Computer games started off as simply a means of entertainment. With time, virtual computer games grew to become a household name as more and more kids became hooked to their computers and phones and it in many ways interfered with the normal ways of associating with others.
As more kids started playing computer games, the creators and the tech world gurus became savvier in the development and design of more games.
With the tech revolution, came the revolution in terms of computer games as well. It did not take long for computer games to evolve from simple kids’ games to games that even adults and teenagers can engage in.
As more and more people began to engage in computer games, just like other gaming activities the likes of swimming and boxing, computer games led to the rise of the eSport scene in the globe.
ESport has become one of the most significant sporting scenes in the market with several participants from all around the globe and several awards being handed to the participants and the winners as well as title holders in the scene who are referred to as gamers.
While a majority of the gamers do not think about the hand that they use to play, left-handed gamers have to live with the challenge of using gaming gear that is not designed for them. Such gear includes gaming mice.
It is estimated that fifteen to twenty five percent of the population is left-handed, however, there is not much gear designed for left-handed gamers.
When it comes to mice, there are a few brands for the left-handed which include;
1. Steel Series Sensei 310 Gaming Mouse
Contents
This is a custom True Move 3 brand that features a twelve thousand CPI feature that allows for its efficiency. It also features a 350 IPS optical and a one on one track eSport sensor. Legendary Steel Series Sensei ambidextrous design allows for the mouse to be used using the claw and the palm grip styles.
The mouse features an exclusive split-trigger at the left and the right buttons of the mouse that delivers up to fifty million grips and allows for better durability of the gadget.
The design features two zones, a multi-colored prism RGB illumination for customizable lighting and it also allows for the user to be able to save all his or her performances to the sensei 310. It is compatible with the windows, mac, and Linux operating system.
2. Logitech G300S Optical Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse
This gaming mouse features up to nine programmable controls. This means that you can move keyboard commands to the mouse buttons hence making them easier to reach and use. The mouse comes in a symmetrical compact shape that allows for a comfortable feel in either hand as it can be used either on the right or the left hand.
The mouse comes with gaming-grade optical sensors that track accurately on a wide variety of surfaces and is tunable hence allows you to achieve the amount of response that you need to make your gaming experience the best.
It also has three onboard memory profiles that allows the gamer to save profiles to the mouse once for gameplay on different computers and also to assign lighting colors to see which profile you are using easily. It is easy to configure software that is easy to set up.
3. Razer Lancehead TE Ambidextrous Gaming Mouse
This mouse has a high precision of up to sixteen thousand DPI optical sensors that offer on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment through dedicated DPI buttons that are reprogrammable for gaming and creative work as well.
It is an ambidextrous design that can be used by both right and left-handed users with accessible, and programmable buttons on each side of the mouse.
It comes with a customizable Chroma RGB color profile that included 16.8 million color combinations with preset profiles included.
It features a ridged, rubberized scroll wheel that allows for maximum security; small, tactile bumps that increase the grip and allow for more controlled scrolling in high stakes gaming events. It comes with up to eight programmable buttons that allow for reconfiguration and assignment of macro functions.
4. KLIM Aim Gaming Mouse
The KLIM Aim Gaming Mouse allows you to have maximum precision for gaming and also comes with a new coating that provides for an improved grip as compared to other standard mice in the market.
This mouse allows you to choose the colors of the lights and the different effects on the game as well as the various features.
The mouse is highly sensitive, allowing for maximum accuracy as you partake in gaming activities with other gamers. It comes with programmable buttons that can be created into macros and configured in whichever way you want to make gaming easier and more comfortable.
It features a driver that allows you to increase the maximum number of DPI from a mere 3500 up to 7000 DPI.
What is the difference between mice for right-handed gamers and those for left-handed gamers?
The market has often been insensitive to gamers who are left-handed. I am positive that no one needs to explain to a right-handed gamer in detail how much they would appreciate a custom option for them as basically all options in the market are meant for them.
The amount of product in the market made custom for left-handed individuals are numbered and even the few that are there are not made so that the right-handed cannot use them.
Right-handed products can be brutal on the ergonomics and in a competitive gaming match, they may feel extremely uncomfortable for a gamer who is left-handed.
Left-handed gaming mice were designed to make the process simpler for left-handed players by offering a comfortable alternative to right-handed gaming hence creating an even ground for all players in the contest if one.
Additionally, left-handed gamers, with the left-handed mice can finally orient themselves to the left side of the keyboard hence properly allowing for better control as well as precision as compared to using a dominant hand.
