Left Handed Players/Discussion

[shadow 1800]

Who else here is left handed? I recall Darkshark being left handed if i remember correctly. Also, I am also wondering how this affects improvement as pattern bias to being right handed and skill development as well as leveling out of skill towards hands which is occuring with me. I feel as my hands are a bit ambidextrous now, though there is still a dominance towards my left hand.

Do you read rolls easier to the left or right? trills starting with up or down easier? left or right? discuss.

Edit: Of course mirror makes everything trivial but i still find this topic interesting to discuss.

[MarioNintendo]

My hands are equally good. The only thing that got affected was my key setup.

While most players adopt an ASKL style, I play AKSL (or 1324 from left to right) because I started playing with the arrow keys and my left hand was the one taking care of the up arrow (the down arrow was on the right hand). This only affects my play by making every single-handed trills two-handed and vice versa. It's a handicap considering players have to step right-handed and don't often consider to take care of the other side, but, after 3 years of playing, I got used to it eventually. Even when I step, I do it for the right-handed. A concrete example of this is the recent Mortal Kombat Metal Menu I released, where you can observe (12)3(12)3(12)3(12)3(12) patterns that I can't pull off because of my key setup.

[Anaru]

My hands are equally good :/

If there are some REALLY fast left handed trills however (220BPM+?), I cheat the pattern by slanting one finger up more than the other and just slowly jump jacking.

[shadow 1800]

Originally Posted by MarioNintendo

My hands are equally good. The only thing that got affected was my key setup.

While most players adopt an ASKL style, I play AKSL (or 1324 from left to right) because I started playing with the arrow keys and my left hand was the one taking care of the up arrow (the down arrow was on the right hand). This only affects my play by making every single-handed trills two-handed and vice versa. It's a handicap considering players have to step right-handed and don't often consider to take care of the other side, but, after 3 years of playing, I got used to it eventually. Even when I step, I do it for the right-handed. A concrete example of this is the recent Mortal Kombat Metal Menu I released, where you can observe (12)3(12)3(12)3(12)3(12) patterns that I can't pull off because of my key setup.

I really never had thought of trying this. I wonder how this affects the skill of a player who is left handed though because I can see where you were coming from with the left index being on the up arrow from the arrow keys. I really just adopted right handed play style but always felt awkward with things such as left to right rolls being harder than right to left. I also found that trills starting with my non dominate hand always were a little more difficult to get on rhythm. It's a really interesting approach though, and makes total sense from a left handed perspective.

Also, on another note, I would like to add that If you look at most controllers for consoles, especially so in FPS games, the trigger button or any button you have to rapidly push in certain situations is ALWAYS on the right hand side, and i grew accustomed to that, so obviously the right hand to a gamer will get more exercise when it comes to things like jacks.

[Tidus810]

Hmmm, interesting topic. I'm left-handed, but my hands are kinda quirky.
Specifically, my left hand is very strong with consistency-based patterns, like the jump chains in Mario Minor or Radio Heads. However, my right hand is much better with long trills (see: Blooddrunk). As for rolls, I'm much more confident and better at left to right.
As for patterns that cross between hands, like 1-3 trills, I haven't really found any preference... I'm pretty sure my left middle finger just sucks, actually. :S

[shadow 1800]

Originally Posted by Tidus810

Hmmm, interesting topic. I'm left-handed, but my hands are kinda quirky.
Specifically, my left hand is very strong with consistency-based patterns, like the jump chains in Mario Minor or Radio Heads. However, my right hand is much better with long trills (see: Blooddrunk). As for rolls, I'm much more confident and better at left to right.
As for patterns that cross between hands, like 1-3 trills, I haven't really found any preference... I'm pretty sure my left middle finger just sucks, actually. :S

My left hand has much more stamina than my right, and usually my right is the first to give out if anything. I have much better vibration control with my left hand and can do it on command, but sometimes my right fails a lot more and sometimes breaks between the vibration.

Another point though, is the thinking of left handed people vs. right handed. As right handed people think with the left side of the brain which is logic while left handed people think with the right side which is creativity. I believe with the extra training due to hand bias along with different thinking the left handed player may have an advantage over right handed players in terms of how fast skill level grows.

[Emithith]

my right hand is slightly slower than my left hand, but other than that it doesn't affect my ability to hit patterns, and I don't see any advantages from it either

[~Zeta~]

Left-handed and my right hand sucks. D6 left hand, like a D5 right hand. It's almost impossible to improve my right hand or keep it up with the left.

Left to right rolls and split rolls and tremendously easy. Right to left isn't as easy.
Vibrating left hand is like 1.1 times better than my right (left can vibrate like 220 with this piece of shit keyboard while right can do 200-210)
Trills are not a problem with my left hand.
I tend to always focus on the 2 right arrows because my right-hand always finds a way to screw up on easy shit.
Mirror tends to be easier for me because for some unknown reason, files tend to be right-hand based even when people try to balance it out.

Reason most of my scores suck ass is because of my right hand.

[EzExZeRo7497]

I'm right handed, but I'm better with my left hand in terms of vibrating (185) and trill control. (240 BPM is my peak) My right hand is pretty bad in terms of vibrating (180) and trill control. (220) Stamina and speed-wise they're kind of the same.

Anything higher for trills I just jumpjack.

I'm guessing I'm just good at files that are filled with left hand bias, I don't really have that much trouble for left hand biased files, unless it's wrist jacking (Which I have more control with my right hand)

[mrpreggers]

I'm right handed but I'm much better with left handed patterns.. am I the only one like that? Seriously, I can only jack/trill/etc. with my left hand.

ZOMG just read EzExZeRo7497's post

[EzExZeRo7497]

Originally Posted by MrPreggers

I'm right handed but I'm much better with left handed patterns.. am I the only one like that? Seriously, I can only jack/trill/etc. with my left hand.

ZOMG just read EzExZeRo7497's post

o/

[iironiic]

My left hand can really jack at ~100 BPM consistently vs. my right ~150 BPM

I"m just throwing estimates, but you get the point xD

My left hand has this tendency to freeze when I jack too quickly. It's very good with awkward patterns and slow anchor patterns though.

[shadow 1800]

To anyone with hands that are at different speeds, I noticed that by pushing yourself with extremely hard and stamina draining songs it helps balance them. I used to whore songs like Sandstorm on Stepmania to the point where my right hand wanted to die but my left was just a bit sore. However, when my hands had recovered i noticed my right had much more speed difference. Try pushing yourself with hard songs and then coming back to songs you had trouble with and they don't seem the same.

[Mau5]

I think both of mine are pretty balanced. Left hand is better on trills though, I don't know why.

[igotrhythm]

I saw the weirdest thing when I got my left-handed brother to try this game out.

He went and played one-handed on the arrow keys...WITH HIS RIGHT HAND. Most desktop setups put the mouse on the right side, so apparently he's become acclimated to that.

Granted, he detests most rhythm games (no stepchart is gonna tell me what to do to this music), but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

[25thhour]

Some of these analogies don't really work for me...

I am a gamer but my right hand holds barely any dexterity even though I am good at shooters which require you too press the trigger. My left hand though is exponentially faster then my right hand even though I am right handed.