Left-Handed Video Game Problems
Which Games Affect the Mouse Preferences of Users?
Most people will not fully appreciate the frustrations of southpaws, but forcibly having one environment a person does control switched is annoying.
Imagine a left-handed person sitting down in front of a computer. The person has just opened the packaging for a new computer game and looks forward eagerly to playing it and seeing what it is like.
The game loads and installs on the computer without any problem, but as soon as the left-handed person plays the video game, he notices one severe problem: the video designers assigned the mouse buttons to their default functions instead of letting Windows control how the mouse buttons are handled.
People who do not use the mouse left-handed probably do not understand why this is bad programming and poor design for a video game. The user has gone out of his way to modify the operation of his computer in a way that feels comfortable for him. A few careless video game designers have ignored that left-handed people exist in favor of the majority.
Which Video Games Give Left-Handed People Trouble?
Most programmers let the operating system or front end underneath decide how to handle the mouse buttons and do not cause problems, but late 2007 and 2008 has seen the return of the graphical adventure game. Most of these games have been coming from Europe, and a few of the more popular adventure games, such as Sherlock Holmes: the Awakened are inflexible about how the mouse buttons are used in the game.
Another 2007 release that ignored the existence of the left-handed mouse user entirely was the Korean mmorpg, Sword of the New World. Fortunately, the game controls in Hanbisoft's offering were less complex than those in Sherlock Holmes: the Awakened, and will not handicap the person who uses a left-handed mouse setup severely.
How Programmers Can Correct that Problem of Left-Handed Mouse Use
Console games have not needed to address the problem of a left or right handed gamer as the designs require the use of both hands. An avid PC video game player can buy models of the Gravis PC pad where the pad can be flipped to suit the preference of the user, and the Wii actually took into consideration the existence of left handed people in its design.
Like many other things about being left-handed, having the mouse buttons reset in a game is a minor annoyance, but one that good programming practices can solve. It's not something that the video game design colleges that are popping up need to spend a lot of time teaching their students. It would make the left-handed PC video game players a lot happier if their existence was acknowledged.
Sources
Sherlock Homes the Awakened: 2006, Focus Home Entertainment
Sword of the New World, 2007. Hanbisoft Entertianment.
