What is it like being a left handed gamer?

I want to know what it is like being a left handed gamer.  I have a friend who never got into video games at all because he could never get use to playing video games.

What is your take on being a left handed gamer?

I feel no difference on a controller, but ive been playing games for a long time now. And playing on the Wii is easy cause you can switch what hand your using in most games.

Pretty much the same as being a right handed gamer, as far as I can tell. Except when it comes to peripherals, then things could possibly get awkward. But very unlikely. I mean, I play guitar hero standard, even though I play real guitar lefty. It's not too big of a deal.

No difference; however with my left hand being my dominate hand when pressing a button quickly like in God of War to perform an execute i had to slam O i would turn the controller and use my pointer finger on my left hand instead. My right hand could do it, was just easier with my left. For DS games a stylus heavy  game will not be  favorable to me if it doesn't have a lefty option.

But otherwise nothing really; I use a computer "righty" and I am comfortable with that but I guess learning in the 2nd grade or whatever to use a computer that made it easy for me.

I think the only downside is my hand writing sucks and I blame it on being a lefty.

One thing that comes from being left handed is the ability to adapt to a righty's world. Because we are forced to on a daily basis. Like with everything else, it's just a matter of practice. Playing games isn't much different for the left handed, though.

No difference. Especially since most leftys, even though they write with their left hand, use controllers and peripherals in the standard ways. I use the mouse with my right hand. I hold the Wiimote in the right hand. I have no problems whatsoever placing headshots on analog stick FPS. Only on the DS you need lefty controls - And 99% of DS games offer those.

I never understood the whole left-handed thing in games.

I'm left handed, and it's never made any difference to me which side movement/buttons were on, it's not like writing, both thumbs have to be able to move with the same amount of precision anyways in order to both move and aim efficiently.

That being said, i've always found movement more natural with WASD/left stick, and looking more natural on the mouse/right stick. I used to be able to switch, but too many years of this same set up means if I try to play goldeneye/turok with the other setting I end up looking into the sky. But thats cos i've been doing it this way, well, forever, not because i'm left handed.

That said i'm somewhat ambidextrous, the only thing I do exclusively with my left hand is write.

For the DS and Wii on the other hand, it's a fucking nightmare. The DS, doesnt matter which hand the stylus is in, usually it impedes gameplay, unless it's a game that mostly uses the stylus, in which case the only two games i've seen which played book-style, both offered a left handed option (Ninja Gaiden and Hotel Dusk) which I was very grateful for.

The Wii is a different beast, I need 2 left hands in order to play something like Trauma Center because it governs direction and writing for me, so i'm kinda fucked with games like that, but if all the right has to do with the remote is point at things it's great, anything more complex and I have to switch hands, which means if the nunchuck is performing a vital operation, i'm screwed.

I play light gun games with my right hand as well, oddly, although i'm a lefty I cannot shoot with my left hand.

I guess all left handed people don't need to go to Catholic school.  My cousin was sent to Catholic school because he is left handed.  Not because my family thinks the left hand is evil, just a good habit to get out of.

" I guess all left handed people don't need to go to Catholic school.  My cousin was sent to Catholic school because he is left handed.  Not because my family thinks the left hand is evil, just a good habit to get out of. "

The only problem I have as a left-hander is in games requiring plastic instruments. Usually they don't make the guitar design to accomodate us lefties, and it's really off-putting. Other than that I don't change any settings around.

I actually didn't even know they had an option to lefty flip on guitars in GH and RB so I just learned to play it right handed. Other than that though, I don't think being left handed should stop you from playing games. Using scissors, however, is a whole different beast....

It's usually fine, though every once in a while i run into problems. Guitars are the biggest offender, and occasionally DS games have alternate button options for lefties but dont flip the stats info, making it hard to see what's actually going on. I was pissed when they made link permanently right handed in twilight princess as well. for games with button mashing, i have to sometimes flip the controller over to use my left thumb. it doesnt interfere with normal gaming though

" I guess all left handed people don't need to go to Catholic school.  My cousin was sent to Catholic school because he is left handed.  Not because my family thinks the left hand is evil, just a good habit to get out of. "

" @Godwind said:

" I guess all left handed people don't need to go to Catholic school.  My cousin was sent to Catholic school because he is left handed.  Not because my family thinks the left hand is evil, just a good habit to get out of. "

There is nothing Bad about being left handed. I play lots of games and have no issue with being a Leftie except when it comes to the Wii but that is because of other issues. "

Dude, when I play Wii ocassionally I find it really hard for certain games

In most cases, being left-handed doesn't present a problem.  Sometimes it's even beneficial.  For example, I never used the left controls for Guitar Hero because my left hand is better at using the fret buttons.