When left-handed gamers have to use mice meant for right-handed gamers, they tend to compensate for the discomfort and unease by using the middle finger to click on the right mouse. As much as this works, it compromises between the comfort and efficiency.
This means that the gamer will have little or no room at all for aiming or precision with the keyboard keys as well, therefore, relegating tasks that may only require button presses to the dominant hand becomes difficult especially when it comes to aiming.
While there are those left-handed gamers that are decent and some even good with the right-hand mouse, there is still a difficulty that comes when it comes to the moments when difficult curves are dropped. Using the left-handed mice allows for comfort by converting to the left focused items.
While it may seem that the right-handed gamers have more advantages over the latter, one main advantage that the left-handed gamers have over them is the fact that the use of a mouse with a non-dominant hand feels sloppy, therefore they tend to learn more proficiency with the shortcuts on the keyboard that most people often ignore when playing computer or virtual games.
Once the gamers have mastered using the keyboard shortcuts, this means that they can accomplish more tasks without having to use the mouse as much.
This is more of an advantage if the game in question if a MOBA or MMO. However, playing an FPS with a non-dominant hand remains to be more of a challenge even when you have mastered using the shortcuts on the keyboards.
What is the need for an ambidextrous mouse?
Ambidextrous mice were designed to give customers and users optimum freedom while at the same time solving the issue of catering to the users whose dominant hand is the left hand. While it is a solution, it is not always a perfect compromise.
A person who is ambidextrous would not need a specific mouse as they can use either a left-handed mouse or a right-handed mouse.
Therefore, many critics have referred to this brand of mice as an industry cop-out, and a means to wash clean of satisfying a smaller niche. In reality, these ambidextrous mice are more neutral mice. This is because the mice do not lean one way or another.
The challenge with a neutral mouse is that it cannot specialize or cater to unique grips, comfortable ergonomics, or a non-symmetrical design.
Furthermore, most ambidextrous gaming mice will still go ahead and offer buttons on the side of the mouse that is meant for right-handed users which is a habit that designers have as they are used to manufacturing products for the right-handed population.
Other ambidextrous mice are so toned down in terms of their shape and design reducing them to feeling like a cheap regular or standard mouse that is bought for regular computer use and not for gaming.
The market is lacking when it comes to mice for left-handed gamers. The few that are available in the market are the old designs that are less capable than the modern gaming mice.
While they are few, they are paramount as they offer a natural feeling play and allows for a leftie to use the mouse with ease as it was intended to be used.
Left-handed mice are fantastic and necessary even though they are rarely made. Most of the gaming mice made for lefties have the flaw that they have poor polling speeds, very sloppy response times, low DPI and they are ultimately made for office use and mere college students and not for professional gaming activities.
While it is true that there are those gamers for whom nothing will beat the asymmetrical curves of an ergonomic gaming mouse, it is also true that the newer ambidextrous models are learning to overcome and adapt to the industry.
The best of the ambidextrous mice in the market are highly customizable, and they offer loads and buttons, software, and ergonomic grips.
What is the difference between a gaming mouse and a traditional mouse?
It is no secret that budget gaming mice are superior to traditional mice. Items like mice and keyboards are all capable of becoming second-nature items. The reason is that we use them so much that we do not understand that the experience can be improved.
Most of the traditional brands of mice suffer the flaw of poor sensitivity and poor read accuracy. This does not mean that they do not work. In fact, they will get the job done, but their internal workings tend to be slower and lesser than accurate.
For instance, a traditional mouse is prone to freezing as it may freeze randomly while sliding on a plain surface.
The reason is that the internalized machinery of the gadgets is not able to register enough details from the surface. A quality gaming mouse, on the other hand, can be programmed and fine-tuned to specific surfaces be it the top of an mouse pad, office desk, paper or whatever surface there is.
That means that there would be no more slippages while the mouse looks for its place.
Gaming mice have also been designed to take the traditional experience of a regular conventional mouse and heavily improve on the experience. For example, there are those gaming mice that have customizable side parts that can switch out the different genres of games. There are also those gaming mice that can be popped open and weighted with metal to allow for a good weighty feel.
There are several other features of gaming mice that make the mice more superior to the traditional mice.
Factors to consider when choosing the right gaming mouse to purchase
Gaming mice are far from regular standard traditional mice. They have specific features that are to be considered when choosing the best gaming mouse to purchase. Such features include;
Form Factor
- Most gaming mice are traditional in terms of their style. There are trackball and vertical mice options that can be used by gamers, but there are rarely in use.
The Grip
- Mice have specific grips, and the three most common types of grips are the palm, claw, and fingertip grip.
