Left-Handed Gamers Getting Left Behind?

An anonymous reader writes "As the stylus becomes a contemporary equal with the controller and joystick, it is a bit surprising to notice a game developer overlooking the simple fact that there are a lot of southpaw gamers out there. But the creators of Base 10, a mini-game on the DSi, did just that, making it impossible for the game to be played by anyone who isn't right-handed. Seems pretty silly for a game developer to just cut out a slice of their potential audience right from the start."

Comments

Impossible?

[curunir]

...making it impossible for the game to be played for anyone who isn't right-handed.

That seems like a bizarre definition of the word impossible. It may be impossible for someone who doesn't have a right hand, but it is possible to build dexterity in your off hand. Just hold the thing like a right handed person. It might take some time to get used to, but it's still possible.

For instance, the current holder of the last 3 tennis grand slams is naturally right-handed but plays as a lefty. He built the muscle memory necessary be good at it and now it's not a problem for him. I see no reason why tennis would be easier to master with your off hand than a video game would be.

Re:Impossible?

[The MAZZTer]

Perhaps, but you shouldn't need to do all that just to play a video game.

Re:Impossible?

[gknoy]

I mouse with my left hand at work, and my right while playing games or surfing the web at home. I've been doing this for almost eight years, now that I think about it. I found that NOT swapping the buttons, but merely changing which hand I hold the mouse with, works beautifully. May I ask what problems you are having with learning to mouse with a different hand?

For me, it started when I was playing Counter-strike enough to make my wrists hurt. So, at work, I started using a pen tablet with my right (dominant) hand. However, some thing just seemed to work better with a mouse, so I kept my mosue on the left side of the keyboard. Eventually, I just kept using it that way. It helps that I don't think of using the mouse in terms of which finger I press, but rather which side the button is on.

Re:Impossible?

[RazorSharp]

Yeah, but he was just being pedantic. I agree with him that it was a completely inappropriate use of the word "impossible." It's like when people say, "I literally exploded into a fit of rage" when in fact they mean that they figuratively exploded.

While I agree it was quite an oversight on the developer's part, I also think this is a non-story. A mini-game for the DSi doesn't have the production value to expect them to take every little thing into consideration. There were probably like 2-3 developers, if that, and they were all right handed. And then some left-handed journalist found out about it and tried to make a big deal about it. Lefties have a tendency to believe they're being discriminated against when they're really just occasionally not taken into consideration on accident.

From the beginning of the DS, high-revenue games have all taken lefties into consideration. Just because ONE mini-game neglected the left-handed minority doesn't mean that "left-handed gamers are being left behind."

Re:Impossible?

[Haffner]

I'm inclined to agree - he sensationalizes the whole time, yet never explains why the game is impossible to play with one's right hand.

Re:Impossible?

[vux984]

I've known left-handers whose right hand might as well have been a withered stump flapping in the breeze. I'm no longer surprised that there are those who lack the ability/will to adapt to a different setup.

Gotcha.

If the game was designed for left-handed people and didn't accomodate righties right handed people would play it for 5 minutes call it a shit game with lousy controls... and they would be CORRECT!

But apparently if its designed for righties but not lefties, "you are longer surprised that there are those who lack the ability/will to adapt to a different setup." instead of recognizing that the controls are lousy.

Designing a video game with customizeable or reversible controls is trivial, and suggesting that left handed people should just learn to play them offhanded is just plain ignorant.

I've got a Wii, and I'm surprised at the number of games that fail to offer proper left handed support, even though it would be generally trivial.

Wii sports allows you (and even lets you choose handedness for each sport which is great because I golf right handed (due to having no access to left handed clubs growing up) but I bat, tennis, and bowl left handed; so that's a really nice touch.

Many of the other mini-games titles aren't so considerate. A frisbee minigame in one title in particular can't cope at all with a left handed movement. There are other examples as well.

Metroid Prime 3 for example comes to mind as a less severe example, its entirely playable left handed so no problem, but it would be even better if it let you reverse the model. Its a little jarring as a leftie, holding the remote in the dominant hand and the nunchuk in the offhand to throw the grapple and have samus throw it with the other hand. This occasionally impacts gameplay in small ways -- when up against an obstacle that blocks one side of the sreeen. I attempt to throw the grapple and its a clear shot, but samus attempts the throw from the other hand and hits an obstable. (It very rarely comes up as an issue, but when it does its jarring and annoying.)

If a right handed player were playing right-handedly, and samus was designed 'left handed', I'm sure they'd probably find it similiarly jarring, and would call the controls 'unpolished'.

Given just how trivial it is to support left handed players in these titles, I'm surprised more don't.

I'm confused

[Monkeedude1212]

How do you play Base10 and why does not having a left handed mode ruin it?

Even Rock Band/Guitar Hero was operable with Lefties before they added Lefty mode, you simply needed to associate colours to positions instead of directional left and right.

lulwut?

[Pojut]

I find it odd that TFA focuses on the Nintendo DS...which is possibly the most left-handed friendly system out there, aside from the Nintendo Wii. Most DS games that require one hand on the stylus and one hand on the system either duplicate the controls on both sides, or allow you to swap controls from one side to the other.

You would think more focus would have been on shaped gaming mice, which are almost exclusively made for righties.

I thought controls favored Left handers

[commodore64_love]

The joystick or joypad is on the left side, my non-dominant hand, ever since the NES days.

Why?

[__aagmrb7289]

Does anyone understand WHY the writer of this article can't play the game left handed? I read through the FA multiple times (yes, I know - hard to believe), but I don't see any explanation of what specifically the game requires that cannot be done by a left handed user. Any further clarification would be welcome.

Difficulty for left handers

[Aladrin]

It's hard for left handers because you hold the DS sideways and write on one of the screens. Since you have to write on the right screen, lefties can't see the left screen through their hand.

http://gofanboy.com/nds-reviews/407-art-style-base-10-review

pretty lame

[FranTaylor]

As if left handed people didn't already have to deal with can openers, measuring cups, drill presses, soup ladles, catcher's mitts, rulers, spiral bound notebooks, pens with slow drying ink, and countless other devices that are made for use by right handed people.

Get a clue, we deal with these things. We CAN do stuff right handed.

Why couldn't he play it?

[wbav]

Here's why.

If you look, the game holds the DSI sideways. There are important values on the left, while picking numbers on the right. If you're playing, you're constantly covering the left screen with your left hand when using the stylus on the right side.