Poll: Why are game characters never given the ability to be left handed?

[Alfador_VII]

It doesn't really bother me, either way. For the sake of realism in shooters though, this would be dependent on the weapon you are using. Most rifles have the ejection port for spent casings on the right side. Nobody likes taking hot spent casings to the face when shooting as a lefty.

Yeah that's another issue. In real life weapons, tend to have an option to switch the ejection port to the other side for left handed users, or have a system that isn't sided.

Of course in some games, like Duke Nukem 3D they deliberately use a left-side ejecting weapon model held in the right hand as having spent rounds flying across the screen looks cool

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I can see it really screwing up the animations, to be honest. Take two right (or left) handed combatants - the shield arm of each fighter faces the sword arm of their opponent, and combat animations look natural. But if a left handed fighter and a right handed fighter are in combat, both opponents shield arms are opposite each other, as are the sword arms. To use existing animations would look totally unnatural, and obviously developers have decided the cost of motion-capturing and rendering the new animations that would be needed is not worth the expense.

You could just run a flip on all the graphics and animations. Then _everybody_ would be left handed and the animations would look natural again.

You propose a world consisted entirely of leftys and speak of 'natural'?

Spoiler: Sir, I brand you...

 

[KaosuHamoni]

I think you'll find that Link is a lefty. =/

 

[Woodsey]

Because witchcraft isn't welcome around these parts.

 

[Weaver]

Link is left handed.
In Unreal Tournament you can switch what side your weapon's on.

 

[Hagi]

I think it also has to do with the simple fact that most left-handed people are pretty good with their right hand. They often have no problems using things like a mouse naturally with their right hand, or even writing. Simply because they're often forced to practice ( public PCs always feature right-handed mouses for example, and a few decades ago it still happened that all children were forced to write right-handed no matter what. ) Hell, common day devices like scissors and can openers are all asymmetrical and almost always right-handed.

Right-handed people on the other hand rarely have to use their left hand for anything like that. I'm sure they could if they practices, there's just no reason at all to practise.

So most right-handed people really are right-handed. Most left-handed people come closer to ambidexterity. The amount of people that really feel uncomfortable with their right-hand is so extremely low that I don't think it's worth designing for.

 

[Trolldor]

Well, ridiculous OP, that's because most people are right-handed - including those that do the animations or the motion capture. It's not something they think about much. Doing both left and right animations - particularly in TPS games - requires doubling the animations for everything and providing nothing of value to the gameplay.

 

[Trolldor]

Well, the gun aiming, I can understand. But the swords? In medieval times you either learned to be right-handed or got murderized. So there's that.

Thats nooot entirely true. Left handed dualists has always had the upper hand.

And back in Rome, left handed gladiators were highly priced, due to all gladiators only being taught defense against right-handed opponents.


I'm a left-handed sword fighter my self, and I have won several sparrings because of just that^^




[Edit:] With guns of the other hand, I have a slight handicap, as most firearms are made for right-handed shooters...

You won because your opponents weren't used to fighting left-handed duelists.
I've never lost against a left-handed duelist because they rely far too much on the fact they're left-handed which makes them very easy to beat.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I wouldn't mind it but what happens with weirdos like me? I shoot a rifle left-handed, but I shoot pistols right handed. I shoot pool left-handed too, I guess that translates to polearms, but I use every other weapon right handed.

It doesn't really bother me, either way. For the sake of realism in shooters though, this would be dependent on the weapon you are using. Most rifles have the ejection port for spent casings on the right side. Nobody likes taking hot spent casings to the face when shooting as a lefty.

Many, many weapons are made to be ambidextrous, you can change which side the brass comes out. The shell casings from the semi-autos I've used never hit me in the face, they usually just bounced off the top or the bottom of my hat.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

A lot of Jrpgs have left-handed characters, Kirijo Mitsuru from Persona 3 instantly came to mind.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Bizarre historical sidenote - spiral staircases in medieval castles and forts were built in a clockwise direction so that a defender at the top of the stair could make an unimpeded sword-swing at an attacker below, and so that the return stroke of the attacker would be hampered by the central column. Apparently designers throughout history just assume everyone in the world is right-handed.

Ha, I was thinking that as I wrote the post! But the wily Clan Kerr [//www.scotclans.com/bletherskite/?p=2398], noted for the unusual number of left-handers in their clan, incorporated this into their fighting style as well as the design of Ferniehirst Castle.

Left-handed gladiators in Rome were also advertised as a peculiar rarity and, apparently, a group of barbarian Spanish princes who chopped off their own right-hands to avoid being drafted into the Roman army were conscripted anyway and simply taught to fight left-handed instead - those crafty Latins.

 

[meowchef]

I don't know if the Unreal games are still like that, but you used to be able to go into the options menu and select which hand to use.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

Well, the gun aiming, I can understand. But the swords? In medieval times you either learned to be right-handed or got murderized. So there's that.

Only that 99% of RPG dont take place in our medieval times. Being lefthanded in swordfighting actually is an advantage. Right handed opponents arent used to it and have to alter their technique

 

[Iron Mal]

I'm not sure exactly how it changes the game at all (except perhaps allowing left handed people to feel more 'accepted' in knowing that they too have someone to look up to with a vague similarity to them) but I'm pretty certain that a lot of games do in fact give you the option of having a left handed protaganist (Unreal Tournament gave you the option of left, right and centre) or have characters who move and fight in such a way that determining which hand is stronger is more effort than it's worth.

Also, worth noting is the fact that your character appears to be capable of using either hand in Gears of War.

 

[Grubnar]

Hmm, if memory serves me right, you could play as a left-handed person in Quake 2.
You could also select gender, and skin color.

Hmm, seems like FPS's have taken a step backwards in that department lately.

 

[PhiMed]

Well, the gun aiming, I can understand. But the swords? In medieval times you either learned to be right-handed or got murderized. So there's that.

Actually lefties have a natural advantage in sword/shield combat mainly due to the fact they can exploit the exposed right side of the swordsman. That and we confuse the fuck out of swordsman who have to adapt their fighting style in order to fight us. Lefties were also saught after in medieval times because of their ungodly advantage when fighting in stairwells too.

Even Rocky switched to southpaw to get an advantage. I think you'll find it will be us doing the murderizing thank you.

I meant that they were murdered because of superstition. Not beaten in combat.

 

[Belgariontheking1]

I don't think anyone has brought this up yet but Leon from Final Fantasy II was left handed and if you placed his weapon in the right hand he was the worst character in the game.

 

[PhiMed]

Well, the gun aiming, I can understand. But the swords? In medieval times you either learned to be right-handed or got murderized. So there's that.

Thats nooot entirely true. Left handed dualists has always had the upper hand.

And back in Rome, left handed gladiators were highly priced, due to all gladiators only being taught defense against right-handed opponents.


I'm a left-handed sword fighter my self, and I have won several sparrings because of just that^^




[Edit:] With guns of the other hand, I have a slight handicap, as most firearms are made for right-handed shooters...

Referring to superstitious purging of lefties during the Dark Ages, not "they got beaten on the field of battle".