Amputee Gives Tips On How To Game With Only One Hand

Left Shoulder Closed, a technology-centric content creator, has shared their approaches for gaming with only one hand.

Their channel provides instructional videos for people who only have the use of their one hand or arm, for whatever reason. There's a tutorial for tying a tie, opening bottles of medicine, changing drill bits, and even replacing a car battery. They also suggest how to minimise awkward situations and questions surrounding disability by being humorous, as this helped him feel in control of how they are seen after his arm was amputated.

The video, which is very informative yet concise, aims to provide simple strategies to play video games with one hand. Oftentimes accessible technology is innovative but expensive. To exemplify, the Xbox Adaptive controller, which is an award-winning bit of tech developed in collaboration with AbleGamers Charity and SpecialEffect, costs £75. Earlier this month, Hori released the HORI Flex Switch and joystick interface which has six different possible configurations. However, it's priced at £180, and is only available in Japan at the moment.

Left Shoulder Closed suggests that gamers use a mouse with buttons on its sides, which will let them input controls for various abilities in the game with the one hand. They continue to explain that abilities that you use a lot, such as aiming, shooting, and secondary fire in first-person shooters, should be assigned to the mouse, whereas abilities used every so often, like crouching, should be on the keyboard.

Alternatively, flight sticks have their advantages in for one-handed gaming, and sports simulation titles get a shout out here from the content creator, as they also offer buttons that may be remappable depending on the gamer's disability. Furthermore, the joystick lets the player move and input actions into the game simultaneously without the need to swap from keyboard to mouse to keyboard again.