Left handed gamers, do you have difficulty playing certain games?
Just curious if any left handed gamers out there have any trouble playing certain games. Most controllers are designed with right handed people in mind so I'm wondering if that can effect you in some ways.
Comments
Just on DS sometimes
One of the reasons you sold Ninja Gaiden to me?
Increasing age and a bum left eye may be contributing to my overall failure.
Wow, Bea is a lefty and she dominates NES games. Maybe I just suck at fast-paced gaming
Just on DS sometimes
One of the reasons you sold Ninja Gaiden to me?
Possibly. I'm having a hard time remembering specific instances, I just know it happens
Wow, Bea is a lefty and she dominates NES games. Maybe I just suck at fast-paced gaming
It is all the rum and the boxing. *nod nod*
And being ugly helps with it too!
So for me personally, I've never found a videogame controller to be a handicap for me. I had a much harder time learning to write on a chalkboard or whiteboard without smudging everything with my hand.
No, it's never been a problem for me at all, but I have all kinds of inconsistacies as a left handed writer. I only use scissors with my right hand. I bat left handed in baseball, throw a baseball with my left hand, yet my best sport is basketball and I have always shot right handed (except layups and hook shots I am left dominant)
So for me personally, I've never found a videogame controller to be a handicap for me. I had a much harder time learning to write on a chalkboard or whiteboard without smudging everything with my hand.
I second this.
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258513-when-joysticks-got-replaced-with-gamepads/
A brief history lesson:
Atari 2600 had joysticks actuated by the right hand and a fire button actuated by the left. Then some mid gen consoles like Coleco, Intelli, and 5200 had symmetric controllers with keypads. Then Nntendo came along and basically threw everything people had learned out the window with the Dpad operated by the left thumb. Funny because IIRC Miamoto and Iwata were both natural lefties.
In the arcades, most early late 70s and early 80s standup arcade games had a joystick in the center with a single action button on either side, allowing for ambidextrous gameplay, and many right-handed players naturally gravitated towards holding the joystick in their right hand. Some games like Pacman were even joystick only and didn't even use buttons during gameplay. Nintendo was the exception to the rule, starting with Donkey Kong being a left hand joystick that eventually set the standard for player movements being controlled by the left hand or thumb. By the time the 90s rolled around, left-hand movements and right hand actions were nearly universal, with many fighting games (Street Fighter II, et al) controlling up to six buttons with the right hand.
My general take on the subject is the dominant hand should control the input that requires the most dexterity. Having become a joystick aficionado, I am equally good playing joystick games with my left or right hand, and often switch off during long bouts of Pacman. For single button games, The joystick and the button are both a single input device. A joystick or Dpad having four switches underneath, is slightly more complex to operate. So for for golden age era arcade style games with just a joystick (Pacman) or a joystick plus one button (Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, etc...), it makes sense to have the joystick controlled by the dominant hand. By contrast, trackball games are almost universally controlled right handed due to the dexterity required. When you start adding buttons, the situation becomes blurrier.
Two or more buttons require the use of independent fingering. It is at this point additional dexterity becomes paramount at maintaining an advantage. With multiple buttons, I do not perform well at all with my left thumb or fingers. Since 83% of the population is right-handed, it makes sense that control schemes evolved from right hand use to left hand use for player movement as buttons evolved from controlling a single action to whole arrays of fighting moves. However, much like playing a musical instrument or typing on a keyboard, gaming is largely an ambidextrous affair, with equally important but different functions assigned to each hand. Ever look at a dual shock PS2/3/4 controller? They are almost perfectly symmetrical. At this late stage, whether you are naturally left-handed or right-handed, you have adjusted and trained to play a specific type of configuration, and suddenly reversing the controls at this point would likely feel very awkward.
It is a mystery why Atari is different. It would be good to ask the creator of that joystick what was going on there. We might get some insight on the issue.
I found the wii controls to be a bit difficult as a lefty especially woth the pointer but everything else on other consoles seemed to be OK.
the Wii could be used ambidextrously though
I found the wii controls to be a bit difficult as a lefty especially woth the pointer but everything else on other consoles seemed to be OK.
the Wii could be used ambidextrously though
I thought this was pretty creative of Nintendo to do this.
Funny about the Wii. When playing Mario Galaxy or Zelda, sometimes I'd grab the remote with my left hand and the nunchuck with my right. Then I'd feel really awkward and not know why for a little while; realizing that I was moving with the wrong thumb. Then I'd switch and still feel awkward for a while. Sometimes that setup was more trouble than it was worth.
Nunchuck is a good point - total disaster for a lefty. I also never used it and discounted any game that did as poor design (except the early launch Metroid if I remember correctly). Ironically though, is it so bad because we were trained to use the dpad on left (by games and systems which were likely designed with no rhyme or reason especially in regards to ergonomics)?