WASD (Right handed people suck)

[Sky]

With this other method you guys use, access to the R, T, G, B, and V keys are much more restricted, which would get on my nerves.

Musician dexterity ftw.

[Slayerik]

For 90% of my gaming I've used the same n52 Speedpad for whats gotta be at least 8 years.

Ditto.  

AND you could also just put it on the right, and mouse on the left.

[Sir Fodder]

I too am surprised at the number of people using ring finger on the A key, I use pinky. I've got to keep my index finger on the F key because of the little bump tactile thingy there, otherwise I'd need to keep looking down at the keyboard. I even used superglue to put little bump tactile thingies on the 4 and 7 keys so that I don't have to look up there to input digits, ehrm.. numbers, works great.

I will actually switch the mouse from one side of the keyboard to the other depending on which side of my body hurts more at the time. Being non-handed, neither right or left handed though definitely not ambidextrous, does have advantages; I've gotten really good at catching things I inadvertantly knock over. Also "non standard" color vision too boot, not colorblind, more like "ooh colors" vision, so pretty much normal for F13 I guess.

[tmp]

I have never heard of anyone using pinky for A.

Same; putting the pinky on A results in some uncomfortable arrangement with two fingers hovering over WS in space where only one can really fit, unless i put the middle finger on D which leaves me with one finger on generally useless F and forces some gymnastics to reach 1 & 2. Just not optimal.

[Teleku]

..... just about every game I've played since half life (that uses WSAD) has made pretty heavy use of F, and increasingly all of the keys around it.  That's what I don't get about this approach.  You are literally making it harder and more awkward to press up to 5 other keys (most of which are used in most modern FPS games I've played), all so you have easier access to 1 key (ctrl).  Seems very non optimal.

[Yegolev]

....

Holy Shit, there are people who use the ring finger instead of pinky for A?  I didn't even know such a thing existed or was even possible.

Though I am correct handed, unlike a lot of people here aparently, so maybe thats part of it.  Still.....I'm trying it out right now and can't even fathom how to function.

No, you're just weird.

[Ingmar]

The problem with pinky-on-A is it means that you have to use your pinky and ring finger simultaneously, which is very difficult - try curling your pinky without bending your ring finger as well and you'll see the issue; the pinky and ring finger are connected in a way that the other fingers are not (yes this is a simplification). Compounding it is the fact that you're now trying to rest your pinky and ring fingers in different rows of the keyboard - as opposed to what happens when you put your middle finger on W, your ring finger on A, and your pinky on shift - they're all in a nice line then, and because your index finger is able to move more independently of your middle finger, it can rest on D easily.

Pinky on A is simply a much harder way to do it for anyone with a normally-functioning hand.  

[Rasix]

Yah, I don't want to rely on my pinky. It's a weak digit.  Plus, with playing a lot of LoL,  I use QWE as ability activation constantly.  R/F are not something I need to spam, but still easily reachable.

[Bunk]

Unless you are like me - a 40 year old that's used a computer for his job every day for 15 years - and never learned to touch type.

Personally, I can barely use my left pinky for any thing at all, yet alone reliably pressing a key.

[Ingmar]

I use my pinky a fair amount when typing but using it for game control is not really the same thing at all.

EDIT: Another thing to do is, just let your hand completely relax - notice there's probably a natural curl where the pinky is lower than the ring finger, and the ring finger and index finger are both a little lower than the middle finger. If you then extend your fingers slightly they pretty much land in exactly the pattern of shift-A-W-D on a standard keyboard (depending on your hand size to some degree of course). Forcing them into another configuration is going to be very difficult for most people. This is why you do all those picking exercises as a guitarist or scales as a pianist, it takes a lot of exercise/training to get the hand muscles to obey when you force them into an unnatural position.

[tmp]

..... just about every game I've played since half life (that uses WSAD) has made pretty heavy use of F, and increasingly all of the keys around it.  That's what I don't get about this approach.

I mostly play MMOs which don't make real use of F and the nearby keys, but they do make regular use of numeric row... which (the 1, 2 & 3 keys especially) is much harder to reach with the pinky on A, and even tricker when you want to use combinations like alt+digits, or shift or ctrl with these.

That said, this is from perspective of right-handed person. Someone left-handed likely finds it easier to use any finger of their primary hand, even the pinky. But it's still hard to imagine it'd outweight the general inconvenience.

[Lantyssa]

Pinky on A is simply a much harder way to do it for anyone with a normally-functioning hand.  

I actually hold my hand in a different position when gaming and my pinky is half the size of my other fingers.  It is difficult to use it on q/z and no other keys are really freed up for use that way, so I'd rather stick with my ring-finger on A method for gaming.

(A small pinky gives me a lot of difficulty on blue notes for the guitar games, too.)

[Sky]

I have a dextrous pinky, it can do scales and chords all on its own out there. But I wouldn't use it when  could use the ring finger, because the main triad is so much more reliable and strong.

