd started out using one left-handed that wouldn't be the case.

[Mr Blobby]

It might be down to just how strongly you're a lefty; I do everything left, from firearms to guitar - with the exception of the mouse buttons - I put this down to the fact I first encountered them at school, and thus was stuck with the defaut settings. Dunno how the mouse thing happened; the only other lefty I know who does the same is my nephew, which is easily explained: I set up his first computer and obviously left it on that side. *smiles*

[JediSoth]

I've recently been griping about this a lot. Normally, it's just a minor inconvenience to have to remap keys, but it actually breaks the interface in Mass Effect 3 and Fallout 4 if you remap certain keys. So, now I have to resort to work around or retrain myself to play the game in a different way than I'm used to. Or, I can live with the restrictions and miss out on part of the game (I couldn't actually use the galaxy map in ME3 with the keybindings I used for ME and ME2, so I had to relearn how to play with new keybindings, and I can't easily move around in Workshop Mode in FO4 with the same key bindings I've used for Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, and Fallout: NV).

Naturally, every developer I've tried to contact on the issue has been silent. Obviously, it's easier to just ignore the small percentage of lefties playing their games than try to accommodate us. Personally, when it comes to PC game development, it smacks of laziness.

[Gandariel]

I think I'm more towards ambidexterity:

I write, play tennis (and table tennis) with my left hand, and I have the "goofy" snowboard/skateboard stance (right foot forward), which is typical of lefties.

OTOH, I play the violin and use computers like right handed people and my main hand at basketball is the right one.

Anyways, I never bothered switching everything and I've always used computers like right handed people.