Southpaws and controller design

[Limewater]

IBut according to him the picking is a more involved task than it seems at first and you also need strength. Plus, think of it this way. In general your picking hand will end up going as fast or faster than the fretting hand, as you hold the same position while playing multiple notes with your picking hand.

I play myself and I'm not buying it. I mean, sure, you'll often keep the fretting hand still while playing multiple notes or strumming a chord, but the movement for playing those notes is usually simpler. Also, the range of motion to go from one string to another is usually very small, unless you're skipping two octaves or something. Comparatively, you need to do a lot more complex movement to change hand position.

Again, the right-handed guitar convention makes sense for old-style playing. But shredding, for instance, the speed and accuracy of one's fretting hand really becomes the limiting factor. Or, at least, it is the limiting factor for me. For what it's worth, Herman Li is a lefty who plays a right-handed guitar.

Trying to play with my right hand controlling movement is awkward.

It's just as awkward for me as a southpaw.

In early games, there was usually only one or two buttons. Reaction time was a factor, but the movement distance was much lower than changing direction. You may have to move your hand three inches to change direction, while you only have to move it a couple of millimeters to press "fire."

[elvis]

My left hand is more dexterous, my right is stronger.

Amusing factoids related to that sentence:

"Dexterous" comes from the Latin "dextrus", meaning "right hand". To be "dexterous" means to be "right-handed", or have the skill of the right hand. To be "ambidextrous" means to "have two right hands".

Conversely, "sinestrus" means "left handed" or "left sided". Words derived from that include "sinister", meaning "evil". In language, the left side is often referred to as weak or bad. To be a poor dancer is to "have two left feet". In French, the word for "left" also means "clumsy". Conversely in most Germanic derived languages, "right" also means "correct" or "proper".

Poor lefties... copping it harsh since the dawn of language!

Scientifically speaking, being left handed is an advantage. The reflex centre of the brain is in the right hemisphere (which controls the left side of the body). That means lefties have one less "hop" when it comes to fast reflexes, putting them at the advantage. But that doesn't stop you smudging your writing, of course.

[gtmtnbiker]

I think it all comes down to practice. About 14 years ago, I switched to using my left hand to control the mouse. The idea was to exercise the other hand and use it more as a way to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. So I feel that I'm pretty good using the left hand for the mouse and actually prefer it.

With video game controls, I suspect that everyone relatively sucked the first few times when you used the controls. For most of us, it happened so long ago (when we were little kids) that we don't really remember struggling with it.

I do remember struggling with the Xbox controls and Halo the first few times when I played the game 6-7 years ago. Up until that time, I was on a hiatus (12 years or so) from video games. Plus, FPS controls were new to me and it took some getting used to. In addition, this was my friend's system and I would occasionally play on it (more like rarely since he lived in a different state).

When playing pool, I prefer the stick on the right but for certain shots, I make an effort to shoot on the left side so that I can avoid using the bridge. It was awkward at first but enough practice, it will become second nature.

[Curlypaul]

How about the wii remote?
Its perfectly ambidextrous but Miyamoto claims that lefties use it the same way round as righties. Does anyone here hold the nunchuck in their right hand?

[opticledilusi0n]

I hold the nunchuck in my right hand

and I am a lefty

I don't have the accuracy when pointing with the right hand

[Curlypaul]

There you go then, Miyamoto knows shit

[Limewater]

I also hold the nunchuck in my right hand. I've only used a Wii a few times, though, and have only had one occasion to use the nunchuck.

I do mouse with my right hand, though, since I was the only lefty in my family, it was too much trouble to move the mouse and reverse the buttons every time I wanted to use it, and we had a right-handed mouse anyway. Now it seems unnatural to use my left hand. I even use my right hand for touchpads and the trackpoint on the laptop I'm using right now.

[Luke]

Well, here's something you guys don't know about me:
I don't have fingers on my left hand.

I still play classical piano, play guitar, played hockey on the NCAA level (yeah, it was only ECU, but it counts), type faster than most of my friends, and have always had great luck with women (those who have seen the pic of my wife would agree).

I've never had a problem with any control design except for the Wii. I was lucky enough to get a Wii for Christmas the year it was released along with a copy of Red Steel. I thought, from what I had seen advertised, that the Wii-mote was the controller, and the nunchuck was just something you could add on if you wanted. I had no idea I would be using the nunchuck in almost every title that I would be buying. Well, I couldn't play Steel to save my life. Out of frustration, I returned the opened game and exchanged it for Excite Truck. I thought about returning the Wii as well, but if you know me, you know I'm not one to give up. I finish what I start, even shitty books. I've designed a few attachments for the nunchuck that allows me to play any of the Wii titles. Of course, there is some limit to the mobility of the nunchuck, but it still works.
So for all the lefties out there complaining about controllers for the southpaws, put that in your pipe and smoke it (well, except for RyaN, I'm sure he already has something in his pipe to smoke).

[MrPopo]

Well, here's something you guys don't know about me:
I don't have fingers on my left hand.

Pics or it didn't happen (plus I like seeing gross stuff like that).

[crux]

I think people are giving a tad too much credence to the idea of hand dominance. It exists, of course, and can make a difference, but using the directional pad or analogue stick is not something that requires such precision as to make the hand used a major factor. I think people are more ambidextrous than they give themselves credit for.

My mother told me once that I began showing preference for my left hand, but that my father believed it was a right-handed world and forced me to use my right hand. I didn't know my father and only met him shortly before he died, so I never got a chance to verify that craziness, but it would explain my terrible handwriting. It's gotten so terrible in the seven years since finishing high school and relying on computers so heavily that I often have to erase a word and rewrite it just to make sense of my own notes. I throw like a pansy with my left hand, though.

As a tangent, I have no dominance with my eyes. If I'm forced to pick a side it tends to be my right eye, but otherwise I always end up aiming square between each eye. It's a bit of a disadvantage when aiming, as I'm forced to close one eye, but using binocular microscopes is a cinch.