[Q] Who Else Uses Their Thumbs?

XDJuicebox

United States593 Posts

January 22 2011 03:57 GMT

I was just wondering. As a piano player, I use my thumbs a lot, to tap the Spacebar, and anything that has anything to do with Hotkeys 1-3 I use my thumb with.

In fact, I hotkey my Buildings to 1-3, and armies 4-0.

I got kinda curious because I started to notice that no one else (my friends, people I've seen, etc.) uses their thumbs, and I don't want to be the only person in the world that uses their thumbs. Lol.

valheru

Australia966 Posts

January 22 2011 03:59 GMT

If you can use your thumbs do it it's just an advantage (maybe). Personally I don't use my thumbs since my hands don't have a problem reaching across the keyboard.

Smurphy

United States374 Posts

January 22 2011 04:00 GMT

How do you use your thumbs for hotkeys 1-3? A right handed person using a standard setup has their right hand on the mouse and their left hand centered on the a-s-d-f keys. The thumb would be over the spacebar. By default, hotkeys 1-3 and on the number keys 1-3. The thumb would not be a logical choice of finger to press those keys.

I setup spacebar as team #0 I assign my command centers/nexus/hatcheries to #0. I use my thumb on spacebar to make more workers. Also I have a thumb button on my mouse. I use that to center the camera on a base. I can press the thumb key rapidly to cycle through bases.

skyR

Canada13817 Posts

January 22 2011 04:00 GMT

I think its pretty normal to use your thumb to press spacebar, alt, and most keys on the bottom row.

BadWolf0

United States300 Posts

January 22 2011 04:01 GMT

yup I play guitar flamenco style and piano and I use my thumb for every ability (inject, fungal, corruption) and spacebar to flip between bases. I showed one of my friends it and it helped him start with FFs so I feel like its definately always a good thing to use more fingers (duh.) A note (you probly kno as a piano player) ... keep your wrists straight because prolonged bent wrist/thumb stresses your carpal nerve. dunno if it helps but I gave myself early carpals at 16 from a combination of keyboard/classical guitar so I always pass that along.

Shifft

Canada1085 Posts

January 22 2011 04:03 GMT

Sure I use my thumb for xcvb and 8-0.

XDJuicebox

United States593 Posts

January 22 2011 04:04 GMT

I park my ring-index fingers on 1-3 respectively, and I tilt my thumb in just a little so that my thumb rests on the s key. And I guess I should've worded that better, whenever hotkeys 1-3 are selected, I use my thumb to tell them what to do.

For example, if I have my CC on 1 and my Rax on 2 and my Scouting SCV on 3, I'll hit
1 with my ring finger, s with my thumb, 2 with my middle finger, a with my thumb, and doubletap 3 with my index finger to shoot me back

I don't actually tap 1-3 with my thumb lol that's just stupid ><

According to my friends, my left hand never moves...

I'm a lefty by the way, but I still use the standard hotkey setup with my right hand on the mouse

avilo

United States4100 Posts

January 22 2011 04:05 GMT

I use my thumb for the control key when re-hotkeying, and also for the 'a' key in 1a2a3a. I also use my thumb for space bar.

uSnAmplified

United States1029 Posts

January 22 2011 04:08 GMT

My thumb is pretty much hardwired to hit spacebar, was the jump key in WoW.

Even when i play other games i instinctively press spacebar to jump, even if its not the right key

Farkinator

United States283 Posts

January 22 2011 04:12 GMT

#10

On January 22 2011 12:57 XDJuicebox wrote:
I was just wondering. As a piano player, I use my thumbs a lot, to tap the Spacebar, and anything that has anything to do with Hotkeys 1-3 I use my thumb with.

In fact, I hotkey my Buildings to 1-3, and armies 4-0.

I got kinda curious because I started to notice that no one else (my friends, people I've seen, etc.) uses their thumbs, and I don't want to be the only person in the world that uses their thumbs. Lol.

Haha I've never thought about that. I have pretty large hands which I've always attributed to playing the piano since I was 5. I have no trouble reaching all across the keyboard and using 1-0 (Hell I've experimented with classic hotkey settings just for giggles to see if it feels more comfortable)

XDJuicebox

United States593 Posts

January 22 2011 04:14 GMT

#11

On January 22 2011 13:12 Farkinator wrote:

Haha I've never thought about that. I have pretty large hands which I've always attributed to playing the piano since I was 5. I have no trouble reaching all across the keyboard and using 1-0 (Hell I've experimented with classic hotkey settings just for giggles to see if it feels more comfortable)

I've been playing since I was 8, a little late for the typical asian nerd lol

I rarely go past hotkey 8, only when I'm trying to hotkey like a bunch of different groups of army lol. I think my reason for sucking at Brood War for always missing the 0 key, and not calling up my scans fast enough, and just dying to Lurkers. Haha

Bonham

Canada655 Posts

January 22 2011 04:17 GMT

#12

Thumbs up! I use my thumb on the spacebar and hotkeying from 8-0, which (probably to my detriment) happens about once a game. Doesn't everyone use their thumb for space?

