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Gaming Keyboards - How to get used to the layout?
Does anyone have any tips? Typically when typing on a regular keyboard, my hand rests in a certain position, i am for the most part a index finger typer, save for the thumbs on the space bar and the ring finger on the the back space bar, with the middle finger always used for the A. Left hand ringer finger is the capslock. So i am not how this type of typist is referred to, but it's what i've been for 20 years and i think i've become pretty good at it. Nonetheless gaming keyboards have always been by bane, a few years ago i tried a logitech and i couldn't get the hang of it, recently for my birthday my girlfriend bought me a nice razer blackwindo ultimate with backlit lights etc.. because at 38 i am getting old. Anyway, for the life of me i cannot get used to the keyboard, i haven't given it a lot of time, but the #1 thing i think is happening is, my hand placement is on the edge of the keyboard and with the blackwidow at that position i essentially push all the keys next to the one it's supposed to be, so for example the S on a regular keyboard now becomes "A" but the problem is, unless i can mindfk myself to never lifting up my resting right hand i will always eventually get off 1 key and start hitting capslock instead of A... Etc,..
Anyone else ever have this issue, or am i just the biggest retard?
Comments
since all the games i play have (and must have) WASD for movement, my left hand goest right to the WASD keys. Ring finger on A, middle finger on W, index finger on D, thumb on Spacebar, Pinky on shift. That is my standard hand position for gaming and it works very well for typing too. I am not an index finger typer. I am a fairly fast typer and I also have two ways of typing: looking only at the keyboard, and looking only at the screen. Never both, for some weird reason. And that WASD hand position helps me alot when i dont look at the keyboard since all the keys are very close to my hand on that left half of the keyboard (fingers fall into place easily). For the right side of the keyboard i just put my hand anywhere i can get all the keys close as well (usually over the keys I,O,J,K,L, with the pinky ready to hit Enter).
EDIT: a computer keyboard is like a piano, with practice you will eventually hit the keys you want without even looking at it.
The crap that passes for "gaming keyboards" these days is pathetic. I would rather game on my ergonomic Logitech Wave keyboard than try to get used to an uncomfortable and awkward keyboard like your Razer BlackWidow. Sure, the mechanical keys have a place, but the layout gives no advantage to the user.
Personally, I use my Logitech Wave for typing only. For gaming, I have a Ideazon (now Steelseries) Fang gamepad. That took a while to get used to, but the buttons are set up in a manner which makes it easy to memorize after a few weeks. By that, I mean the number keys have a certain shape, WASD is large and easy to hit, and the rest of the keys are laid in a memorizable pattern with varying sizes and indents or raised shapes so you can figure out which one each is without looking after a while.
I have yet to find a replacement for my aging gamepad, and that makes me sad. I want something with enough buttons for MMOs and a unique feel to it so I can memorize where each button is, even if it takes me a while to learn it.
It doesn't matter what kind of keyboard or gaming thing you're using, if you're not used to it, it's going to be awkward. It sounds like any keyboard that deviates from the very basic layout is going to give you trouble though.
The thing about keyboards is that they are designed around the idea that the people using them aren't going to use hand positions other than hands resting near the bottom of the keyboard. Left hand near WASD and right hand near IJKL whether the people are touch typists or not. That's what 99% of the people using keyboards do, so that's how they are designed.
The solution is time and effort. You either want to use a gaming keyboard enough to spend the time to reposition your hands or you don't. It's kind of like gaming mice or game pads. You either want to use them enough to learn how to position your hands for best effect, or you don't. The Razer Naga mouse is a good example of this. Nobody used a mouse with 12 buttons under the thumb before the Razer Naga, but for the people who wanted to use it, and spent the time to learn the reflex actions to use it, it works very well. You just need to do it with a keyboard, but it's the same idea.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
20 years of habit is hard to break.
Unfortunately, as mentioned, 99% of the keyboards out there are going to be designed for the WASD/IJKL layout.
I think you either need to just find something that works for you (whatever you learned to type that way on), or bite the bullet and just use the thing until you get used to it.
I'm the same way about mice - I can't get used to MMO mice, and I have to remap most MMOs to match the keyboard layout I used in my first MMO (eq), and I can't get used to keyboarding any ability past the 1-6 row... I have to click anything 7 and out and anything that uses a modifier key, so I'm a closet partial clicker (shh don't tell).
That was my dilemma, too. I started using the F1-4 keys for abilities, but that wasn't enough. When I got my Fang, I finally had enough buttons to map my most-used abilities in most games.