is it just me...

[azn_papirus]

so i was lurking in the controls thread, seeing whos controls r wat, wen i came upon an idEEya
wat if... u cud play tetris with one hand?!
well i tried it, and after a couple games
my hand started to hurt, but i also noticed, i was hard dropping abt once a second, while i ussually go at abt 1 per 2 secs

and nao i type mostly with my right hand,
ye.. is there actually any1 whos done this before?
O.o....

[KevinDDR]

Yes, it's just you. The optimal layout should have rotation and movement on separate hands.

[AjP]

I think rosie from tnet played with one hand...some kinda setup on the number pad...can any of the old timers verify this or find rosie?

[azn_papirus]

...fack,

hmm, is it ok to practice with one hand alternating so that both hands get faster and then use seperate hands during a game?

it cud be gud practice....

[Monte]

eYe dUn noE aZn_PapIrus, buT WeN eyE wuZ leArNin hOw 2 uSe a kEyBoarD Eye uSe 2 gO sLoWly n ViZuaLize bOut wEr eYe waNted dA pEace n EyE Wuld TrY tO PlAcE it Da Mos EfFiCienT wAi PosSibLe. AS iN Da lEaSt kEyBoaRd pResSes PossIbl. N aZ eYe gOt BetTa EYe WuLd TrY 2 gO fAsTeR. eYe ThInK gEtTiNg AcCuRacY 1sT iz mOs iMpoRtanT. SpeEd wiL follO 1ncE u gEt aCCUracY.

[Blink]

 lol, you guys make me want to add a spell checker on here.

and to azn_papirus - you'll go faster with 2 hands so the majority of people set their keys to use both.  The people who use a 1 handed setup actually only have 1 usable hand, or have 2 hands and are too stubborn to learn a more efficient setup because they're already used to their 1 handed setup.

[azn_papirus]

but im thinking jus getting speed up for both hands.. cuz u guys know tetris isnt the only thing its useful for right?

but ye
if i lern to play decent wit both hands solo, im thinking wen i use both hands together, it might make a difference, more agility etc...

[KevinDDR]

wel i think gud spelln mayb useful 4 other thngs 2 yknow

But really, if you want to become better just use both hands. I kind of dislike it when people think that there's some magical obscure cure-all trick to becoming good at Tetris; if there was, we'd all be doing it. The reality is that only lots of practice along with a thorough understanding of game mechanics will improve your speed. A through understanding of game mechanics also implies that you know what keyboard layout results in the best way to play.

[sandibaby]

"The people who use a 1 handed setup actually only have 1 usable hand, or have 2 hands and are too stubborn to learn a more efficient setup because they're already used to their 1 handed setup."

Hmm...is that referring to me! I am not stubborn. Hmph!

Spell check might be useful.  

[Rosti_LFC]

There have been plenty of times when I've played with one hand on Tetris DS, and a couple on Tetris Friends, when someone has rung me just as the match is starting, and I'd rather try and survive with one hand than just let myself die. Those times were with 2-handed setups as well, to add extra annoyance.

Of course you can play with one hand. It's that you can't play very well.

And screw installing spell-check into the forum. Nobody would use it unless it scanned the words as you went, and I've yet to see one for a forum that does that. People should get browsers with in-built spell checkers (ie the latest versions of pretty much any of them) if they can't spell.
And people who persistently insist that the correct spelling of "because" is "cuz", "anyone" is "n e 1" etc should just be warned until ban. This is a forum, not an IM.

[virulent]

ok. i stopped reading on monte's comment. but yea..don't think 1 hand is ever optimal.
ajp: yea. rosie uses 1 hand. i didn't know that! i'm gettin her to join :]

[jdapple]

awww!! poor papirus lol!  ur spelling's not as bad as other ppl put it! u only use unconventional spelling like "nao" and "wen"!  i can read it fine! ;D

[Rosti_LFC]

awww!! poor papirus lol!  ur spelling's not as bad as other ppl put it! u only use unconventional spelling like "nao" and "wen"!  i can read it fine! ;D

Seems you're missing the point as well.

