Discrimination of the left handed or...

[Ladina]

...just plainly my ignorance?

Hi there

I can't play UO with my right hand because I have some health issues there.

I can play UO in 2d (old client) with my left hand, and the mouse buttons are accordingly swapped, as they should be.

When I start up UOKR or UOSA (not the classic client), my mouse - even though it still has the mouse buttons swapped in any other program - will revert back to a being a "right hand mouse", so I would e.g. have to press the mouse button with my index finger to walk etc.

Where can I change that? I'm not the only left handed person here, aren't I?


Thanks for any hint, useful workaround, tip...


Ladina

 

[Fink]

I'm a leftie, too.

I haven't found any workaround because I always use RH mouse button assignments; I didn't realise there was an issue.

One thing that does bug me is object handles being assigned to the left ctrl-shift combo. It means reaching across the keyboard with the right hand, rather than using the right side where most of my keystrokes are. There doesn't seem to be any way to bind handles to the right-side ctrl-shift, or unbind those left-side keys (which I use as a modifier for other non-critical macros).

 

[Old Man of UO]

Here's why:
"Sinister is originally a Latin term for left or to the left (and by extension, left-handedness), and is used in heraldry to refer to the left of the bearer of the arms, and to the right by the viewer's eyes. It is often used to mean evil."

All Lefties are just plain evil!

 

[Sweeney]

EA are the overbearing parents forcing you to become right-handed.

 

[Kiminality]

This is why there's betas.
Because every combination of everything is impossible to predict.
Bug report.

 

[Ladina]

This is why there's betas.
Because every combination of everything is impossible to predict.
Bug report.

Think so? Well, I did - already with UOKR, where the problem appeared the first time. I went from bug report to emailing them, faxing them (including - and you may laugh here - my doctor's certificate, hoping that would get a response) and writing a letter via snail mail to calling a GM ingame.

So - I am still truly hoping it just means I haven't found the solution yet. But from everybody's response here - hey, "lefties" - considering that quite a few people are left handed, and considering that this was not an issue in 2d nor in the old 3d client, why now? Why hard code the mouse buttons in the program (which is, I think, what happened) instead of doing it like every other program?

Ladina

 

[Fink]

Here's why:
"Sinister is originally a Latin term for left or to the left (and by extension, left-handedness), and is used in heraldry to refer to the left of the bearer of the arms, and to the right by the viewer's eyes. It is often used to mean evil."

All Lefties are just plain evil!

Thanks, Flanders!

 

[Kiminality]

Well, in fairness, KR had a lot of issues that never got fixed.

I assume with what you've said, that the classic client has the buttons "reversed" for the left-handed. Left click being move, right being interact, and all.
Does that happen with other games?
For example, would primary fire in an FPS be on the right mouse button, and the contextual click for modern RTSs be on the left?
I'm right-handed to the point where I can barely dunk a biscuit in tea with my left hand (although it more than adequately complements my right for typing), so I couldn't even begin to test it without earth-shattering self humiliation.

If that isn't the case, and most games use the same LMB/RMB assignments with both left and right handed, that that would probably explain the design decision to not have it reversed.
It's just inconsistent, and either way, does need changing.
</ramble>

 

[R Traveler]

As for ugly but strong solution - hardware mouse tweak for buttons swap. Sometimes its easier to do hardware modding, not waiting for software fix.

 

[Fink]

Sort-of on topic.

Anyone know of a good gaming pad for left-handers? Either one that's reversible or comes in a RH version.

 

[Shamus Turlough]

You know, I was so busy pondering the harder problems, when an obvious solution was staring me right in the face. Ladina, have you tried a mouse, such as one of the higher end logitechs, that has its own control software? Some of the mice come with gaming software that will control the mouse on top of the game you are playing, and you can swap the right and left mouse buttons. Something to research!

 

[Sweeney]

I hear the Leftorium has them for sale.

 

[Old Man of UO]

Thanks, Flanders!

I think of myself as more of Cliff Claven, than Flanders.

 

[Ladina]

Well, thank you all for your suggestions, here's an update:

We tested this in other games. None we tried had the same issue with lefties, i.e. in every other game we tested, the mouse buttons were set according to the general windows settings. So if the buttons were set for left handed person (i.e. reversed), they would be the same in the game. This included WoW.

As for your suggestions: I think I'll go for the Hardware Option. I asked my husband for help (he's definitely capable of changing the wiring in a mouse), and he'll change my favorite mouse into a "hardwired leftie-mouse" ;-), which basically means he'll swap around the wires leading to the two buttons.

Still, I think it's rather silly that this should be necessary and that we should have to change our mouse when every other program is perfectly able to respect the windows mouse buttons settings for left handed people.

I've been playing UO for just about 11 years now and am currently running 4 accounts even though I actually played maybe 30 hours this year max, which I think is crazy enough as it is but I didn't think I'd ever go as far as rewiring my mouse for this game.


Ladina

 

[Fink]

I didn't think I'd ever go as far as rewiring my mouse for this game.

Seems rather extreme, but if you're handy with hardware it's no worse than upgrading your system to run the latest game.

What really irks me is having to hack around config files etc to get "standard" features running properly! If I can do it, why can't they?

 

[Ladina]

Frankly, what irks me the most about this is that even though I am the famous paying customer, I get more support from you guys here - always - than from the people I pay my invoices to. Don't you just like, after playing for more than ten years, replies like this one:

Thank you for your petition. We understand that you would like our involvement in this situation, but Game Masters aren’t available to assist with this issue. We ask that you please review the <a href="http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2">Role of a Game Master FAQ</a> in our Knowledge Base at <a href="http://support.ea.com/">http://support.ea.com/</a> if you are unclear as to what issues a Game Master can address. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via the "Ask a Question" tab (within the Knowledge Base website.) Thank you for your patience and understanding.

GM Balendros

EA.com Customer Relations

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