Deleted User 135096

3624 Posts

January 22 2011 04:18 GMT

#13

Since I moved my 'town camera' from [backspace] to [spacebar] I use my thumb quite a bit now. Also, my normal hand position is in the normal typing position.

Being that you have a considerable piano background, I'm not really surprised that you use your fingers/thumb in that position as that is also the normal position of the hand when playing piano and the allows for a pretty typical pivotal movement of the thumb when moving around.

Mwentworth56

146 Posts

January 22 2011 04:18 GMT

#14

I dont think useing your thumbs is as fast but whatever works =)

XDJuicebox

United States593 Posts

January 22 2011 04:22 GMT

#15

Wait...there's a button for Town Camera? What is this? How does it work? Lol

I use F1-F8 to hotkey screens, and I currently use that use that to cycle between bases lol

Very Brood War esque

ZeromuS

Canada13389 Posts

January 22 2011 04:27 GMT

#16

Nothing wrong with using our thumbs. I use mine for the keys on the bottom row and also the space bar. If it works for you keep doing it basically

Kinetik_Inferno

United States1431 Posts

January 22 2011 04:31 GMT

#17

g h j b n space bar

thats it

darklordjac

Canada2231 Posts

January 22 2011 04:32 GMT

#18

I use it rarely only for stretching for ctrl 9/0, mostly use the right control key for that

Yoshi Kirishima

United States10332 Posts

January 22 2011 04:38 GMT

#19

Even if your thumb is stronger, i don't think its effective to do that... army wise at least, you won't be able to cycle through your army (if you use only 1 control group you shouldn't!) fast enough. If you think about it your thumb will have to move 4 times as fast as your other fingers since its 1 finger versus 4 fingers basically. And you will need your thumb for the lower part of the keyboard for buttons like "B" for building.

At least, this is what I think of only after a couple minutes

XDJuicebox

United States593 Posts

January 22 2011 04:47 GMT

#20

I don't use my thumb for the A button when I'm going to control groups 4-6, which is where my army usually is.

Another reason why I sucked in brood war was because I hit 1a2a3a a's on my thumb, and then I'd twist and hit 4a5a6a7a8a9a0a with my index and pinky lol.

-orb-

United States5770 Posts

January 22 2011 04:53 GMT

#21

I don't use my thumbs, but spacebar is such a giant, easy-to-hit key that I should really rebind something that's used extremely often to it and use it all the time.

It's really silly not to use one of the most versatile fingers on our hands haha

djcube

United States985 Posts

January 22 2011 05:00 GMT

#22

I learned to use my thumbs b/c of bw (marines and mutas were both 'M' and also to use 7,8,9,0). A lot of people are surprised that I use them when they see me playing in person, but it's actually really easy and reduces hand movement. I actually put 'M' as the alternative hotkey for a lot of upgrades like movement speed for various units and just hit it with my thumb since I'm so used to it.

I've seen a lot of progamers use their thumb for 6,7,8,9,0 as well (most notably Flash).

marscapwn

United States20 Posts

January 22 2011 05:08 GMT

#23

I can't imagine there's anything wrong with using your thumb provided it does as well or better than how you would perform without using them.

After watching the GSL and some pro replays I see that some people use obscenely few hotkeys. These guys are probably ctrl+click and tab masters where they develop very smooth control in game through very few hotkeys. Then there are other people (I think Day[9] said he was one them) that use tons of hotkeys.

Generally, hotkeys are pretty useless if you always have to think about them. I'm sure everyone here is at the point or is getting to the point where they have a stable set of hotkeys that is like second nature. They develop very consistent rhythm in how they manage and control their macro and their army micro.

I haven't reach a point where I'm using my thumbs for anything other than the space bar and a few buttons on my mouse.

Currently I have "backspace" hotkeyed to one of the buttons for easier shifting around on bases and larvae injection. I'm experimenting with different commands for those buttons some extra buttons I have on the mouse. And the day may come where shift+9 and shift+0 will be useful.

Torte de Lini

Germany38463 Posts

January 22 2011 05:10 GMT

#24

I actually use my pinky excessively. I think it's now bent a bit out of shape. That and my index finger always naturally folds underneath my middle finger when I hold the fingers out straight.

As for thumb... I never have any hotkeys near it. That and thumbs are the most awkwardly directed finger for me lolol

Markwerf

Netherlands3728 Posts

January 22 2011 05:11 GMT

#25

I should indeed reassign spacebar to something.. I never use it's default function so I should probably just make it another control. Probably gonna put my first scout / observer on it from now on.

