I'm left-handed. It's annoying, especially with video games. 10% of the population is supposadely left-handed, yet whenever someone sees me with my corded mouse on my laptop, they always ask "Oh, you're left-handed?" No. Of course not. If I was left-handed, why would I be using my left hand to move my mouse...
Then there's game default controls. People are always talking about this thrilling WASD control set (where those keys move) for first-person shooters, but I really don't see what's so great about it. It gives you no room whatsoever on the left side to have access to a decent number of keys for reaching stuff, yet everyone wets their pants over it. All the first-person shooters have this on by default, and because I'm left-handed, I have to erase the entire control set and customize my own. For example, in goldsrc (Half-life 1 engine) games, I use the following:
MOUSE1 - Primary Attack
MOUSE2 - Secondary Attack
MOUSE3 - Reload
Mouse Wheel - Switch Weapons
IJKL - Move
O - Last Used Weapon
N - Use
M - Flashlight
; - Walk
' - Jump
SPACE - Duck
U - Swim Up
Y - Swim Down
P - Quick Save
[ - Quick Load
\ - Show Scores
ENTER - Chat
T - Team Chat
RSHIFT - Use Voice Communication
,.]\HBG - Any special controls for a specific mod, like the buy key in CS for example.
I'm quite happy with my control set. However, it could easily be inverted for right-handers and provide the same advantages, so being left-handed certainly isn't helpful in any way. Then there's the fact that if I ever need to know how to do something in a game, during a lan party for example, the following ensues:
"How do I change my character in this dumb game?"
- "C"
"No, I mean what's the name of the command that does it, I'll bind it to something."
- "C"
"Dude, I'm left-handed, I can't use the default controls..."
- "C!! ! C!! !" It's f*****g C!! !"
"For God's sake will you just tell me the command..."
- <Other guy sighs, and gets up from his chair like I don't speak English>
- "Look, it's C, watch" <presses C key for me, nothing happens>
- "Huh? Wha...." <presses C several times in frantic succession with no results>
"What the f**k is the name of the command?"
- <stunned> "ummm, charswap I think. Try binding that..."
That's happened so many damn times I'm sick of it. Why is it so difficult to deal with left-handers? We're not that rare. I'm so bloody tired of not being able to use the short-corded pens at the banks to sign stuff, or to deal with the fact that I had to spend 3 years to find a mouse with more than 3 buttons that wasn't all curved and slanted for righties so I couldn't use it. At public computers at the collect and libraries, all the mouse cords are bolted in so I can't move them to the left side even temporarily. Some video games, like Ragnarok, don't even have customizable keys, so I can't play them at all. It's sad that just because my other claw is the big one, that I end up with a second disability because society is too stupid to compensate for a really simple thing that affects a 10th of humanity. Oh well, I suppose it could be worse. Least I don't have to worry about getting beaten for using my left hand on the baseless assumption that it's because of demons...