Question For Lefties

John L

John L

Crusty Old Fart
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Messages
87
Location
Cary, NC
I'm left handed, and have been a Civ player for almost twenty years. But I have some Civilization games that are a royal pain in the 'Backside' to play, because they are not user friendly to lefties.

So my question is: which Civilization to you like best, based on it being user friendly to Lefties? And please explain why it is more user friendly than others. I have my favorite one, but will let others give their opinions first.

Thanks :goodjob:
 
:confused: Please excuse my confusion, since I'm right-handed, but why are certain civs harder to use just because (I assume) you use the mouse with a different hand?
 
AgressiveWimp said:
:confused: Please excuse my confusion, since I'm right-handed, but why are certain civs harder to use just because (I assume) you use the mouse with a different hand?
Click to expand...
Its about the different civ games, i'm guessing its due to the distribution of hotkeys. Despite being a lefty when writing, I tend to be right leaning semi-ambidextrous for most tasks, so I suppose I wouldn't see how any problems could arise :confused:
 
AgressiveWimp said:
:confused: Please excuse my confusion, since I'm right-handed, but why are certain civs harder to use just because (I assume) you use the mouse with a different hand?
Click to expand...

It's because Johnny is trying to include politics into Civ4 for a reason, which I don't wish to know. Look at his site and you'll understand truth. :rolleyes:

Or read between the lines of Alchemind's post.
 
Alchemind said:
I dislike being trolled.
Click to expand...

I dislike having to converse with numbnuts, but in your case I will. You have more than a problem if you think I am a troll. Go to the Store and purchase some common sense. Its not all that expensive, you know, and increases with age. Jeeze, where do some geniuses come from?

Moderator Action: If you feel you are being trolled, please report the post and allow staff to handle it. This is flaming and is not allowed
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Manco Capac said:
It's because Johnny is trying to include politics into Civ4 for a reason, which I don't wish to know. Look at his site and you'll understand truth. :rolleyes:

Or read between the lines of Alchemind's post.
Click to expand...

You're almost as intellectually defunct, but not quite so. I asked a totally legitimate question, and if you were a leftie you would understand why I asked. And you obviously are right handed, and living in a cave, or you would know that LEFT-HANDED people referred to themselves as 'Lefties', and having nothing to do with political persuasion.

Moderator Action: This is trolling. Please do not troll in our forums.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

My point is that Civ III is heaven on earth for Left handed players, compared to Civ IV. The later is one of the reasons why I don't play it much. I'm currently in the middle of one right now, and I'm trying to learn as much as possible on the mechanics of the game, but it is a game definitely NOT set up for Left handed players.

And I am almost totally certain that the development team had no lefties(left handed for you intellectually challenged) in their team, as the Civ III folks did. And that is a shame, because there are about as many, Percentage wise, lefties as there are percentage wise having color deficiency. Its about 20%: one-in-five. That's a pretty high percentage for a development team to totally ignore when coming up with a game that is based on sales.

I've tried my damnest to learn all of the different key strokes, and how to come up with a fluid set of motions, when using my left hand for 'pointing', and the right hand for performing 'action'.

That is the reason for asking this question, since I am still stymied on even remotely coming close to the fluid I can move in Civ III.

And to be honest, I didn't expect to see two people, who think they are smarter by half, who are unable to realize that there are actually functioning adults out there, who know how to ask serious questions, and not be a smart ass in the process. Lord have mercy, grow up you two, and try being civil.

Moderator Action: Please do not get personal, stick to the subject of the thread. Personal comments is trolling.
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Now, are there any more Lefties, LEFT HANDED PEOPLE, who wish to give me their opinion?
 
