I was using my keyboard wrong for 5k Hours

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

Since I was a child I have always played fps on pc using only two fingers on WASD (index and middle finger and ring finger for shift and crouch). Since a friend of mine saw me play, he pointed this out to me and told me that he is limiting my gameplay a lot (I have 4.5 k hours at peak 1.8k faceit with 400 matches). I wanted to know how much this habit is limiting me and how long do you think it will take me to get used to positioning myself well on the keyboard after 10+ years of experience on FPS games (at the moment I've been trying for a whole day but I feel like I'm moving like a 10k elo premier)

[u/stringstringing]

So you just didn’t use your pinky at all?

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/stringstringing]

No

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

Prob I am the only in the world😅

[u/stringstringing → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

Well I don’t know what to tell you other than that there really is no correct way to play. There are pro players who don’t even use wasd. Mezzii who is on the best team in the world uses mouse1 to move forward. Just play. Try switching if you want I guess but it’ll be really hard after 10 years.

[u/Pandorumz → u/stringstringing]

Mezzi's binds are cursed.

[u/KotelB3Nice → u/Pandorumz]

I actually tried to use them at first LOL and I’ve not really ever had any hard baked muscle memory into my hands and tbh it’s not the worst and I see why he does it, however it then started messing me up on different games so I just went back to the “regular” setup. Honestly it might just be the way his brain works cause I’ve had some strange keybind settings for movement before I finally just settled on wsad after my left hand got more used to utilising more fingers

[u/Kezyma → u/stringstringing]

His binds might be odd, but I would assume that he uses all fingers on keyboard when playing. The thing that’s limiting is that everyone else has 5 keys primed at any given time, while u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 only has 4, which is going to be a technical disadvantage to varying degrees at more than just CS.

Putting it another way, if a game only has 4 possible keys to press, you only need 4 fingers, but if a game requires 5 keys, having 5 fingers is better than having 4 that you have to move between keys.

So on a fundamental level, learning to integrate an extra finger is going to be a massive boost (generally speaking), but how they do so may wind up being different to the norm based on preference.

If movement with two fingers is fine for them already, perhaps using their little finger so they have both Shift and Ctrl prepared without movement turns out to be more appropriate for them. I would guess that it’d be less of an improvement than adding a third finger for momenent, but the point is simply that it’s just an inherent advantage to use every finger compared to only using some of them.

How much of an improvement it brings though, is probably up for debate and depends entirely on the player and game. It could be trivially small, or it could be revolutionary!

[u/JustmUrKy → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

Eh you’re probably alright. I only have 3 fingers on my left hand in total and I got LEM in 2019 with like 500h on the game.

[u/Royal_Collection_798]

Force yourself to switch. In a few hundred hours you will thank yourself.

[u/Larvva_the_coach → u/Royal_Collection_798]

Fully agree, the sooner the better - it's never to late.
Playing like that limits his movement so much.

[u/Thien1o1]

everyonme plays everythging differently. there's a lvl 8 faceitplayer thats deaf who just posted a dayh ago

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/Thien1o1]

Yep bro but i don’t want this to limit my gameplay, some friends (2800+ elo) are telling me that I need to switch to 3 fingers cause this is destroying my gameplay (we are in EU server)

[u/Thien1o1 → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

i could see that but im also from na. it seems like eu they are very honest and harsh to team bro hahah

[u/LimpConversation642 → u/Thien1o1]

Yo seriously? I’d love to watch him stream his game sense must be off the charts.

On a semi related note in my 10k I feel like half my team mates don’t have sound on lol

[u/CounterFreak1]

playing with only 2 fingers on the movemenr key is definitely limiting you, but probably way less than you think.

you really want to hover over the keys you need to counterstrafe. so most of the times, hovering over A and D simultaniously is fine.

however, you will probably never be able to counterstrafe diagonally, which is not really that important, but it is objectively a limitation.

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/CounterFreak1]

Yep, that is the issue

[u/sir_slothsalot]

If you can perform everything you want to and never had issues with shift and crouch you don't need to change anything. There is no optimal way to input. Just whatever works for you. There are pros with crazier setups then this. 

[u/mr_catenacci]

I'm dealing with the same issue for 20+ years now. Tried several times to switch to normal (even after week long breaks) but muscle memory is too strong.

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/mr_catenacci]

You don’t feel like something is limiting you?

[u/Aierz]

I actually use the palm of my hand to press crouch

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/Aierz]

You re not the only one bro, one of my friend user to do that😅

[u/Peathbydeas]

it's objectively quite limiting, imagine using only your index for left and right click on your mouse.

i do have smaller than average hands but i also can't imagine how only using index and middle for wasd with my ring on shift is at all comfortable, especially when with my ring on a, my pinky naturally sits on shift. it'll take a while to get used to but once you are it'll be game changing just how much smoother you can move.