Silly Lantyssa, bend the ring finger for the blue notes.

[Teleku]

I use my pinky a fair amount when typing but using it for game control is not really the same thing at all.

EDIT: Another thing to do is, just let your hand completely relax - notice there's probably a natural curl where the pinky is lower than the ring finger, and the ring finger and index finger are both a little lower than the middle finger. If you then extend your fingers slightly they pretty much land in exactly the pattern of shift-A-W-D on a standard keyboard (depending on your hand size to some degree of course). Forcing them into another configuration is going to be very difficult for most people. This is why you do all those picking exercises as a guitarist or scales as a pianist, it takes a lot of exercise/training to get the hand muscles to obey when you force them into an unnatural position.

Well, I've been using the curved ergonomic keyboards at home and at work for a long long time now, so perhaps that helps explain it.   When I let my hands perfectly relax and curl, the pinky lands squarely on A.

So I guess you guys also need to get a real keyboard and stop using ones that are twisting your hands into a giant carpel tunnel mess. 

[Ingmar]

Well, that still doesn't solve the issue that you're driving with your ring finger, which is just freaking weird.

[K9]

Pinky - Shift and Ctrl
Ring - A, Tab, Q, 1, `, Z
Middle - W, S, 1, 2, 3, X
Index - D, E, R, F, 3, 4, 5, C
Thumb - Space, Alt

That's how I roll

[Teleku]

Well, that still doesn't solve the issue that you're driving with your ring finger, which is just freaking weird.

Driving?  Not sure what you mean by that, but why is it weird?

This is just rather interesting to me.  You wield computers by sticking your index fingers on the F and J key.  That's the method by which you interface with a PC and do everything on it (unless your from some dirty euro country with a different key layout.  Seriously, fuck you France and your ass backward stupid AZERTY format on everything).  When I was first confronted with WASD, it never even occurred to me that you would change that just because you were playing a game.  I tried it and it instantly worked fine using the keyboard in its normal way, so I just assumed it was designed so people can comfortably use the keyboard like they do for every single other program on the PC.

[Ingmar]

It is weird because W is the button you press the most when you're WASDing, and because so much other crap gets pulled along inside your hand when you use your ring finger. Your non-standard keyboard probably reduces the issues, but try it on a regular keyboard sometime, the ring finger non-independence combined with the contortion that you have to put your hand through to have your ring finger constantly pressing W while you use your pinky on A and middle finger on D is really uncomfortable.

Basically you're NOT using it like you use a keyboard all day otherwise; the rest position for the ring finger when touch typing is S, not W. Leaving it up on W all the time is very different. You're also never pressing two buttons at the same time (barring Shift/Ctrl - which I should point out you most likely use your pinky for just like we do) when operating a keyboard outside a gaming context, for the most part.

[Kageru]

My old Z fang died, and it's the last of the 'stand-alone' USB keyboards.  For years, I've used to to use WASD keys and be a left handed mouser.  Oh well.

... crap. Now I'm tempted to e-bay a spare. These work blind so much better than a keyboard in addition to being ambidextrous.

[Teleku]

May just be the keyboard then.  When I let my hands relax and naturally rest, my ring finger rests at the very top of S and it brushes against W.  It takes only the slightest adjustment upward to press solidly on W.  Also my index and ring finger are the only things that pull each other (both seem to pull each other the same amount).  My pinky and index can hit everything I want without budging the others.

Fascinating for everybody I'm sure!

[Samwise]

[Sjofn]

Lefty who uses the mouse on the right, ring finger goes on A.

Lefty AND color blind?

 

Seriously, I married a very defective man.

I'm a rightie, ring finger on A, blah blah.

[Amarr HM]

I'm a lefty who has been forced from time to time to use WASD, World of tanks didn't have key mapping at the start. Index finger on A.

[Furiously]

Wonder how a left handed/reverse keyboard would sell...

[Sky]

Well, I've been using the curved ergonomic keyboards at home and at work for a long long time now, so perhaps that helps explain it.   When I let my hands perfectly relax and curl, the pinky lands squarely on A.

So I guess you guys also need to get a real keyboard and stop using ones that are twisting your hands into a giant carpel tunnel mess.  

Ergos totally mess me up. I like having the uniform rectangular layout because unless I'm typing in words, I mostly use my left hand for all keyboard duties. I can use out to 6/y/h/b without taking my ring off W, so it works for me (and I have wicked stubby fingers). And having the removed caps lock for a home point for my pinky gains me more accuracy than I'd gain in getting an extra row of keys moving over.

As far as twisting hands goes...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iacZDoXaVQ  

[NiX]

Lefty who uses mouse with the right. For the longest time I would remap to WASD to WQSE.

[Yegolev]

This thread.

[lamaros]

Lefty mouse with right

[Flood]

Left-hander that has trained myself to use the mouse with my right hand.  I'm also in the ring-finger-on-the-A-key group.  I hit shift or control with my pinky.  It's the Z key that usually causes issues for me.