AgressiveWimp said:
:confused: Please excuse my confusion, since I'm right-handed, but why are certain civs harder to use just because (I assume) you use the mouse with a different hand?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there really is a difference. And thanks for being civil and acting like an adult here. I really do appreciate it. Civ III is a perfect game to play is you are left handed. The player can use his/her left hand mouse/touchpad as the 'point/selection' stroke, and the right hand as the 'action' key. Normally, a right handed player has to use the right hand for clicking on to the unit/improvement and then moving that same hand again to click on the initiation of the process. It takes twice as long to accomplish. When I am doing things, or moving units, all I have to do is point-click, point-click, point-click...............and so on and so on. Its completely fluid and very fast.

With Civ IV, its a monumental pain in the arse. Its akin to trying to swim through molasses. Its one of the reasons why I have had this game(Complete) for several years, but hardly ever play it. And I haven't even bothered purchasing Civ V for that very same reason. I'm convinced that the development team for IV and V are made up of pretty much the same folks, while Civ III was different. They certainly had at least one Leftie present, and that made a huge difference. And if a game is not Left Handed friendly, I generally stay away from it.


Ghpstage said:
Its about the different civ games, i'm guessing its due to the distribution of hotkeys. Despite being a lefty when writing I tend to be right leaning semi-ambidextrous for most tasks so I suppose I wouldn't see how any problems could arise :confused:
Click to expand...

And thanks for helping out. You are also an adult, and its nice to have some willing to answer my question.

The problem here is that it is not friendly for two-handed play for someone left handed. The keyboard, with its numerical keyboard on the right, is a natural advantage for lefties, because their mouse is on the left side for the left hand to use. And the right hand is free to do everything else, while keeping the mouse instantly ready for use.

Now, I'm one of those strange people who's dexterity is in my left hand, and my power is in my right hand. But I still use the left handed mouse, or high performance touch pad. And I leave the right hand to do all the follow-through in any actions of the game. It works extremely well, provided a game is set up for someone to use this method. Unfortunately Civ IV doesn't allow me to do this, to the best of my knowledge.

If there are any lefties, who really know how to fly, while playing Civ IV, I really, really would like to know, because I'd like to move up in Civ versions.
 
I think a big part of what your feeling is due to hotkeys not being bindable with an ingame menu, a simple feature that the majority of games have....
If woud prefer to use hotkeys for most tasks but they all feel like they are in awkward locations, and find them very forgettable anyway.

Strictly speaking, they can be changed, but it involves editing the XML, and they aren't all found in a singe file either so i've never found it worth the effort to track them down and change them :sad:
 
John L said:
Yeah, there really is a difference. And thanks for being civil and acting like an adult here. I really do appreciate it. Civ III is a perfect game to play is you are left handed. The player can use his/her left hand mouse/touchpad as the 'point/selection' stroke, and the right hand as the 'action' key. Normally, a right handed player has to use the right hand for clicking on to the unit/improvement and then moving that same hand again to click on the initiation of the process. It takes twice as long to accomplish. When I am doing things, or moving units, all I have to do is point-click, point-click, point-click...............and so on and so on. Its completely fluid and very fast.

With Civ IV, its a monumental pain in the arse. Its akin to trying to swim through molasses. Its one of the reasons why I have had this game(Complete) for several years, but hardly ever play it. And I haven't even bothered purchasing Civ V for that very same reason. I'm convinced that the development team for IV and V are made up of pretty much the same folks, while Civ III was different. They certainly had at least one Leftie present, and that made a huge difference. And if a game is not Left Handed friendly, I generally stay away from it.




And thanks for helping out. You are also an adult, and its nice to have some willing to answer my question.

The problem here is that it is not friendly for two-handed play for someone left handed. The keyboard, with its numerical keyboard on the right, is a natural advantage for lefties, because their mouse is on the left side for the left hand to use. And the right hand is free to do everything else, while keeping the mouse instantly ready for use.

Now, I'm one of those strange people who's dexterity is in my left hand, and my power is in my right hand. But I still use the left handed mouse, or high performance touch pad. And I leave the right hand to do all the follow-through in any actions of the game. It works extremely well, provided a game is set up for someone to use this method. Unfortunately Civ IV doesn't allow me to do this, to the best of my knowledge.

