Anyone Ever Had an Injury Which Kept Them from Gaming?

[aliensstudios]

Hello all!

I recently suffered an injury which immobilized all of the fingers on my left hand as well as my wrist, and since my job basically requires me the use of both hands I'll be out of commission from work for a bit, which leaves me a good amount of free time to be playing my backlog of video games. The only problem is... well I can't use my left hand at all unfortunately. I was just wondering if anyone else here has ever suffered an injury which kept them from gaming, because frankly, I game on the daily, and not being able to is going to be difficult.

Now I know, controllers exist for one handed use only and some Wii games only need the Wii remote and I have a few of those like Zack and Wiki. I guess if you know of any that only need one hand, I'd be very grateful if you could recommend some.

[seberhusky]

One time my dog bit me and his big canine tooth put a hole through my palm and deep into it. Took about a week to heal enough before i could even bend my hand. Luckily it was my left hand, I could still use my computer, but as far as gaming I was screwed for a few weeks. It stung every time my hand got sweaty too, which really sucked.

[wartoy]

Once I Crushed my finger I was young and didn't go see a doctor I set it with parts of a pen and electrical tape till I got to a cvs and bought a splint (not to smart) my finger is still a little crooked.I couldn't play well or for long but I kept trying and eventually it healed.But now im older and deal with a little pain once in awhile but not to bad. Another time I dislocated a finger and couldn't game for about a week till the swelling went down both of these really sucked.

[pizzasafari]

I hope you get better soon man, that sucks. Do you have a Switch? There are a fair few games that can be played with just a single joy-con. A lot of them aren't very good but hey, they exist.

I haven't have any injuries that have prevented it but something vaguely related that might be amusing, my tourettes makes me cock up in games quite a lot. A very common tic for me is while I'm holding a controller I have to press certain buttons or rub across all the face buttons with my thumb, which uh... causes a few accidents. Don't even get me started on rhythm games.

[kypherion]

Yeah, I tore open my thumb with a gamecube controller missing the rubber padding on the joystick, i've also crushed my fingers and wiped out on a bicycle enough to not game for a fair bit.

[aliensstudios]

I hope you get better soon man, that sucks. Do you have a Switch? There are a fair few games that can be played with just a single joy-con. A lot of them aren't very good but hey, they exist.

I haven't have any injuries that have prevented it but something vaguely related that might be amusing, my tourettes makes me cock up in games quite a lot. A very common tic for me is while I'm holding a controller I have to press certain buttons or rub across all the face buttons with my thumb, which uh... causes a few accidents. Don't even get me started on rhythm games.

Thanks for the well wishes. I do have a Switch, so yeah, I might look into titles for it. Is it something in particular games themselves that triggers it for you or just something that intermittently happens?

[emporerdragon]

Most turn-based Strategy and RPG games can be done easily with one hand since there's no need for timing.

If I were in your situation, I'd probably be making Civilization my main game to play during that time. I'd probably also invest a bit more time in some of the single player variants of some of my board games, like going up against the automatas in Scythe.

[pizzasafari]

Is it something in particular games themselves that triggers it for you or just something that intermittently happens?

It just happens while I'm holding a controller. It's hard to describe but it feels like an unbearable itch that can only be scratched if I press buttons. Sometimes I need to rub the back of the controller with my middle finger too but that one doesn't make me walk off cliffs.

[oldgamerz]

Not really an injury but I hate how the Nintendo 64 controller joystick causes a blister on peoples thumb if you use it too much

[marvelvscapcom2]

Not yet luckily but I have pushed through some injures that probably should have just because I'm pretty much fully gone with games and have no self control  .   I've broken 2 fingers before and sprained my wrist in the same week during a sports injury .  My doctor ordered not to bend my wrist and put them in those metal brace things.  I manage to use my pinky to click the triggers while my thumbs did most of the work.   But the casts were so bulky it was like playing with oven mits on.  But I got better with them.

I can actually play simpler games with 1 hand stretching my pinky to touch shoulder buttons while using the pointer finger to use one joystick and thumb for the other with a firm lap stance.  I can also play with my face too.  Using my chin to bump the joysticks and nose to press buttons.    I learned to do this during one of the injures. 


I honestly think If I had said injury that would keep my hands from working to type and play video games I'd become pretty depressed.  So luckily I have avoided it thus far.  I think i'd most likely invent a way to play if this happened.  Or get obsessed with Kinect games 

[undertakerprime]

A year or two after I got my NES, both my thumbs came down with a horrible soreness to the point that I couldn’t move them. At the time we figured it was a combination of playing too much and growing pains (since I was around 12 or so), but now that I’m in my 40s and I take medication for gout, I wonder if it could have been related to gout.

[oldgamerz]

A year or two after I got my NES, both my thumbs came down with a horrible soreness to the point that I couldn’t move them. At the time we figured it was a combination of playing too much and growing pains (since I was around 12 or so), but now that I’m in my 40s and I take medication for gout, I wonder if it could have been related to gout.

I got gout in both my big toes and a little arthritis in some of my joints, I hate gout, other gamers I know have some arthritis in their joints but lucky my fingers are ok so far. I got a shot for gout and it worked, if flares up badly at random. I am 30 currently

[rayne315]

Hello all!

I recently suffered an injury which immobilized all of the fingers on my left hand as well as my wrist, and since my job basically requires me the use of both hands I'll be out of commission from work for a bit, which leaves me a good amount of free time to be playing my backlog of video games. The only problem is... well I can't use my left hand at all unfortunately. I was just wondering if anyone else here has ever suffered an injury which kept them from gaming, because frankly, I game on the daily, and not being able to is going to be difficult.

Now I know, controllers exist for one handed use only and some Wii games only need the Wii remote and I have a few of those like Zack and Wiki. I guess if you know of any that only need one hand, I'd be very grateful if you could recommend some.

nows a perfect time to start using your feet! left is easiest to do anyway because most games only move with it.

around the time kingdom hearts 2 came out I ended up breaking both my wrists while skateboarding, but I really wanted to play the game so bad I actually taught myself how to us my feet to play the game. it really sucked and was frustrating at first but eventually I got it down. admittedly I have never foot handed it so I don't know if it would be easier or harder than 1 handing the controller alla HalfCoordinated (twitch speedrunner that routinely plays shooters with his only useable hand)

[telly]

Hello all!

I recently suffered an injury which immobilized all of the fingers on my left hand as well as my wrist, and since my job basically requires me the use of both hands I'll be out of commission from work for a bit, which leaves me a good amount of free time to be playing my backlog of video games. The only problem is... well I can't use my left hand at all unfortunately. I was just wondering if anyone else here has ever suffered an injury which kept them from gaming, because frankly, I game on the daily, and not being able to is going to be difficult.

Now I know, controllers exist for one handed use only and some Wii games only need the Wii remote and I have a few of those like Zack and Wiki. I guess if you know of any that only need one hand, I'd be very grateful if you could recommend some.

nows a perfect time to start using your feet! left is easiest to do anyway because most games only move with it.

around the time kingdom hearts 2 came out I ended up breaking both my wrists while skateboarding, but I really wanted to play the game so bad I actually taught myself how to us my feet to play the game. it really sucked and was frustrating at first but eventually I got it down. admittedly I have never foot handed it so I don't know if it would be easier or harder than 1 handing the controller alla HalfCoordinated (twitch speedrunner that routinely plays shooters with his only useable hand)

That's an awesome story , would have loved to see that in action

[kashell]

Feel better soon, aliensstudios. That's a bummer.