Disabled Gamer Community

----Included a vid showing exactly how the mouse is designed and how I game
with one hand ( MMO7... I don't even play MMOs, but I had no other option
really to game ) I made the video unlisted for obvious reasons.

I don't know if this is constructive criticism, or maybe I felt inclined to
just reach out and perhaps share a perception that you were not aware of. I
know Logan jokes about offending people in a lot of episodes, but i've been
watching you guys since that horrid red room you used to film in, and because
I care about Tek's existence and purpose, I hope you will care for mine as
well.

I've struggled with a disability for 26 years. It is a birth defect called
brachial plexis and has forced me to be creative. There are some things I
cannot do, like cut my steak, tie my shoes.... and that's pretty much it.
I've found ways to do everything else, including gaming, martial arts (Tang
Soo Do is expected of every asian in my fam) and any other challenges. This isn't really about me, so I'll get to the point.

There is a community out there that has to be creative. It's tough. Whether
that means playing FPS games using your toes clicking/aiming a mouse on the
floor below you and moving WASD with your only free hand, or just not playing
games... which is not an option.

Not asking for a new special (haha... see what I did there) topic or
anything, just an idea. Perhaps one day, you guys could do some research into
a mouse/keyboard set up that might help people like me, with the use of one
limb. Or something that could assist the blind or deaf. Technology is out
there... it's good stuff, very relevant and IMO would be a big help.

Just speaking for the other people that struggle with doing "normal" things
like I do. I joke about carporal tunnel in the video, but it's a real thing
after so many years with this crazy mouse design. I've run through 4 of them,
they are like 120$ - but before that I sucked so bad at any PC shooter I
almost gave up.... and that was back in the Counterstrike days. You know how
serious some of those players were. And this mouse was a freakin' God send.

Maybe one day serious tech augmentations/prosthetics will arrive that are JC
Denton-esque. Or I might just say fuck it and take a page from Barret
Wallace's book and weld a machine gun to my arm.

Until then, any tech help in the area is always welcomed. Thank you for your
time and always staying true to form.

  • Ozeo
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I'm wouldn't be surprised if there a company that catered to disabled gamers allowing you to customize your equipment. But know I have a friend who's missing a couple of fingers because of an accident that happened to him when he was younger. He isn't much of a gamer but he does a lot of free lance graphic designing and using his drawing pad as a mouse and a keymouse is his solution to only having six fingers. Your not alone buddy

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I cant speak for @Logan or anyone else on the TS team - but I think (in general)= the difficulties with discussing disabled gamers/ enabling tech are 3 fold

  1. Doing so in such a way that avoids offending anyone
  2. Within reason not being able to see from your perspective as it is difficult to put yourself in someones shoes without experiencing what that persons issues and limitations are
  3. Each case either has or has potential to be very 'issue' specific

Having said that - we do have a range of very smart and helpful people on the forums. What specifically would make your life/gaming experience better? If you are limited to one hand, but that hand is fully functional - how is this for an idea.

What if instead of gripping your mouse - you slid your hand into it like a solid frame glove. At teh end of each finger is a 4 way mini joystick (liek a ps3 controller) so each finger could have 4 + 1 inputs that could be mapped however you like.
The palm would still house a laser/optical sensor and move like a regular mouse does. So say you have a total of 20 inputs from fingers 1 - 4 and another 4.1 inputs from your thumb that switch between macro sets - giving a total of 100 macro inputs all done with one hand while still retaining motion as an input.
Would this be helpful? These days its only a 3d printer and some time away from being a reality. You could even tie in some form of eye tracker like TrackIR

2 Likes

Cool that you found the R.A.T. mouse that works for you. I used to use one.
Thank goodness my disability does not affect my hands, but carpal tunnel does limit my ability to game. I can only do it for a few minutes before I start hurting myself. I mostly do Photoshop and CAD these days. I love to experiment with different input devices. I use a Wacom tablet a lot and have tried trackballs, thumb balls and even the bizarro Microsoft Sidewinder Dual-Strike.

