would you recommend this controller to someone with forearm pain?

[🍈Melonzky🍈]

i've been having these really ugly pains on my right arm, they've been appearing and dissapearing for 2 years, but i really think this time they've come to stay with me forever, so i've been trying to use my right arm as little as possible through the day (that means no "two handed games" on my PC, which is sad, cause i love TF2).

it has been +4 months with no games, i tried using a cheap generic controller, it's less painful than a mouse, but that's not ok nonetheless.

i wanna know how comfortable are the ergonomics of the steam controller, how big is it, how sensitive is the trackpad, if the distance between buttons is uncomfortable, etc, so any feedback would be helpful.

Also, i'd accept any game recommendations for someone that can only use one hand (undertale/papers please/Age of Empires 2)

[Vepar]

I have arthritis and i can say, i feel no discomfort when using the steam controller.

The trackpads are very sensitive, meaning you can literally set them to go berserk at the slightest hand movement, or be super unsensitive, however you like. And there's gyro so you can fine tune the aim.

The configurator is also extremely powerful and versatile, meaning you can bind the buttons to whatever is most comfortable for you.

SC is about as big as an xbox one controller but, imo, has better ergonomics. Your hands don't rest on a slanted part of the controller with the analogs then skewing your grip, the SC has portrusion that put your thumb in an almost vertical position in relation to the trackpad. So it requires little to no effort to use (provided you don't death grip the controller like you would an xbox or ps controllers).

ABXY buttons are smaller, meaning you can reach all of them with your thumb. I rest my entire thumb on them then just nudge the thumb in the direction of the button i want to push. It's super convenient to me that way. You don't have to "target" a button with your thumb or move your thumb between buttons, they're all reachable easier. I have a bit bigger hands though, but people on the forums say their children don't have any problem accessing the buttons so i doubt you'll have any problems either.

Plus, if there's anything you don't like you can just rebind it to somewhere else. Or make layers of different buttons etc. You can bind an entire MMO's worth of bindings on the controller, using different layers, button combinations etc. I even once saw a one handed skyrim configuration on youtube that actually worked great.

It'll feel weird at first though probably, so just keep using the controller in games you're familiar with and maybe start with some games that don't require quick reflexes until you get used to the trackpads and their sensitivity etc. Because everyone is different and it's recommended that you tweak the sensitivity to your liking, wether you're using someone elses configuration from the community, or the recommended developer config or whatever...

So if you feel discomfort, andjust the parameters in the config until you're satisfied. Then, when you find your best settings, you can more or less mimic them in other games.

The trackpads sensitivity cannot be configured in this way if you use mouse joiystick mode which translates analog input in a mouse like movement. You'll need to set this up in game, but there's always alternatives, and if you need help with a config, you can post in this forum and people will try and help.

[valorant player]

If you play games that use a lot of bumper then no. I use this to play For Honor and it requires pressing bumper buttons a lot and it gives my wrist pains due to the fact that the bumper is just straight up hard to press / requires a lot more force compared to other buttons.

Other than that, it's fine, triggers are really soft, buttons, analog feels responsive, touchpads aren't that hard to press either. But it's made to be played with a different grip compared to PS4/XONE, so check some videos and visualize if it will fit yours.

[Vepar]

Originally posted by yes:

If you play games that use a lot of bumper then no. I use this to play For Honor and it requires pressing bumper buttons a lot and it gives my wrist pains due to the fact that the bumper is just straight up hard to press / requires a lot more force compared to other buttons.

Other than that, it's fine, triggers are really soft, buttons, analog feels responsive, touchpads aren't that hard to press either. But it's made to be played with a different grip compared to PS4/XONE, so check some videos and visualize if it will fit yours.

Weird, i never had any issues with the bumpers or anything like that.
But you can rebind the bumpres to somewhere else on the controller if you're that uncomfortable with them.

[valorant player]

Originally posted by Vepar:

Originally posted by yes:

If you play games that use a lot of bumper then no. I use this to play For Honor and it requires pressing bumper buttons a lot and it gives my wrist pains due to the fact that the bumper is just straight up hard to press / requires a lot more force compared to other buttons.

Other than that, it's fine, triggers are really soft, buttons, analog feels responsive, touchpads aren't that hard to press either. But it's made to be played with a different grip compared to PS4/XONE, so check some videos and visualize if it will fit yours.

Weird, i never had any issues with the bumpers or anything like that.
But you can rebind the bumpres to somewhere else on the controller if you're that uncomfortable with them.

Yeah, it only shines if you press them a lot, like I said like in For Honor where you need to press RB a lot for lights. So after playing them a long time it's gonna start to hurt since the force needed to press LB/RB are different. Grip buttons aren't really pleasing and "natural" to press compared to Bumpers so yeah. Also maybe getting used to the mouse's light tap to click might have something to do with it since it only occurs on my right hand and not my left.

[Vepar]

Originally posted by yes:

Originally posted by Vepar:

Weird, i never had any issues with the bumpers or anything like that.
But you can rebind the bumpres to somewhere else on the controller if you're that uncomfortable with them.

Yeah, it only shines if you press them a lot, like I said like in For Honor where you need to press RB a lot for lights. So after playing them a long time it's gonna start to hurt since the force needed to press LB/RB are different. Grip buttons aren't really pleasing and "natural" to press compared to Bumpers so yeah. Also maybe getting used to the mouse's light tap to click might have something to do with it since it only occurs on my right hand and not my left.

I don't know, i played through every Dark souls with the SC multiple times and there you have to block, parry, attack with RB and LB and i never noticed any strain. They're clicky for sure, but not really that hard to press for me. Oh well...

[goathens]

Steam controller is great if you have arm wrist pain. I can't play an fps for too long if I had to use keyboard and mouse, due to RSI.
The touchpads are plenty sensitive, but you can configure them to be high or low sensitivity. You can even configure them to be a set of touch sensitive buttons or an on-screen keyboard.