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Left handed or Right?

polycounter lvl 12
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Spiffy polycounter lvl 12
Just thought it would be interesting to see.

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  • Tekoppar
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    Tekoppar polycounter lvl 10
    I write with my left, but use the mouse with my right hand. I'm probably not alone with this.
  • Punio
    I only draw with my left. Everything else with my right; even my handwriting is better with my write. So I'm more specific ambidextrous :P
  • lotet
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    lotet hero character
    Same here, left handed but use the computer as right handed people.
  • Spiffy
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    Spiffy polycounter lvl 12
    It's really common.

    I would probably play left handed guitar or use a left handed mouse if that was an option growing up.

    Left handed people can be pretty mixed up, but I'm definitely not ambidextrous, Just had to learn to do certain things with my right hand.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I'm ambidextrous at golf/mini golf, but I rarely play, everything else is right handed.
  • Deathstick
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    Deathstick polycounter lvl 7
    I draw/use a tablet/throw/play baseball with my left, played lacrosse with my left and right, cut paper with my right, and use a mouse with my right.

    Oh, the good old days when teachers would give me the left-handed scissors in elementary school and I would try to steal the right ones as they hurt my hand.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Wow ! it actually never occurred to me before today that even though I am a leftie I do use scissors with my right hand. Just never noticed it before ! That's kind of messed up :D
  • alonzo
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    alonzo polycounter lvl 11
    Tekoppar wrote: »
    I write with my left, but use the mouse with my right hand. I'm probably not alone with this.

    +1 me too :)

    I can do a lot of things with the right hand, but writing is ugly :poly121:
  • Zocky
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    Zocky greentooth
    Left hander, use mouse left of the keyboard, but with regular right hand setup.

    Yes, that means i use middle finger for LMB clicking. Probably the only one on the world to do this. :P
  • SuperFranky
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    SuperFranky polycounter lvl 10
    I'm right handed, but sometimes I eat with my left hand. It makes browsing reddit easier :)
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Yes, that means i use middle finger for LMB clicking. Probably the only one on the world to do this. :P

    You are not alone !
  • Zocky
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    Zocky greentooth
    Lol really? I was pretty sure i'd be the only one doing something crazy like that. :P
  • Deathstick
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    Deathstick polycounter lvl 7
    pior wrote: »
    You are not alone !

    So do you bind mouse2 to fire and mouse1 to secondary, or do you shoot with your middle finger :O
  • Zocky
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    Zocky greentooth
    In my case, i have regular right handed setup like every other right hander, just use it with left hand...so yeah, basically shooting and doing any other LMB with middle finger....

    And yeah i know you asked pior, but if he's like me, he's probably doing the same thing. :P

    And yes, i'm weird like that. :P
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Yeah, no crazy mouse button switching here - just using the defaults, it works fine ! Middle finger ftw :D And it makes the back button pretty easy to reach too with the ring finger (which I personally use for relead in FPS games)
  • Deathstick
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    Deathstick polycounter lvl 7
    Zocky wrote: »
    In my case, i have regular right handed setup like every other right hander, just use it with left hand...so yeah, basically shooting and doing any other LMB with middle finger....

    And yeah i know you asked pior, but if he's like me, he's probably doing the same thing. :P

    And yes, i'm weird like that. :P

    Oh I asked you both, the quote option only quoted prior however and I was too lazy to copy and paste :)

    Headshots by flippin' the bird? Ouchies
  • yodude87
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    yodude87 polycounter lvl 5
    pior wrote: »
    You are not alone !

    wow, im not crazy!!
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 19
    I draw & write with my left hand, mouse & guitar with my right. I'm currently drinking coffee with my left hand but I don't really pay attention to what hand I eat with; I think it's because my desk at home as more empty space on the left side.

    Splitting up tasks between hands has probably done a lot to stave off RSI and carpel tunnel syndrome!
  • Mask_Salesman
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    Mask_Salesman polycounter lvl 13
    I've broken my right a lot so a few years back I started training up my left, I'm pretty ambidextrous now which is a slight piece of mind given a lot of us place the safety of our careers in only one hand.