If there are any lefties, who really know how to fly, while playing Civ IV, I really, really would like to know, because I'd like to move up in Civ versions.
Click to expand...


I'm confused as to why any of this should matter. Also about why you're being so aggressive. Civ is not a game where you need to make lightning-quick actions. It's a game where you need to think.

Edit: I just tried typing with just my right hand. It was slow and I needed to look at the keyboard, but fast typing still isn't all that important in the game.
 
You're almost as intellectually defunct, but not quite so. I asked a totally legitimate question, and if you were a leftie you would understand why I asked. And you obviously are right handed, and living in a cave, or you would know that LEFT-HANDED people referred to themselves as 'Lefties', and having nothing to do with political persuasion.
Click to expand...

Since you took twice to call names at me: three things:

1) Please calm down.
2) I'm leftist too, but forced right-handed for gaming. Sometimes, one has to learn to be ambidexter. We cannot always force the environment to our desires.
3) I'm a french speaker who doesn't have every single bit of english expression/word memorized yet.

Regarding the cave part. Yeah, I kinda agree to this, because myself, I am tired of my fellow humans for the same reason.

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Jarlaxe Baenre said:
I'm confused as to why any of this should matter. Also about why you're being so aggressive. Civ is not a game where you need to make lightning-quick actions. It's a game where you need to think.

Edit: I just tried typing with just my right hand. It was slow and I needed to look at the keyboard, but fast typing still isn't all that important in the game.
Click to expand...

Well, to me speed actually matters. Granted, Civ IV is a shorter game than Civ III. I'm assuming that is because resources get used up faster, and also because there are is much more graphics.

But it still is too slow for my taste. I've actually turned off the multiple unit imagery, as being redundant and not important.

And thinking is fine. But once you become quite well versed in a game, you don't have to do a lot of thinking. Its like good training. You learn to take the right path, because you already learned which way was best.
 
After careful deliberation with myself, Im going to agree with John L that Im a moron. I simply looked over the fact that in Civ 4 speed matters just as much, if not more, than Starcraft or Age of Empires.

I went ahead and reconfigured the hotkey profile of my game to relearn and train myself for lightning quick reflexes in spamming quechua's and the like.
 
Alchemind said:
After careful deliberation with myself, Im going to agree with John L that Im a moron. I simply looked over the fact that in Civ 4 speed matters just as much, if not more, than Starcraft or Age of Empires.

I went ahead and reconfigured the hotkey profile of my game to relearn and train myself for lightning quick reflexes in spamming quechua's and the like.
Click to expand...

Well, that is far more gentleman and well-thought reply than I. +1 sir Archi-mind.
 
I don't see what the problem is.

I don't even use the keyboard when I'm playing this game aside from using the ctrl key to group units (which is on BOTH sides of the keyboard).
 
You don't need hotkeys unless you're playing FFH, which has no interface. I'm fine with just the mouse, Ctrl and Alt (which are on BOTH sides of the keyboard, as ZeekLTK said.)
 
TheSunIsDark said:
You don't need hotkeys unless you're playing FFH, which has no interface.
Click to expand...

What?! Sounds like you just have a bad install or running a conflicting mod

I'm right-handed but left moused and I have no problem with it
 
lymond said:
What?! Sounds like you just have a bad install or running a conflicting mod
Click to expand...

Normal install with Complete Edition, with 3.13 then 3.19 with patches from here, and it happened before I installed BUG in CustomAssets. Someone suggested running as administrator, I'll try that if I want to play FFH.
 
TheSunIsDark said:
Normal install with Complete Edition, with 3.13 then 3.19 with patches from here, and it happened before I installed BUG in CustomAssets. Someone suggested running as administrator, I'll try that if I want to play FFH.
Click to expand...

Maybe you hit the hotkey that minimizes/eliminates the interface, and it remembered that option?
 
Didn't you post this thread somewhere else? I ask because I felt like I replied to this topic already. :(
 
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