Readability is not the main issue here. Respecting the forum, it's users, and your own posts is the issue. We do not have a stupidly low character limit like SMS messages do, so there's no reason to type as if there is one. You've got a full keyboard at your disposal, and unless you're one heck of a slow typer I really don't see cutting "people" down to "ppl" or "anyone" down to "n e 1" saving your a great deal of time when you're making posts.

If people aren't that great at grammar or spelling, or have dyslexia, or English isn't their first language, then fair enough to them if their posts aren't always written in 100% perfect English. Even then txt speak isn't acceptable, and everyone should be keeping their posts to the best quality they can. Forums are entitled to want to have standards of quality of the posts.

When you've got people who live in places like Poland and Holland, where English is their second or even third language, and they're writing better than you are, then there's an issue. When they're even going to the point of calling you up on how awful your English is, then that's just plain embarrassing.

Writing in proper, easily readable English isn't difficult. It's just flat out lazy and disrespectful to not do so, and at the very least you're harming the likelihood that anyone is actually going to take what you say seriously, even if they bother reading it. Because whether they can understand it isn't the problem. I could type my entire set of posts in French or something and provide a link at the bottom to Google translate for people to translate it into English, but it's still disrespectful to expect people to go to the trouble when it's an English forum and I can't be bothered typing in proper English (for the record I am English, not French).

"Unconventional" is an interesting term for spellings like 'wen' or 'ur'. I'm pretty sure most people would just use "wrong".

[nismo]

^ Agreed Rosti.

[jdapple]

Seems you're missing the point as well.

Readability is not the main issue here. Respecting the forum, it's users, and your own posts is the issue. We do not have a stupidly low character limit like SMS messages do, so there's no reason to type as if there is one. You've got a full keyboard at your disposal, and unless you're one heck of a slow typer I really don't see cutting "people" down to "ppl" or "anyone" down to "n e 1" saving your a great deal of time when you're making posts.

If people aren't that great at grammar or spelling, or have dyslexia, or English isn't their first language, then fair enough to them if their posts aren't always written in 100% perfect English. Even then txt speak isn't acceptable, and everyone should be keeping their posts to the best quality they can. Forums are entitled to want to have standards of quality of the posts.

When you've got people who live in places like Poland and Holland, where English is their second or even third language, and they're writing better than you are, then there's an issue. When they're even going to the point of calling you up on how awful your English is, then that's just plain embarrassing.

Writing in proper, easily readable English isn't difficult. It's just flat out lazy and disrespectful to not do so, and at the very least you're harming the likelihood that anyone is actually going to take what you say seriously, even if they bother reading it. Because whether they can understand it isn't the problem. I could type my entire set of posts in French or something and provide a link at the bottom to Google translate for people to translate it into English, but it's still disrespectful to expect people to go to the trouble when it's an English forum and I can't be bothered typing in proper English (for the record I am English, not French).

"Unconventional" is an interesting term for spellings like 'wen' or 'ur'. I'm pretty sure most people would just use "wrong".

If you believe that all forum text should be written in Proper English, great.  I also don't read posts that are unreadable for me, like the post that Monte put up in this forum.  However, it's not about saving time either, on the reader or the writer's part.  I feel that people should be allowed to write however they want, especially in a friendly community like Hard Drop.  I didn't have to ask anyone to know that "r" stands for "are" and that "nao" means "now," and I'm sure other people wouldn't have difficulty figuring out either.  In fact, papirus probably didn't even use "nao" for the reason that it was more convenient to type than "now."  His post was interesting (and funny when I reread it) because I can tell more of what kind of person he was through his writing.  If all the sentences of HD (Hard Drop) posts were to start with capital letters, end with periods, and lack any abbreviations or smiley faces (not even talking about different-sized smiley faces anymore), there would be a lack of expression and connection between the few people left typing.  If I were to respond to a really serious post about Tetris or another serious matter, I can write in proper English, and that would be an appropriate time for me to write like that.  I can also just as well write every post grammatically (thanks, spell-check) correct but have convoluted sentences that would put people to sleep.  I respect the "txt speak" posts that splutter out of someone's mind in its pure form in five seconds just as much as the formal essays that some people might have an easier time writing than others.  It's not embarrassing for us if we don't care; we understand that some posts are not appealing for everyone.  

* - Please don't be afraid to comment stuff like "tl dr"! ;P (which, in this post, was on purpose) - it's nice to hear your thoughts!