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How do you position your hands when playing?

AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
edited August 2016 in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
I'm right handed, so I just rest my right hand on the mouse the whole time. No big surprises here.

I'm more interested in what you do with the keyboard hand. I use a standard position 99% of the time:
  • The first four fingers (pinky to index) rest on the numbers 1-4. The idea is that I can select any of my four first characters without even moving a finger.
  • From that position, my index has quick access to the other two characters (5 and 6) and to the F5 key (disarm traps, open locks, etc.)
  • My pinky has quick access to the Tab key (highlighting), Q (Quickload) and Esc.
  • My thumb falls conveniently on the spacebar.
Almost anything that is not covered in the list I do with the mouse. It's quite simple and normally it works pretty well, but some tasks take a lot of time, specially pre battle buffing. I'm thinking it might be worth checking other combinations.

So what's your style? A super gamer mouse that frees your left hand to fondle your chick while you play? You optimize so much the hotkeys that you barely need to touch the mouse? You're still trying to figure out what part of the computer is the keyboard? Let us know!

Comments

  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    I keep my fingers resting on the directional keys, to adjust the camera on the fly. I prefer doing it with the keys rather than the mouse just what I'm used to. I've messed around with hot-keys enough that I just move away from the camera when I need to use that hot key, which, generally, is not a time I need to worry about the camera anyway.
  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    AstroBryGuy said:

    Mouse in the right hand, cold beverage in the left hand. :smiley:

    Please do NOT tell us what part of your body you use to press the keys
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Right hand mouse. Left hand keyboard:

    Thumb on the spacebar
    Ring finger between Q, W, and 2
    Middle finger between W, E, and 3

    This lets me select the first several characters, quicksave, and pause the game without moving any hands. Also lets me use Tab or Alt to highlight containers.
  • SirBatinceSirBatince Member Posts: 882
    right hand on mouse

    left thumb on space
    left ring finger on tab
    rest takes care of Q and F#
  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    That's funny. I expected a lot of people to have optimized methods for using the keyboard in the most efficient and ergonomic fashion (and maybe learn a bit from them). Turns out I'm the one with the most comprehensive method.

    I guess I shouldn't even bother asking about hotkey reassigning...
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    ...I have neither hands nor fingers...

    Once you swallow the whole keyboard it becomes pretty easy to use. Just make sure it's either waterproof, or you have an electricity resistance of at least 40.
  • ArchaosArchaos Member Posts: 1,421
    For BG, I ALWAYS have my thumb over the Space button so I can pause on the fly.
    Also my fingers are close to R and Tab.

    But generally, it's the classic left hand on keyboard, right hand on the mouse most of the times.
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    Southpaw said:

    Mouse in one hand (ambidextrous), the other hand down my pants. Face-tentacles holding a beer.

    You don't watch a lot of anime, do you? Because there are much better uses for those tentacles.
  • Mr2150Mr2150 Member Posts: 1,170
    Right hand on mouse, left hand floating at 45 degrees over the keyboard, with my thumb poised to hit space and my pinky hovering over 1 / Escape...
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    One hand on mouse, the other in my pants.
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    I keep my left hand on WASD, even though Baldur's Gate is no first person shooter and I don't use those keys in BG. It just feels like the proper place for my left hand when playing a computer game. My left thumb is always resting on the spacebar, ready to pause.
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    Well, I remapped the camera to WSAD, so I can scroll through that.
    So my left hand is on WSAD most of the time, usually hit TAB with my ring finger, Q, I and J with the index finger. The space bar with the thumb. Hardly use any other keys, so I do everything else with the mouse, right hand.
  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    Buttercheese said:

    Well, I remapped the camera to WSAD, so I can scroll through that.

    Neat. Although you lose quick access to the mage spells.
    Buttercheese said:


    So my left hand is on WSAD most of the time, usually hit TAB with my ring finger, Q, I and J with the index finger.

    You must have very long fingers...
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,002
    I've never been a fan of the WASD, I think its because when I used to play doom 95/2 I would use the old school controls, and luckily at that time there were some extra keys above the "left arrow" and "right arrow" key that would let me strafe, so every since those days I have always used the arrow keys, even in first person shooters know adays, if I don't set the controls for a PC controller, I will still use the arrow keys for movement, I can see now that its not really an optimal way on to play first person shooters now adays with all these new commands you can do, but I make them work

    so for me, right hand on the mouse, and left hand on the arrow keys, and I use all the numpad buttons for dialogue selection and it takes me no time at all to use the space bar to pause, unpause and go through dialogue boxes, in fact, when using the space bar to go through dialogue boxes, and use 4 of my fingers on one hand to get through it as quick as possible

    if you were to watch my play the bg series, you would almost think a robot was playing it ( except for the spasticness that I will usually play with) I just love playing the game quick, that's why I can beat the entire series and do every quest, in one weekend
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    edited August 2016
    Alonso said:

    You must have very long fingers...

    I really do though ... Maybe I should just remap inventory, journal and maybe quickload to something closer ...
  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    I also use the arrow keys sometimes, but my default positioning is the one described above. I think that's become more important in my games since I raised the difficulty settings. The last few weeks I've been playing Insane or LoB with SCS with a hard setup. That means that I spend far more time fighting (and getting ready for the fight) than doing anything else. So I end up getting tired of casting PfE + Strength + Blur + Mirror Image + MSD + Haste + MGoI + Spell Immunity + ... for each of my four casters almost each time I start a fight.

    But if you play in a lower difficulty setting the mouse and the arrow keys will be fine for almost everything, certainly.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Southpaw said:

    Mouse in one hand (ambidextrous), the other hand down my pants. Face-tentacles holding a beer.

    FinneousPJ said:

    One hand on mouse, the other in my pants.

    You know, certain devices could free up that hand.
  • AlonsoAlonso Member Posts: 806
    Any other ideas about using hotkeys? The game has tons of them, and they can be remapped to whatever you want. I feel I'm missing a lot by ignoring those possibilities...
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    My most used hotkey is the pause. I use some other ones for spells or other things that I use often, mainly with sorcerers, But I like to micromanage a lot and play with many autopause conditions enabled, for me the hotkeys are just a way to make some repetitive things more easy, I use anyway the pause extensively to manage the inventory (ie to equip a bow unequipping a shield or +1APR weapon from the OH), to have my chars target the enemies that I want with the weapons and spells that I think that work better in the situation and so on.

    I think that having the hotkeys completely remapped to allow the management of the party using the keyboard can be really useful for multiplayer games and for styles different from the one I use.
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    semiticgod said:

    Southpaw said:

    Mouse in one hand (ambidextrous), the other hand down my pants. Face-tentacles holding a beer.

    FinneousPJ said:

    One hand on mouse, the other in my pants.

    You know, certain devices could free up that hand.
    which of the two?...
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    Playing games on PC is always a full-body affair. I have to leap from one side of the keyboard to the other, and the keys don't press down unless I throw all of my weight behind my front paws.
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    edited August 2016
    lroumen said:

    semiticgod said:

    Southpaw said:

    Mouse in one hand (ambidextrous), the other hand down my pants. Face-tentacles holding a beer.

    FinneousPJ said:

    One hand on mouse, the other in my pants.

    You know, certain devices could free up that hand.
    which of the two?...
    A loving boyfriend/girlfriend is a perfect device for both, and more, scratch your back, massage your aching neck, bring you some sandwiches or a container to piss into and so on.
    It need intensive maintenance but is very useful.
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