Key Bindings For Left Handers

[DodgyChris]

Hey guys, So a topic I could never find much information on....Key bindings for a lefty!

 

So, I am a left handed gamer, and I will not compromise, the mouse belongs in my left hand as should any left handed gamer (with the exception you are ambidextrous and competent enough to use your right) and my keyboard is used by my right hand. Now I see a lot of gamer;'s using the mouse in their left hand but using the WASD and Arrow Key layouts to play their games, why?

 

The advantages to using WASD and Arrow Key configurations are non existent. You cannot reach the space bar, control, alt, shift and so on properly. It is also very uncomfortable, especially the WASD config. Why put yourself at a disadvantage?

 

So...what can you do to up your gameplay experience? REBIND.

 

Key Bindings for Lefty's

 

Movement

Forward - P

Backward - :

Left - L

Right - '

Crouch - ,

Prone - .

 

Combat

Fire - RMB (Fire and Aim are reversed, this is a personal preference)

Aim - LMB

Lethal - J or Middle Mouse

Tactical - Any free key of your choice

Reload - I or Wheel Up

Fire Mode - U

Change Weapon - Wheel Down 

Sprint/Hold Breath - Left Shift

Spot/Assist - Alt Gr

Equipment - # (any keys surrounding P L ; ')

Ability/Action Buttons -  O [ 8 9 0 -

 

Global / Interactive

Interact / Use - K

Enter / Exit Vehicle - K

Scoreboard - =

Chat - Any free key of your choice, try to make it easy to reach

 

Note If you couldn't make out any of the keys, such as the small punctuation keys they are worded below:

  

Backward - Colon

Right - Apostrophe

Crouch - Comma

Prone - Full Stop

 

Battlefield 3 MAV Controls

 

Just one last thing, the controls for the MAV in BF3 seem unchangeable? Wrong. Download a program called BF3 Settings Editor by Realmware!

 

So guys, I hope that this is helpful, it is a pain in the ass to rebind all of your keys before you even get to start playing your games, but you will enjoy it so much more when you can play properly, being able to reach all of the keys as if you were using WASD as a right handed player.

 

DodgyChris

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Charger]

I really wish i could use a mouse with my left hand as i think i would me more accurate in games that way seeing as i am left handed but i have been using computers since i was 4-5 in the early 90s right handed and have never seen any computer setup anywhere that is left handed. Did you know there are left handed keyboards out there where the numpad is on the left?  

[Helly]

left handed keyboard dont exist as far as i know. I always used wasd, cuz i was to lazy to change ALL the bindings... most of the time i use a key that already has another binding and when games start complaining about unused bindings (like no binding for team chat or w/e) i just revert back to default... dont want to be binding keys forever.. i want to play.

 

these days i use ijkl and rebind everything exactly the same as it is on wasd just around ijkl. so q and e become u and o, etc. just because i've been used to wasd.

 

for CTRL and ALT i use N and M cuz i can reach those easier :P.

 

i've also always used the mouse as a right handed in my left hand... so LMB is still the same. i do find it very annoying us lefty's are stuck with mice that go in both hands while right handed ppl can chose from lots and lots of right handed only mice which are often better. I'm using a steelseries sensei atm and it's ok but i would like it if there was a good mouse that was made for left handed ppl.

[DodgyChris]

I really wish i could use a mouse with my left hand as i think i would me more accurate in games that way seeing as i am left handed but i have been using computers since i was 4-5 in the early 90s right handed and have never seen any computer setup anywhere that is left handed. Did you know there are left handed keyboards out there where the numpad is on the left?  

I just use a cooler master mechanical keyboard, it has the home and arrow key sections missing so its just the keyboard with a combined numpad, much shorter, allows me to position it better. i'ts hard to find anything specific for lefty's.

[DodgyChris]

left handed keyboard dont exist as far as i know. I always used wasd, cuz i was to lazy to change ALL the bindings... most of the time i use a key that already has another binding and when games start complaining about unused bindings (like no binding for team chat or w/e) i just revert back to default... dont want to be binding keys forever.. i want to play.

 

these days i use ijkl and rebind everything exactly the same as it is on wasd just around ijkl. so q and e become u and o, etc. just because i've been used to wasd.

 

for CTRL and ALT i use N and M cuz i can reach those easier :P.

 

i've also always used the mouse as a right handed in my left hand... so LMB is still the same. i do find it very annoying us lefty's are stuck with mice that go in both hands while right handed ppl can chose from lots and lots of right handed only mice which are often better. I'm using a steelseries sensei atm and it's ok but i would like it if there was a good mouse that was made for left handed ppl.

Hey mate, I used a Razer Taipan, all of the Razer ambidextrous mice are great. they do a lefty death adder too i use PL;' instead of IJKL because you can reach shift and alt easier  

[Ominoa]

Wish I could use this but I play csgo and i have to bind my flashbangs,molotovs,grenades,smoke grenades, etc. I dont think that i have anywhere to put them

[sgtcool]

Keyboard for lefties?

[Subtox]

As a lefty I use my mouse in my left hand and remap the keys to the right side of the keyboard. I use IJKL for movement and usually mirror the mapping of most of the standard keys -- U in place of E, O in place of Q, Y in place of R, comma in place of Z, etc.

 

This left handed setup actually has an advantage in that there are more keys available at the right side within reach of your starting position, such as the brackets, backslash, forward slash, backspace, hyphen, and equals keys.

 

Even the Ins, Home, and other keys over to the right are good for certain special actions if I run out of keys near my starting position. I like this better than feeling my way across the character keys since, with the exception of the raised tab on the F key, it's hard to feel your way over there without looking away from the screen. So I can map actions to the Home or Delete key, the arrows or the numpad, and immediately feel where those keys are without looking away. But even this isn't usually necessary because of all the surrounding keys already available.

 

And of course as with a right hander I can still map to the left side of the keyboard, too, if I need to. I can usually reach my index finger to the T, G and B keys no problem.

 

The only pain comes in when certain games don't let you remap at all, or are selective about what you can remap, but most developers worth their salt will include full remapping. I've had to use AutoHotKey to set up keyboard macros but it hardly ever goes that far -- the only cases so far were Stick of Truth which is otherwise an awesome game so it was forgivable (I hope The Fractured But Whole is better in that regard), and No Man's Sky but I gave up on that for other reasons. Macros are always an option in any case. There is a community of helpful people and sample scripts (some even ready-made for your game) if you want to go that route.

 

Anyway, I hope this helps someone or inspires another lefty to return to his or her roots and stay true to the cause. Heh...

 

P.S. Even right handers could have more keys available to them by using ESDF instead of WASD. I'm not sure why that ever became the standard; it's not even where you rest your left hand naturally on the keyboard. There are groups out there encouraging ESDF, like use-esdf.org.