- The palm grip- this is the most popular mode of grip. It is where the gamer places his or her entire hand lying flat on the mouse. It is the easiest to master and the easiest to apply no matter the type of game you are playing.
- The claw grip- this type of grip is not that different from the palm grip with the specific difference that the fingers are arched in the shape of a claw when doing this grip.
- The fingertip grip- this type of grip is where the entire mouse is held with just the fingertips of the user, and the palm does not touch the mouse at any point hence the name of the grip.
- There are those good left-handed mice in the market that will let you switch between grips to compensate for the different styles of playing.
The orientation
- When choosing between a left-handed or an ambidextrous model, it is important that you consider whether the model is an ambidextrous model or a neutral model. A neutral model is mostly more of a right-handed model and not quite of a left-handed friendly model.
The DPI
- DPI or Dots per Inch is a measurement that is used to measure how sensitive the mouse is. The higher the DPI, the more accurate the readings that the mouse can get from a given surface. Traditional mice have the flaw of a low DPI while gaming mice boast of a larger DPI that can go as high as 16000.
- When it comes to choosing the most appropriate DPI value for you, it all depends first on your personal preferences, as well as how serious you are with the gaming endeavors. For professional or pro gamers, a higher DPI is most preferred as it is more accurate hence more effective when it comes to challenges. DPI is important whether for left-handed or right-handed gamers.
The Buttons
- Different mice have different configurations when it comes to their buttons. For a left-handed gamer, it is important that you consider if the placement of the buttons will be comfortable or usable for you, especially if you are using a right-handed or an ambidextrous mouse.
- Some mice come with programmable buttons. This means that they can be customized and programmed depending on your personal preferences and the game that you are playing.
Type of Mouse
There are different types of gaming mice. The differences between the mice lie in the type of game that is being played using the mice. The different types of mice include;
i] The all-purpose mouse
- The all-purpose gaming mouse is the most popular among all forms of gaming mice in the industry. This type of mice is workhorse machines that come in all manner of shapes and sizes.
- As an all-purpose mouse is meant to be almost as equal or equally as good at controlling all genres of games from FPS to action or adventure genres to the MMO genre, there is no single unifying design theory behind the all-purpose mouse.
ii] MMO mouse
- The MMO mouse can be used to play such games likes of World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and the popular Star Wars game that is all the rage in the globe. This type of mouse is bulkier than other types of mice since it features a wide range of buttons.
- It is uniquely structured for firing off complex skill rotations with the down to the second precision.
- Makers of these mice have gone further to letting the user assign alternate button maps that the player will be able to access with a simple flick of a finger.
iii] The RTS mouse
- RTS is an acronym for the term Real-Time Strategy. Real-Time Strategy is a specific genre of computer games that require a unique kind of mouse to play. While the RTS mouse is designed especially for the RTS genre, the all-purpose mouse can also be used to play these games.
iv] The Customizable mouse
- The customizable mouse can be described as the crème del a creme of the universe of gaming and gaming mice. It is flashy and by far the most expensive of all the other types of gaming mice. Such mice allow the gamer to customize almost all the aspects of the mouse.
- Such customizable changes can be made on the angle of the mouse, the palm rest, and the feel of the buttons on the mouse. For this reason, the mice are expensive as the design is prone to changes, and the material used is also very high quality as well.
v] The FPS Mouse
- As discussed previously, this type of mouse is used to play the FPS genre. It has a distinctive sniper button that is located beneath the thumb that shows down the DPI to line up the different shots in the game.
- There are various brands of FPS mice in the market, some of which we have discussed in this article as the best of the best.
One of the biggest questions in most of our readers’ minds is whether or not there are any true left-handed mice
In recent years, there have been no true mice designed purely for left-handed players. Instead, lefties in the gaming industry have been forced to settle for the ambidextrous mice. Recently, there are companies that have been able to manufacture mice for lefties, some of which we have mentioned in this article.
Conclusion
Other factors to consider when choosing a gaming mouse include the sensor or polling speed, the weight of the mouse and whether it can be adjusted, the RGB lighting features of the mouse, the modular and the software of the mouse as well as the compatibility of the mouse to different software and different Operating Systems.
In this article, we introduce you to four of the best gaming mice for lefties in the market. Of the four, we recommend the SteelSeries Sensei 310 Gaming mouse.
It features a 12000 CPI, and a True Move sensor system that allows for maximum sensitivity, the design is perfect for lefties, its buttons are effective, it features multi-color RGB elements, and it is compatible to the windows, Mac and Linux Operating Systems.
The gaming mouse is also affordable, and can be customized when it comes to the functioning of the buttons, the illumination or the color features and other lighting settings.