    I also like to balance the workload between them evenly, you gotta think ergonomics if you're in this game for the long haul. :D
  • Froyok
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    Froyok greentooth
    Fully left handed here... with inverted mouse buttons (from drawing to using a mouse or scissors) ! It's always painfull to see some developpers forgetting that context in their game... I'm looking at you Crysis !

    During a short period I used the mouse with my left hand but with the right-handed button configuration, until I got some problems and pain in the hand. Now I have switched. It's always funny to see colleagues losing their minds when they can't use my mouse on my computer. :)
  • Leinad
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    Leinad polycounter lvl 12
    Left handed and I use a right handed mouse.

    Roughly 10% of the population is left handed, it would be interesting to see a large sample size of how many artists on Polycount are left handed!
  • Ben Apuna
    Similar to SuperFranky, I'm right handed, though about a year ago I started eating with my left hand. It was pretty funny eating like a 2-3 year old for a few weeks.

    As time passes my left hand seems to be getting slightly more coordinated at other random things. I think it would be cool to be able to draw/write with my left as well as my right hand. I'm not sure how long it'll take though, probably have to try harder than I am currently. Next up brushing teeth...
  • gsokol
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    gsokol polycounter lvl 14
    Lefty.


    Like others mentioned, got a good leg up on using both hands because of using a mouse with my right hand. One day a while back I just tried writing with my right hand, imagining that I was just writing something in PS with a mouse....and realized it was fairly easy. Was good enough that people couldn't guess which hand I wrote with.

    Lefties having to use righty things gives us a leg up I think. Even if you aren't naturally ambidextrous, you get forced into learning to train your right hand often.
  • danicem
    right handed and lefty with feet xD
  • FourtyNights
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    FourtyNights polycounter
    I'm completely left handed. I eat, write/draw/sculpt, use "special" lefty scissors, play left handed guitars, use the mouse with a left hand with default buttons. When it comes to playing games, I always need to keybind WASD to arrow keys, crouch with a numpad 0, and jump with a right shift, just for an example. :D

    And I usually look for a mouse with an ambidextric or a left handed design. Currently using Logitech M235. (;

    So... anything right handed is pretty much extremely awkward or impossible for me to handle, haha.
  • Froyok
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    Froyok greentooth
    I'm completely left handed. I eat, write/draw/sculpt, use "special" lefty scissors, play left handed guitars, use the mouse with a left hand with default buttons. When it comes to playing games, I always need to keybind WASD to arrow keys, crouch with a numpad 0, and jump with a right shift, just for an example. :D.

    Ha funny ! In my case I keep the WASD (or ZQSD on azerty keyboards) but often change all the key around. Like often in FPS : the shift key to sprint become ALT.

    No need to say that jumping with space with the back of my right hand can be sometimes a bit annoying. :p
  • throttlekitty
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    throttlekitty ngon master
    I'm partly ambidextrous, though it depends on the task. For most drawing I use my right hand. Apparently when I was a child, I'd switch hands when drawing, and my first grade teacher needed my parents to decide which hand I should be taught to use. Conformity to the school system et al.
  • ferrettank
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    ferrettank polycounter lvl 2
    If I have a choice, I will use my left hand, but for stuff such as scissors and computer mouses, I use my right hand. Makes it way more convenient :P
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    I voted 'ambidextrous' as it was the closest option, but I'm actually cross-dominant. I will use different hands for completing different tasks.

    I believe this comes down to my early schooling; I suspect I should be left-handed, but I had a religious zealot nutjob primary school teacher who'd punish you for writing with your left hand, as 'left handedness was evil and ungodly'. I learnt to write with my right hand as a result.

    I also use a mouse in the right hand, likely because that's where it's always located.

    I however use stuff like cutlery left-handed (back to front), and will catch with my left (though throw with my right).

    I'm weird.
  • Joost
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    Joost polycount sponsor
    Quite interesting that 30% is left handed, considering 90% of the general population is right handed (according to Google)
    Even though it's a relatively small sample size of 3d artists.
  • jfeez
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    jfeez polycounter lvl 8
    I went with ambi, like ambershee I'm kinda cross-dominant I guess, I can freely switch between left and right for most things, e.g. I can throw/catch a ball with both hands equally well but I insist on using a mouse with my left hand and not inverting the right/left clicks.
    Joost wrote: »
    Quite interesting that 30% is left handed, considering 90% of the general population is right handed (according to Google)
    Even though it's a relatively small sample size of 3d artists.

