current state of me and gaming
Apr. 14th, 2013 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysobel(because I know y'all care so very much /grin/)
Teal deer version: gamings are not really happening much, and partly that's due to (probably depression-related) lack of interest, but mainly due to not having a setup that works.
Here's the thing: with zero mobility, I don't have a lot of options for where to put my hands. Which means that if the mouse is in reach of (either) hand, that hand can't reach the keyboard. Additionally, the keyboard I had been using, a Kinesis Freestyle (I think?) split, stopped responding when my computer had its latest set of shenanigans, which means that I'm stuck with a standard keyboard.
I'd had the KF set up with one half of the keyboard where my left hand could reach, and the other half up out of direct reach so that the mouse was usable with my right. This was not perfect -- a lot of games tend to expect, y'know, full keyboard access -- but it worked. WASD movement, 1-6 for skills, other left side of keyboard keys used for other functions (which I tried to standardize over all my games so b would always be inventory, c opened the character info pane, r toggled walk/run, t targeted nearest foe, etc.), and mouse control over the rest of the stuff.
(It also worked for regular use, not just gaming. If I wanted to type, I could use a stick to reach the right half of keyboard keys without moving anything, or for serious e.g. nano typing I could move the mouse aside and have both hands touch typing.)
But with a straight keyboard, I've lost a lot of that. The only way to make a mouse usable for me involves having the keyboard at a weird angle so that my left hand sort of reaches (but everything is skewed badly, so my touch typing instincts are thrown off, and if I accidentally hit capslock instead of shift that's why), or else I just move myself over relative to everything so that I use the mouse exclusively with my left hand, typing via either dictation (which sucks) or an on-screen keyboard (which also sucks).
These options, in case you can't tell, all suck.
Right now I am typing via left hand and stick, with the mouse out of reach so that the keyboard is straight. This is giving me a halfway decent WPM for typing. (38, which is slower than I used to be but at least workable) The on-screen keyboard gives me about three WPM. five if I'm lucky. And is so totally not workable for gaming, for obvious reasons.
I need to get a replacement for the KF; I'm just hesitating because Expense. (I am also tempted to get a gaming keyboard, which would take some getting used to but would give me possibly better options ... but hello Expense. Also Needless.) And I kind of want a gaming mouse, but I have no clue if I would be actually able to use it. (In a literal sense. My current mouse is a vertical one, and I hold it weirdly, but I was able to try it via my sister before getting it so I knew I could use it.)
And really Expense is a silly reason to hesitate, because it's not all that much and it gives better flexibility and actual access to what I want to do, but I think part of the thing is that I've gotten restricted too much to play video games even with the right equipment, and that makes me all sad and anxious.
...but anyway, that's that. Sigh.
Game-specific updates, mainly for my own benefit:
GW2 -- stopped because of computer/keyboard issues, miss it to some extent but I'm not really a Serious Player.
Minecraft -- stopped because of computer/keyboard issues, also some amount of frustration because it feels like things are either boring or out of my skillset/creativity.
SWTOR -- stopped when GW2 came out, poked at a few times since but idk, the storyline was interesting and the choice of dialogue paths especially so and I want to go back but the visuals are mostly kind of bland and all my characters are stuck in the same planets that I am pretty sick of.
Skyrim -- stopped when GW2 came out, crafting is addicting and yet annoying
GW -- stopped when GW2 came out (are we sensing a theme here) but want to go back to even though probably all of my GW friends are understandably playing GW2 instead
WoW -- stopped when I, er, misplaced my authenticator. (when I got an auth thingie, my only iOS device was an iPad that I wasn't likely to be carrying with me, so I got the standalone authenticator, and didn't switch over once I got an iPhone, which kind of sucks since I can't log in at all augh. Also there have been enough changes that I don't feel like I remember how to play it, or know the best strategies or whatever.
(I'm sure I'm forgetting things...)
Teal deer version: gamings are not really happening much, and partly that's due to (probably depression-related) lack of interest, but mainly due to not having a setup that works.