This item is very expensive (because it is for CAD), but have you considered the 3Dconnection Space Mouse? The knob can move left/right, forward/back, up/down, twist/tilt, plus all those macro buttons. I don't know about driver support for gaming however. They make many variations with more buttons or less.

This SpaceMouse Pro is about $300. The cheaper SpaceNavigator starts at $100 but only has 2 buttons. The SpacePilot Pro is almost $600 -YIKES!

http://www.3dconnexion.com/products/spacemouse.html

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Very solid response + offering solutions... thanks. While this has the potential to be a sensitive issue my primary concern regarding the Tek and it's community is information - people get offended all the time, it's just going to happen, but as long as we (or Logan, the community, whoever) can educate them through the process then there should be no issue IMO. Objective was not to single anyone out but attempting to bring awareness that there could be other people in the community that might warrant creative input, and possibly be more sensitive, but again that's not the point.

This isn't a show catered to my needs but to tech, and I imagine (or hope rather) that expectations derive primarily from that necessity... and that opinion forms from the words at the bottom of the Tek Syndicate homepage - "Tek Syndicate is here to make the universe a better place. something something technology.." lol.

With that being said, the rapid response of creative ideas is awesome. The college I attend has access to a 3d printer, so this could be a viable option. Have never thought of using a glove before... I have looked up videos regarding modifications to console controllers/drivers to make them 1hand viable and PC worthy, but accuracy is an issue with those joy sticks. Still though, never considered 3d printing something for the side of the mouse I have now to make the joystick (used as precision aim for other peeps) a little bit bigger and more natural functioning for what i'm trying to do. Thanks!

I've wanted one of these for a long time. Just can't see myself forking out the dough :p Carpal tunnel sucks man. I do have to limit my binges sometimes or else i'm without use of BOTH hands... and that would just suck.

The sidewinder looks insane. Found a video of someone using it for Quake II... so it's entirely possible. Maybe I could rip off the right half and rig a joystick to it for movement XD would be the ultimate one hand gaming wand. Friends think my mouse right now looks like a transformer... can only imagine the comments I'd get about that

The MMO7 does great, I just wear those precision aim parts down like crazy because i'm using it for movement. Thanks for the input

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Cerebral Palsy here. Hence why I use a controller for everything

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Save up and get somthing , somthing that isn't going to hurt you is worth a little expence. Id email them and see if anything they have would fit your needs.

I ended up getting a trackball because my wrist would start to hurt. All gone, I use that a tablet and steam controller primarily.

Might be worth looking at the steam controller too, its so configurable I imagine you might be able to get it to do a lot.

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I had and loved the R.A.T. 3. My friend gave it the nickname "The Batmouse" because it looks like the Tumbler. After the 3rd one I had suddenly died a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to try another brand.

Was diagnosed with arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome when I was 14, that and a large list of other problems. Right hand goes numb from the where my thumb attaches to my wrist and progresses over time ( about 5-10 minutes ) to the tip of my pinky finger. Left hand is a bit more fun. Wrist will start to hurt, get a searing pain that will make my hand get weak. Then it usually spreads to my elbow, that ends up triggering the screwed up nerves in my shoulder to start hurting. That almost always ends in the muscles in my back locking up which pulls my back out of alignment causing both arms to have a major burning pain that makes it so I can't lift my arms over waist height or open doors. So I end up hopping around with my head around waist height trying to get my back in alignment to get my arms to work and quit burning. That usually happens 2-4 times a day. I find that finger-less gloves with wrist wraps for lifting or riding tend to not really fix but keep my wrist in better alignment so I get less problems with my left wrist. Learned that if I use a claw grip on the mouse I don't get the problem in my right hand, I don't naturally use a claw grip so I only really remember after the fact and adjust then if I'm going to keep playing.

I did a little research. I found this site called Able Gamers. I saw this review of the Steam Controller. If you could figure out how to rig something up and make this not be able to move around (bracket?) this might work.

http://www.unstoppablegamer.com/steam-controller-hardware-accessibility-review/#comments