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Left handed but using the mouse with the right hand. Are there more of you?

4K views 30 replies 20 participants last post by  belugma 
#1 ·
I am a lefty and since i have gotten used to use the mouse with my right hand, i never switched.

Now i thought about switching to my left hand, thinking that my aim would be way better using it. But after more than 10 years of using the mouse in my right hand, i can't do it.
I tried to play csgo with the mouse in my left hand and the keyboard in my right hand, but it made me feel nauseous after 5 minutes. In addition, since i haven't built muscle memory for it yet, my aim was super bad compared to my right hand.

My aim is pretty good with my right hand, so i wonder how much better i would be if i would have used my left hand from the beginning. Or maybe it would be worse? Questions of life.

I am curious if there are more lefties that use the mouse with their right hand. And maybe there are some that even made the switch to their left hand.
 
#2 ·
Same here, buddy.
I doubt that switching hands will make you better. I have used mice with my right hand since I was like 8 or 9 (15 years, dayum). Think about the experiments where people had to learn to write mirrored. They pick it up very quickly, but that doesn't mean they will ever write better that way around.
There are some activities you simply pick up with one hand and stick with it. I use scissors with my right hand and use knife and fork like everyone else. A friend of mine is right-handed, yet for some reason plays tennis with his left hand.
Neurologically speaking the neural connections in the motor cortex responsible for the hand movements you need ingame are strengthened in your left brain hemisphere (the one responsible for your right hand) due to your practice of mouse movements. Training the opposite half adquately would need time that you could better spend on actual practice
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#4 ·
When I started using computers at the library the mouse was always on the right and as a kid I never knew or thought about anything else regarding mouse hand.

Wish I learned left handed but it's fine for me. I too have thought about going left and relearning but the patience isn't there.
 
#5 ·
Same here, I think it's why I never got too at FPS too. I mean I love playing them, but I've always had a bit of an issue perfecting my aim. I was still decent in my CAL CS 1.6 days, but I think the big reason I never got better is because I'm a lefty using a right handed mouse. In the last year though, I've started to adapt to 400 DPI instead of 800 DPI in hopes of better accuracy.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duality92 View Post

Same here, I think it's why I never got too at FPS too. I mean I love playing them, but I've always had a bit of an issue perfecting my aim. I was still decent in my CAL CS 1.6 days, but I think the big reason I never got better is because I'm a lefty using a right handed mouse. In the last year though, I've started to adapt to 400 DPI instead of 800 DPI in hopes of better accuracy.
Maybe there are other reasons for it. My aim also started getting really good once i played on low sensitivity. I played at 4,5cm/360 for 3 years or so (which isn't high sense, but simply stupid)then played on 90cm/360 and slow increased it back up over the years. I am now on 48cm/360 400dpi and i am doing quite well. I wouldn't be surprised if you show improvements with a lower sense. Who knows, maybe it is a hidden secret that actually will end up making you better than with your left hand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alya View Post

Lefty that converted to righty for mice because I wanted a larger selection of mice reporting in.
That is quite interesting to hear, that you willingly switched. How do you feel about your overall performance after you made the switch?

My right handed aim is pretty decent averaging between 20-33% in battlefield 3(yes i still play bf3, since i dislike bf4 and causalfield1) while playing normal (meaning i don't actually try to get high accuracy) and 56% headshots in csgo (i awp every now and then and like to use shotguns in anti eco rounds). But i wish i could see the if my left hand , when trained equally is superior or even or maybe even inferior to my right hand.

I know that a few fps pros are in the same boat.

KennyS for example is a lefty that plays right handed and his aim is rather sick.

Keep it coming guys, this is interesting to read what your experiences are.
 
#7 ·
I broke my thumb 3 years back and went from righty to lefty for a few months. I know it isn't exactly what you guys are experiencing. But after the first few weeks, starting on a low sensitivity with my left, my aim became acceptable.

By no means was I considered good with my left. But at least I could enjoy myself, and that was the main thing. I couldn't keep up on CS:GO/Source, so I often played more casual games like Killing Floor.