Here's the thing: with zero mobility, I don't have a lot of options for where to put my hands. Which means that if the mouse is in reach of (either) hand, that hand can't reach the keyboard. Additionally, the keyboard I had been using, a Kinesis Freestyle (I think?) split, stopped responding when my computer had its latest set of shenanigans, which means that I'm stuck with a standard keyboard.
I'd had the KF set up with one half of the keyboard where my left hand could reach, and the other half up out of direct reach so that the mouse was usable with my right. This was not perfect -- a lot of games tend to expect, y'know, full keyboard access -- but it worked. WASD movement, 1-6 for skills, other left side of keyboard keys used for other functions (which I tried to standardize over all my games so b would always be inventory, c opened the character info pane, r toggled walk/run, t targeted nearest foe, etc.), and mouse control over the rest of the stuff.
(It also worked for regular use, not just gaming. If I wanted to type, I could use a stick to reach the right half of keyboard keys without moving anything, or for serious e.g. nano typing I could move the mouse aside and have both hands touch typing.)
But with a straight keyboard, I've lost a lot of that. The only way to make a mouse usable for me involves having the keyboard at a weird angle so that my left hand sort of reaches (but everything is skewed badly, so my touch typing instincts are thrown off, and if I accidentally hit capslock instead of shift that's why), or else I just move myself over relative to everything so that I use the mouse exclusively with my left hand, typing via either dictation (which sucks) or an on-screen keyboard (which also sucks).
These options, in case you can't tell, all suck.
Right now I am typing via left hand and stick, with the mouse out of reach so that the keyboard is straight. This is giving me a halfway decent WPM for typing. (38, which is slower than I used to be but at least workable) The on-screen keyboard gives me about three WPM. five if I'm lucky. And is so totally not workable for gaming, for obvious reasons.
I need to get a replacement for the KF; I'm just hesitating because Expense. (I am also tempted to get a gaming keyboard, which would take some getting used to but would give me possibly better options ... but hello Expense. Also Needless.) And I kind of want a gaming mouse, but I have no clue if I would be actually able to use it. (In a literal sense. My current mouse is a vertical one, and I hold it weirdly, but I was able to try it via my sister before getting it so I knew I could use it.)
And really Expense is a silly reason to hesitate, because it's not all that much and it gives better flexibility and actual access to what I want to do, but I think part of the thing is that I've gotten restricted too much to play video games even with the right equipment, and that makes me all sad and anxious.
...but anyway, that's that. Sigh.
Game-specific updates, mainly for my own benefit:
GW2 -- stopped because of computer/keyboard issues, miss it to some extent but I'm not really a Serious Player.
Minecraft -- stopped because of computer/keyboard issues, also some amount of frustration because it feels like things are either boring or out of my skillset/creativity.
SWTOR -- stopped when GW2 came out, poked at a few times since but idk, the storyline was interesting and the choice of dialogue paths especially so and I want to go back but the visuals are mostly kind of bland and all my characters are stuck in the same planets that I am pretty sick of.
Skyrim -- stopped when GW2 came out, crafting is addicting and yet annoying
GW -- stopped when GW2 came out (are we sensing a theme here) but want to go back to even though probably all of my GW friends are understandably playing GW2 instead
WoW -- stopped when I, er, misplaced my authenticator. (when I got an auth thingie, my only iOS device was an iPad that I wasn't likely to be carrying with me, so I got the standalone authenticator, and didn't switch over once I got an iPhone, which kind of sucks since I can't log in at all augh. Also there have been enough changes that I don't feel like I remember how to play it, or know the best strategies or whatever.
(I'm sure I'm forgetting things...)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-15 01:58 am (UTC)The Freestyle is the only keyboard I've seen that actually physically splits (as in, not just spaced but two separate parts; there's a cable that connects the two halves but they are individually positionable). Don't know if Microsoft has anything like that or not...
no subject
Date: 2013-04-16 10:49 am (UTC)combat uses the keys 1 and 2 (and 3 repeats your last attack).
For skills, you can redefine the skill keys to only use the left side of the keyboard if you want.
It's donationware, so you can play and do everything for free for as long as you like, and if you really like it and can afford it, you can donate to the author.