    I'm sure I've read articles about lefties being more creative which might explain a higher than expected number but that could be bull; also only 164(when i wrote this) have voted so its not a very representative amount for a comparison like you said :)
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    As far as I'm aware, studies tend to indicate that left-handedness is associated with the left hemisphere, but creativity is associated with the right.

    It's all pretty much nonsense at this point though :)
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 19
    It's flipped, left dominant are thought to be right brained and right dominant are left brained. I think that's all be debunked though, the idea originated in the 1800's. If there is an over-representation of left handed people in creative fields it's probably a self fulfilling prophecy.
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    I'm mostly right handed here. Mouse and pen and scissors. Sometimes I could eat stuff with my left, but mostly right. In my culture, kids are taught to 'raise hand in class with right hand, cuz left hand is to wipe your ass.' But then we shake hand with left for boy scouts. Duh. I could drive with my left though...
  • Gadorian
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    Gadorian polycounter lvl 7
    voted Ambidextrous. I write, draw and use tools with left hand, but i hold my mouse with the right hand, also i play a guitar as righthanded, simply because i was to lazy to swap the strings when i was learning it. It's funny actualy, that when i play the real guitar i play it with the right hand, but when i play an air guitar i use my left hand. Also sometimes i find myself realizing that i was holding something in the "wrong" hand, and then i suddenly become clumsy.
  • sziada
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    sziada polycounter lvl 12
    Right handed son, but yeah I'm still not sure yet if I am goofy or regular when it comes to skate or snowboarding
  • Mask_Salesman
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    Mask_Salesman polycounter lvl 13
    Haha I should have said that aswell xD
    I skate regular but I can push goofy in switch. Mongo is for posers kids ;P xD
  • Spiffy
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    Spiffy polycounter lvl 12
    I skate regular but I can't stand goofy

    Mongo is for people who have a death wish(imho).
  • Mark Dygert
    Tekoppar wrote: »
    I write with my left, but use the mouse with my right hand. I'm probably not alone with this.
    Same.

    Growing up we had computer lab monitors that would go crazy on anyone caught moving the mouse to the other side of the keyboard. They were very dogmatic about their approach to "proper computing". They were even worse on people who hunted and pecked. I got good at discretely rebeling but over time I just gave up and conformed.

    At home I try to use a mouse as little as possible, I use the mouse in my right hand a lot at work, while animating. At home I use the wacom in my right hand for mouse related tasks, just to get used to holding the pen in my right hand. If I try to draw right handed it's really awkward, slow and frustrating. When it comes to sitting down and drawing, I switch back to my left, for now. The funny thing is I draw better right handed with a mouse than I do with a pen, but left handed pen trumps all.

    It's a right handed world, especially when it comes to keyboard shortcuts which dramatically affects productivity. Almost all applications want you to use your left hand, down in the left corner of the keyboard. Some just don't offer a way to change that. Some do, but it's a mixed bag of crazy to get it working. It's just easier to get my right hand comfortable with a pen rather than juggle all that.

    At work it's almost all mouse all the time because I'm animating and I'm not being paid to be slow and learn how to be ambi. Unless my mouse hand starts hurting then I'll pull out the tablet, which is rare. It also comes out when I'm painting weights.

    My daughter started out favoring her left hand but when she started school, she switched to her right. I didn't push her that way, but I'm glad she switched, it's just so much easier.
  • Noren
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    Noren polycounter lvl 19
    Joost wrote: »
    Quite interesting that 30% is left handed, considering 90% of the general population is right handed (according to Google)
    Even though it's a relatively small sample size of 3d artists.

    That might be a hint that left handed people tend to be creative, or left handed people are simply more interested in a thread like this. (It's pretty safe to assume they are more likely to have thought about their left handedness in detail before, while right handed people are less likely to be confronted with any problems.)
  • rebb
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    rebb polycounter lvl 17
    Could be interesting to do these kinds of polls in other communities as well, some more technical ones, and some equally creative.
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