I tried all kinds of mad things to make my aim better with my left. I made a custom acceleration profile, that the faster I moved the mouse, the slower the acceleration was, and the slower I moved the mouse, the faster ithe acceleration was. For some reason, in my head, and the way my coordination worked, this actually improved it for me. I don't know if this would be worth trying for you guys?

Edit Note: I usually have mouse acceleration disabled for my right hand and play at 3500DPI.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by James N View Post

Maybe there are other reasons for it. My aim also started getting really good once i played on low sensitivity. I played at 4,5cm/360 for 3 years or so (which isn't high sense, but simply stupid)then played on 90cm/360 and slow increased it back up over the years. I am now on 48cm/360 400dpi and i am doing quite well. I wouldn't be surprised if you show improvements with a lower sense. Who knows, maybe it is a hidden secret that actually will end up making you better than with your left hand
biggrin.gif
I haven't played a competitive FPS match for over 10 years now. I could never reach what people are doing now. I simply don't have time, nor patience to practice. I rather spend time in BF4 killing nubs in Seige of Shanghai in a 64 players conquest.
 
#9 ·
Maybe not all of you are truly left handed. I always considered myself left handed because I write with my left hand, but due to a recent study I learned that I'm "right handed writing left handed" (at least in terms of psychology/medical)
For example my instinctive hand for spike in Volleyball, punching or mouseing has always been the right hand, only writing/drawing is what I do with the left.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ino. View Post

Maybe not all of you are truly left handed. I always considered myself left handed because I write with my left hand, but due to a recent study I learned that I'm "right handed writing left handed" (at least in terms of psychology/medical)
For example my instinctive hand for spike in Volleyball, punching or mouseing has always been the right hand, only writing/drawing is what I do with the left.
I play hockey, tenis, golf, and other sports, punch right and mouse are the only thing I do with my right hand.

eating, writing, and a few other things are done with my left.

As a whole, my right arm is stronger, bicep, forcep and tricep.
 
#12 ·
This thread reminded me of one of my fav all-time quotes...

"He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious." - Yogi Berra
 
#13 ·
Due to my Dads military service I went to a lot of school overseas. These schools, at the time, were all catholic institutions with nuns as teachers. They would bind my left hand to prevent me using it. This started in kindergarten and really screwed me up. I could write perfectly w/ right hand and a mirror image simultaneously w/ left hand. I now write, catch and throw, pistol left handed. Bat, golf, and rifle right handed. I normally mouse righty, but must reverse buttons.
 
#15 ·
Leftie that uses right hand for mice. I find that having a weighted mouse give me peak precision.
 
#16 ·
Theres a lady here at work who... is left handed, uses the mouse with her left hand, but the mouse is setup for right handed clicking. Serious... lol

Says thats how its been since the first time she ever used one and prefers it. CRAZY!
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SwishaMane View Post

Theres a lady here at work who... is left handed, uses the mouse with her left hand, but the mouse is setup for right handed clicking. Serious... lol

Says thats how its been since the first time she ever used one and prefers it. CRAZY!
My sister does the same, and the weirdest part . She isn't even left handed.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ino. View Post

Maybe not all of you are truly left handed. I always considered myself left handed because I write with my left hand, but due to a recent study I learned that I'm "right handed writing left handed" (at least in terms of psychology/medical)
For example my instinctive hand for spike in Volleyball, punching or mouseing has always been the right hand, only writing/drawing is what I do with the left.
A weird thing i do is cut food with the knife in my left hand and the fork in my right and then i swap the fork to the left hand when i am about to take a bite.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by James N View Post

That is quite interesting to hear, that you willingly switched. How do you feel about your overall performance after you made the switch?
My aim with my right hand is better than my aim with my left hand now because I've been doing it for so long, I basically forced myself to be ambidextrous, I do everything with my left hand except for mouse and write, I write and mouse with my right hand after swapping from using my mouse in my left hand because I feel I have more control despite doing everything else left handed, probably can be pinned down to playing FPS games for so long with my right hand, but everything else is done with my left (holding drinks, eating, cutting stuff, etc)
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#21 ·
all lefties i know use their right for mousing, simply because that's how they have learned or were taught. keyboard on the left, mouse on the right..
i'm fairly sure they wouldn't handle a mouse well with left, despite being lefties, just because of what they're used to now.