Some Wii games do present a problem on occasion, mainly when it comes to on-screen prompts that refer to using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in tandem, with the remote on the right side of the screen.  I have to do a mental flip, like the wrestling moves in No More Heroes, but I've gotten used to it.

And DS games that use have left/right hand choices?  Those are awesome.

Being a left handed gamer is just the same. I have a ps2 with a 1 handed grip controller, and on my pc I set my mouse to swap buttons and change the controls of the games I play. It takes a few minutes to set controls but it is fine

Oh, wow, this thread is old.

As everyone else has said, it's no different. Your average southpaw has had to get used to a world that does everything backwards in the first place, so we're all a little bit more ambidextrous than right-handers who mostly just let their left hand hang uselessly in their pockets.

If you want us to get angry at a real injustice, ask us about scissors. Fuck using scissors.

@justin258: Agreed, scissors suck. Other than that, it's completely the same. I've never had a problem with playing games.

It is mostly the same, except I find it hard to rapidfire press my right trigger button in console shooters. I play pc with my mouse in my left hand but none of the controls changed. Also I third @justin258 and @fetchfox, screw scissors. Cutting properly is seriously nearly impossible and always gets weird looks at work.

The extreme majority of the time it has made zero difference.

I can count exactly two instances where I struggled with controls due to being left handed, that was with Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS when using the default stylus controls. The other was on the Wii version of Twilight Princess which for some reason felt weird no matter what hand I tried using, but doubly so when I tried to play left handed.

Other than those two specific circumstances, it has never been a problem.

I have a friend who is left handed and it doesn't seem to have ever been an issue for him, he's primarily a PC player and plays competitive shooters like CS using the mouse in his right hand, he's not very good at Street Fighter directional input but that's because he's never put the time in.

I play everything standard. Even as a leftie with an unusually non-adept right hand, the idea of using "leftie" setups is super alien to me.

Besides, it makes more sense to me to use my strong hand for keyboard controls. That hand does way more work, after all.

I'm not convinced it's a habit you can get out of - I'm naturally somewhat ambidextrous (for a long time I could write equally well with either hand and would switch between) with a slight bias to my left, but learnt to use my right hand as my dominate hand (IIRC it was encouraged by school, and it made things like demos intended for right-handers and scissors easier). Even now, after 20-odd years of that, I still often instinctively reach for things with my left hand.

For games though I don't see it making much difference - on keyboard/mouse you arguably need more dexterity (but less fine control) in your left, even for right handed players, and for controller you'll be making fine movements on the left stick. I suspect you just learn to use both hands adequately.

I'm a living testament to that. Or a relic, hopefully they don't pull that anymore. What it did was make me ambidextrous, but I do not think it being forced is good for the brain, necessarily. From what I am seeing in the comments, one learns (hopefully) to adjust to right hand only inputs and devices only, as a matter of practical adaptability.

And of course there is a bias about being left handed and Dark Shit (as opposed to consensus right handed), which among other beliefs the world would be better off without.

Just saw a really interesting Youtube vid on this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwyKx8TvRcE&t=195s

Ive been playing since very little(nes), so its always felt pretty natural to me. Similarily, the mouse on the right side for pc is no prob either. I do pretty much everything left handed though, so Im not ambidextrous or anything.

Side note, I play the drums left handed and guitar right handed. Lol.

@coldblood: funnily enough im right handed and play guitar righty but feel like left handed guitar would be more comfortable strumming wise. Weird.

I never really took to PC shooters because I found it far easier to play shooters and get the results I was looking for on consoles, but how much of that has to do with handedness I couldn't really say (personally, I've always found using a mouse in my left hand supremely uncomfortable, even as a kid first learning to use computers).

I will say I was far and away the best Goldeneye /Perfect Dark player among my friends in elementary and middle school and I've alway attributed that to being the only left-handed kid in the group and therefore acclimating perfectly to the weird trigger set up for that console's shooters.

Also to echo the other lefties in this thread I don't get the point of left handed control setups. They always seem so alien to me, maybe because I grew up playing NES / SNES and it's not like you'd ever want movement to be on the face buttons and jumping/attack/etc. to be on the d-pad.

It blows that they don't make a HOTAS for us left-handers.

I loves me some ELITE DANGEROUS and I had to buy one of those ambidextrous joysticks to play it well.

If I had money I would pay someone to built me a HOTAS.

I am left handed, but the normalcy of the PC setup with the mouse being controlled by the right hand has just led me to get comfy with that setup. It simply feels wrong to change now. I did see a friends left handed dad use the mouse with his left hand though and that broke my mind a little bit. I just never considered people were doing that.