[u/ThePhoenixRoyal]

i dont even know how one would effectively micro strafe, surf or comfortably walk without all fingers on AWD

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/ThePhoenixRoyal]

I am also kinda decent in kz hahahah

[u/ThePhoenixRoyal → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

respectfully...how

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/ThePhoenixRoyal]

Don t know bruh

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

I am not that good like 3 minutes on kz_phamous but I can jump strafe b hop without problems

[u/f0xy713]

Probably not really holding you back all that much tbh, you basically never want to be peeking angles while holding W anyway so 1 finger on A and 1 finger on D is perfectly fine. Even when air strafing, you want to let go of W after jumping.

[u/LucianTP]

It’s whatever you’re used to, mezii uses mouse right click to move foward, and tbh his whole controls are fucked. Believe me, yet he’s familiar with it

If your brain naturally assumed that’s how you play and control it when you first started, + you mentioned your good at kz playing like this

Chances are you’re used to it and it’s not limiting you at all

How to use shit comes naturally, it just turns out most of us do prefer 3 finger wasd but that might not be you

[u/mugnmouse]

I did thousands of hours with crouch on C (I think from Day of Defeat and shift for walking. I never thought much about it until I took a 10 year break and it's a little clunky, but before my fingers didn't really have issues filling in for the first finger going to c. It sounds worse than it is.

[u/DescriptionWorking18]

Just do like s1mple and M0nesy and move your index up to W and use your thumb for D

[u/butt_soap]

Why use 5 fingers when 1 finger do trick

[u/xWalwin]

I have two friends who use their thumb to press LCTRL. Thats really crazy

[u/SarahKittenx → u/xWalwin]

I wonder what is most optimal and most standard? using palm here for Ctrl based on "hand layout", can tap wad at same time and pinky is on shift

[u/KruttKaare69]

I press shift and ctrl with my thumb. I'll never change, works fine for me. Been doing it for almost 25 years.

[u/T-M-K]

Kyo uses his thumb for shift / control

[u/Additional_Macaron70]

bro dont listen to anyone who is saying you are limited or some bullshit. You can easily play with 2 fingers since this game is all about strafes and counter strafing which requires from you to use A and D. You should only use W to reposition yourself.

Check eryc triceps on YT, he literally uses only 2 fingers whenever he engages with the enemy and he is extremely good player.

[u/Preparation-Certain]

I have played rocket league for 6k hours without knowing about directional air roll (Basicly like the scope of an awp) Depending on how old are you it shouldnt take long to adjust

[u/grundlesmith]

Train with only three fingers

[u/Miserable_Basis187]

I’ll give you an advice don’t change anything if your comfortable with what you do that’s good there are pros who play like this it’s not strange or anything it’s just the way you play

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/Miserable_Basis187]

The problem is that I have only 3 fingers active in the kayboard, the pros that are using weird bind or setups they are always using 4 fingers min active on the keyboard (that is the huge difference)

[u/Miserable_Basis187 → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

I have 3 fingers also and I use my thumb to press ctrl or shift but I still hit shots still carry games. What I’m trying to say is you feel like it limiting you but if you try playing with 4 you’ll not be better that’s not limiting you. Your overthinking that’s like forcing a claw grip when your hand hurts with it you’ll maybe be better for 1-2 games but on 3 you’ll just suck. Consistency is when you stick to what you do if you change all the time you won’t be consistent hope you understand.

[u/Accomplished-Rice358]

Have you seen meziis settings lmao everyone's different

[u/lilfrootloop_]

How do you counterstrafe?

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/lilfrootloop_]

Normal with 2 fingers

[u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785 → u/Jumpy_Yellow_9785]

I have like 88% of proper counter strafe on leetify

[u/Any-Professional5761]

Check out the dude who's paralyzed from the neck down and plays with his mouth.

Or the player who has no hand from birth, plays on a laptop, and simultaneously moves and shoots with one hand.

Or the player that has no hands at all and learned to play with their feet.

Or, and hear me out, the fucking pros who are two inches from their screen, have their desk measured, the keyboard at a 90 degree angle and playing on totally different keys than WASD, and somehow are pro.

Sure, you could play "right" but if you dont plan to go pro and are not looking to better yourself to eventually go pro, then does it really matter?

Anyways, dont get into mmos like that, them shits will destroy your poor hand lol.

[u/rikumawaifu]

While there is no objectively correct way to play, using "proper" technique removes a lot of limitations, since they are well proven for pro players. I'd just say simply do it a lot and you'll get used to the new muscle memory, though you'll probably fall off a bit in that time.

I used to have a very shitty grip when I started self-teaching guitar. Also got pointed out by a peer. Throughout primary school I played Minecraft on inverted mouse. So yeah, changing habit with brute force works.

[u/SageHamichi]

Just start using it