personally, i've never checked whether i'm "actually" right or left. for example when i was a kid, i would just start drawing/writing with whatever hand the pen was put next to. at school they suggested [my parents] that i would just "become right" to make everything easier, and just for the sake of making a choice.
i consider myself right-handed because for most things that feels the most natural. i can do a lot with either hand, but right is much more trained to be precise/controlled
 
#23 ·
I'm left hand dominant however, I'm very ambidextrous. I do use my mouse normally with my right hand, but I can change to my left, and be decent at FPS games.
I didn't use to really be that way though… nor did I practice. I attribute my ambidexterity to the years of martial arts training I do.
I do several things dominantly right handed, for example, using a chain saw, brushing my teeth, etc, but I can't write very well right handed, and have always wrote left handed… go figure
rolleyes.gif
LOL.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bucake View Post

all lefties i know use their right for mousing, simply because that's how they have learned or were taught. keyboard on the left, mouse on the right..
i'm fairly sure they wouldn't handle a mouse well with left, despite being lefties, just because of what they're used to now.

personally, i've never checked whether i'm "actually" right or left. for example when i was a kid, i would just start drawing/writing with whatever hand the pen was put next to. at school they suggested [my parents] that i would just "become right" to make everything easier, and just for the sake of making a choice.
i consider myself right-handed because for most things that feels the most natural. i can do a lot with either hand, but right is much more trained to be precise/controlled
Quote:
Originally Posted by ve1ocity View Post

I'm left hand dominant however, I'm very ambidextrous. I do use my mouse normally with my right hand, but I can change to my left, and be decent at FPS games.
I didn't use to really be that way though… nor did I practice. I attribute my ambidexterity to the years of martial arts training I do.
I do several things dominantly right handed, for example, using a chain saw, brushing my teeth, etc, but I can't write very well right handed, and have always wrote left handed… go figure
rolleyes.gif
LOL.
Seems like left-handed people have an easier time learning things with their right hand. That could also just be due to us growing up in a right handed world.

I noticed that i had an edge over others while playing tournament paintball. Since i was easily able to shoot both handed, while most others struggled to shoot with their left hand.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bucake View Post

all lefties i know use their right for mousing, simply because that's how they have learned or were taught. keyboard on the left, mouse on the right..
I agree, thats the same case for me too. I am left handed and I use my left hand for everything (writing, sports -> badminton, table tennis, etc.) but I don't have that much of a problem using the right hand for some things aswell.
But since many left handed people use the mouse with their right hand, they have a some good advantages aswell, like taking notes while scrolling through the websites. Try doing that if you are right handed
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Quote:
i'm fairly sure they wouldn't handle a mouse well with left, despite being lefties, just because of what they're used to now.
I tried using the mouse with my left hand last year because my right hand always felt a little bit imprecise on some days.
When I had problems drawing things in paint, I switched to my left hand aswell, because I could not draw circles . They were more like eggs with stutttering in the drawn line. With my left hand I got perfect circles instead.
So I started using my left hand for the mouse and my aim felt much better, 'clearer' but after some days I went back to using my right hand. Why? My movement in FPS got worse because I struggled using my right hand with the keyboard. Some fingers could not reach some keys at some times and I had slight problems pressing multiple things at once.
If I had not gotten that problem, I think I would still play with my left hand, but there remains the problem that there is not one single mirrored keyboard out there, so I would need to change the layout.
 
#26 ·
funnily i have the same "problem" when i use left (for mousing). my right hand has more difficulty with the keyboard than my left with the mouse.
i suppose my left hand takes all my brainpower and my right gets neglected?
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i mean similar to how you learn to use a car (learn one thing at a time rather than everything at once.)
multitasking is a myth!
 
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