Anyone else get pain in their pinkie finger when playing on keyboard?

[atlas]

Having my ring and index fingers on the A and D keys respectively, my pinkie finger usually rests on the shift key. The problem is that it's really starting to hurt after playing for more than a few minutes, making it mildly painful to use it at all during the day. I've played about 70 hours in the last two weeks and this is the first time I'm getting this pain



Does anyone else have any similar experiences?

[orb]

Try playing with fingers aligned like for typing. I've been playing WASD games like that since around 1999 and I find it much better playing this way than with fingers moved by one key left (or at least I don't need to look at keyboard to find these keys after moving my hand away for a while).

[kaki_gamet]

Not really, my pinkie is resting next to left-shift key ; ) Anyway I keep hands a bit lifted from keyboard, say about 5cm above it.

[diddep]

steering wheel could help :-)

[Beltane]

I smell young, unhardened gamer hands. Ah true gamers hand finger can poke holes into solid walls! But no worries son, give it time and you will get there

[atlas]

Originally posted by diddep:

steering wheel could help :-)

lol, you send over the money and I'll be glad to buy one :D

[atlas]

Originally posted by Beltane:

I smell young, unhardened gamer hands. Ah true gamers hand finger can poke holes into solid walls! But no worries son, give it time and you will get there

I've been PC gaming for about 3.5 years. Other games don't require me to have such a rigid hand position for extended periods though.

[Iron Spirit]

After playing this game for about 2 years with WASD it started to give me CTD symptoms. Switching to a wheel quicly remedied this.

[anthony272.uk]

I stuck a band aid (plaster) around my pinky and next finger to support the pinky.

[Sean]

No. Why is your finger on the shift key?

[room217au]

70 hours in two weeks.
You could try one of those gel-filled wrist-rests for keyboards.
Although it would be better to see a doctor and have an examination. You could be doing damage. Long periods like this can cause Repetitive Strain Injury. It's serious.

[XBL Laberbacke]

Buy a controller

[atlas]

Originally posted by room217au:

70 hours in two weeks.
You could try one of those gel-filled wrist-rests for keyboards.
Although it would be better to see a doctor and have an examination. You could be doing damage. Long periods like this can cause Repetitive Strain Injury. It's serious.

It doesn't have anything to do with my wrist. Even if I moved it my pinkie would barely move.

Originally posted by Gerry Adams:

No. Why is your finger on the shift key?

Where else would it be?

[atlas]

Originally posted by XBL Laberbacke:

Buy a controller

I have one. But I can't fit all of the buttons I need on the keyboard onto the controller. Plus I don't feel like putting the controller down every time I go into the menu

[orb]

Originally posted by axuirs:

Originally posted by Gerry Adams:

No. Why is your finger on the shift key?

Where else would it be?

On 'A' key.

[DanielHall15]

May I suggest amputation?

If you want to hang on to your finger for now; I have mine on Shift as well, but I don't feel anything. Then again, I have double-assigned the WASD keys to the arrows keys, too, so when I play ETS/ATS I switch up hands regularly. I usually do my close corner driving with the left hand (because I have indicators on Y and X (would be Z and X on American keyboard layouts), and as soon as I get out on the motorway I hog my lane, hit C for cruise control, adjust the field of view for the outside mirror to line up with the edge of the scree, and then just drive with the right hand. You may or may not want to try something similar before you spend a couple of bills on equipment.