hey all,

just was wondering on your guy's method on going about using hot key's and on your hand position because right now mine feel's kind of awkward and i can't seem to get used to moving my pinkie down and to the left to hit shift or the control key, i find it very strange to move my pinkie like that. my finger's rest on the A S D F key's like for typing normally, i was just thinking maybe you guy's had a more simpler hand position to take advantage of the hot key's when doing your macro.

thank's.

ArvickHero

10387 Posts

October 26 2011 21:34 GMT

its awkward to have to use your pinky to press shift/ctrl at first, but after a bit you forget it ever being an inconvenience .. its the only way anyways unless you play lefty-style

duncan.mc

United States231 Posts

October 26 2011 21:37 GMT

I'm interested in this thread. Gonna follow up and see what others do.

I keep my ring, middle, and index finger on 1, 2, and 3 respectively. I keep my pinky kinda curved and hovering around the left shift.

obis

Canada98 Posts

October 26 2011 21:50 GMT

i'm trying to practice but it's so frustrating always trying to use my pinkie and then stretching my other finger's to hit the number's. whatever i'm still learning new way's.

obis

Canada98 Posts

October 26 2011 21:56 GMT

i think the problem was that maybe i wasn't pivoting my left hand where my palm is so it's not as stable, maybe now it will be easier who know's.

Nazza

Australia1654 Posts

October 26 2011 21:58 GMT

I have my keyboard at a bit of an angle. My left side is about 1 1/2 inches up than the right side. makes stretching easier in my case, but depends on hand size.

obis

Canada98 Posts

October 26 2011 22:10 GMT

sometime's it's even hard to keep in track of the mineral patches, like when an scv or worker just come's out and you have to assign him to a patch sometime's they all look full it's hard to tell. is it possible to just send him to the closest patch?

therockmanxx

Peru1174 Posts

October 26 2011 22:29 GMT

somebody needs to take picture of his hand on his keyboard and teach us wht to do =)

obis

Canada98 Posts

October 26 2011 22:35 GMT

On October 27 2011 06:58 Nazza wrote:
I have my keyboard at a bit of an angle. My left side is about 1 1/2 inches up than the right side. makes stretching easier in my case, but depends on hand size.

what if you have a laptop :'(

obis

Canada98 Posts

October 26 2011 22:43 GMT

#10

yeah guy's, i tried doing the pivoting thing with my left hand instead of trying to stretch out my pinkie by a mile and it feel's more stable and easier. even pressing the m key isn't so bad.

Silidons

United States2813 Posts

October 26 2011 22:54 GMT

#11

um you're always supposed to use your pinky for left control/shift when you have your fingers on home row, how is it awkward?

obis

Canada98 Posts

October 26 2011 23:06 GMT

#12

On October 27 2011 07:54 Silidons wrote:
um you're always supposed to use your pinky for left control/shift when you have your fingers on home row, how is it awkward?

it's just hard and awkward to press because you have to move your whole hand. i find that if you pivot your hand instead of lifting it, it is easier that way.

repsac

91 Posts

October 26 2011 23:51 GMT

#13

are your hands tiny or something? +you're on a laptop keyboard, ofc it's going to suck to press those tiny flimsy keys.

FlaShFTW

United States10252 Posts

October 27 2011 00:11 GMT

#14

i have my thumb resting on the spacebar and my index to ring are around 1-3, w-r, s-f. my pinkie comes into play if my hand goes a bit far and then i have A as well. for moving armies, i dont do the stuff where people use their pinkie and go 1a2a3a. it feels too weird. i use thumb at a and then use index for the army. but im thinking of changing that so my army is like 4-0 and everything else that i need is 1-3...

CaffeineFree-_-

United States712 Posts

October 27 2011 00:15 GMT

#15

FPS style. WASD, pinky on shift thumb on space bar.

Mottz

Portugal101 Posts

October 27 2011 01:19 GMT

#16

Me having a background of FPS my fingers just fall naturally for the WASD with pinky on Shift/Ctrl and thumb on Spacebar.

Having the keyboard on an angle helps me alot.

If you are not used to the hotkeys or the keyboard from a gaming perspective you should set anchors points on the keyboard: i got 2 main hand positions, one for micro and another for macro cycles on my Gateways, for micro my anchor is my pinky on shift key, for macro is my index on 0, from here i know where to position the rest of my fingers by muscle memory.

About the scv mining, just send it to a random patch, doesnt make a difference.

About the laptop, i have a laptop and i have an USB keyboard, and even if i dont have space on my desk for the keyboard i just put it on top of the laptops keyboard because its THAT much better than the laptop one.

Snackysnacks

United States411 Posts

October 27 2011 03:04 GMT

#17

I actually feel like take screenshots of handpositons + hotkeys for what i use, ill edit this post when i get home.
Also, another note, playing protoss on broodwar you should try getting use to having thumb on right control, index on P (probes) and fingers on numbers (i normally put nexus/forges) and learning the shift between the other side for common units (building zealots/goons ect) and doing your 1a2a3a.

Ahh, ill take pictures when im home, its helpful to be one of the earlier FPS players with the comfortable WASD and pinky placement.

Mythra

New Zealand274 Posts

October 27 2011 04:15 GMT

#18

I have problems pressing control when I play so I generally make things into groups using shift. But that messes me up sometimes like if i accidently add my armies to my buildings hotkey. So I should probably try and force myself to use control more.

ZenithM

France15952 Posts

October 27 2011 04:27 GMT

#19

I'm from SC2 so do not take my opinion too seriously.
I have my hand with pinky on Shift/Control, ring finger on 1, middle on 2 (main unit control groups, 3 is more specialized in my setting), index on 4, my nexuses, my thumb is on space bar (I cast most main spells with the space bar, and ready to extend a bit to reach B to build stuff with my probes. My hand is always in this position, except when I have to extend a bit to reach my F keys for camera, and 6 (5 is easy to grasp).
I guess that in Broodwar you must move your hand much more than that to handle more control groups and weird hotkeying (like build a probe with P, lawl), but my point is that you just have to find a setting that you're comfortable with, and get used to it. It should not take very long if the setting is intuitive for you.

wishbones

Canada2600 Posts

October 27 2011 14:11 GMT

#20

On October 27 2011 06:34 ArvickHero wrote:
its awkward to have to use your pinky to press shift/ctrl at first, but after a bit you forget it ever being an inconvenience .. its the only way anyways unless you play lefty-style

ha so true, my left pinky is a gosu! the hands adjust to the need be positioning, just use guitar hero as example first try cant hit 3, then 4, then 5, then its easy, i never made it past 4. fuck ~~the orange~~ green button! nvm its orange. lulz. god..