0mgVitaminE

United States1278 Posts

January 22 2011 05:27 GMT

#26

I use my thumbs all the time tapping space bar, but that's the extent of their use

Boundless

Canada588 Posts

January 22 2011 05:40 GMT

#27

Rebind spacebar to your town view. As zerg, it makes doing multiple larva injects insanely easy. Put all your hatches on one hotkey, and all your queens on another. To inject, select all your queens. Press V. Hold Shift. Inject your first hatch and then alternate pressing the left mouse button and the spacebar.

Bingo, all your hatcheries are now injected simultaneously, and it took you 1.5 seconds.

United States1177 Posts

January 22 2011 05:47 GMT

#28

c,v,b are easier to reach with the thumb but I always tend to use my index finger to press them, which bends my hand in an awkward way but feels more accurate.

swiftazn

United States36 Posts

January 22 2011 06:03 GMT

#29

i have a razer naga mouse that i bought specifically for sc2 so i dont have to reach accross my keyboard to use 6-0 instead they are bound to my mouse =) 12 thumb buttons FTW!!!

Abstinence

United States328 Posts

January 22 2011 06:05 GMT

#30

I have a mouse button bound to ~/` for larvae inject that I hit with my thumb.

EMPaThy789

New Zealand878 Posts

January 22 2011 06:08 GMT

#31

i use my thumb alot since i use custom hotkeys similar to bw. being a protoss in bw i use p for my probes and 0 for my nexuses. i generaly press ctrl with my thumb in order to hotkey any numbers above 6. i also sometiems hit b or v with my thumb to build things like assimulators or stargates.

Louuster

Canada2869 Posts

January 22 2011 06:19 GMT

#32

I never realized people didnt use their thumb lol.
I play zerg and I use the thumb a lot. Basically imagine a line cutting the keyboard accross v, g and y. Everything to the right including those keys is pressed with the thumb.
I usually have my hand placed so my index is on 4 (hatches) and my 4th on s. From there I use the 3rd for drones, pinky for lings, index for mutas and roaches.

RodYan

United States126 Posts

January 22 2011 07:14 GMT

#33

The best thing I ever did was bind the forward and back buttons on my mouse to perform the same action as middle click; which is drag scroll.

Whether you prefer drag scroll or not is another story, but if you use drag scroll, it's MUCH better than using your middle finger.

The middle finger is much weaker than your thumb and I don't doubt you are more likely to injure yourself with repeated use of the middle finger as opposed to repeated thumb usage.

Karliath

United States2214 Posts

January 22 2011 07:21 GMT

#34

b v

Crankenstein

Australia150 Posts

January 22 2011 15:05 GMT

#35

I have a Razer Naga (Mouse with a numpad on the side of it).

I use my thumb on my mouse hand for: 1 2 and 3 (units)

I use my left hand for: the letters on the left side of the keyboard and 4 5 6 7 (production structures)

I take my hand off of my mouse to press 9 and 0 on the keyboard with my other hand... I know that's not very good but it just happens... I only use 9 and 0 for upgrades so I don't think it matters a whole lot...

I would probably be *slightly* more accurate with my mouse if I wasn't pushing buttons on it but I kinda like it this way because I don't have to move my left hand around a whole lot.

ICA

498 Posts

January 22 2011 15:07 GMT

#36

I play with grid and would be stupid not to use it.

heyyouyesyou

United States323 Posts

January 22 2011 15:19 GMT

#37

I use my thumb for when i need to build something (B, V) or when im macroing and my army is under attack i press space bar when they say were under attack.

PatouPower

Canada1119 Posts

January 22 2011 15:33 GMT

#38

On January 22 2011 13:04 XDJuicebox wrote:
I park my ring-index fingers on 1-3 respectively, and I tilt my thumb in just a little so that my thumb rests on the s key. And I guess I should've worded that better, whenever hotkeys 1-3 are selected, I use my thumb to tell them what to do.

For example, if I have my CC on 1 and my Rax on 2 and my Scouting SCV on 3, I'll hit
1 with my ring finger, s with my thumb, 2 with my middle finger, a with my thumb, and doubletap 3 with my index finger to shoot me back

I don't actually tap 1-3 with my thumb lol that's just stupid ><

According to my friends, my left hand never moves...

I'm a lefty by the way, but I still use the standard hotkey setup with my right hand on the mouse

Ah, now I understand... But I guess you use a custom setup, since having your thumb on the "s" key ready to hit the left part of the keyboard, you would have a hard time reaching keys like "b". Well, I guess it depends on the shape of your hand and fingers.

Nub4ever

Canada1981 Posts

January 22 2011 15:51 GMT

#39

I use my thumb for the spacebar and alt only mainly, I use my pinky for shift ctrl and all that and use my index/middle finger for all the hotkey numbers

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[Q] Who Else Uses Their Thumbs?

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