WoW Addict: A Case of Home Row Confusion
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pixiestixy on Monday, June 8, 2009 - 34 Comments Tags: W-A-S-D, addict, confusion, gaming, home row, shorty, symptom, typing
pixiestixy on Monday, June 8, 2009 - 34 Comments Tags: W-A-S-D, addict, confusion, gaming, home row, shorty, symptom, typing 
Ever plopped down at a computer, placed your hands upon its keys and started to type, only to realize your left hand is shifted slightly from its usual home row position? Perhaps your right hand is affixed to your in-game hotkeys? You may have a case of what I like to call Home Row Confusion. You also may be a WoW addict.It's happened to me, many a morning as I meander into the workplace. I reach my cube and start up my computer. And then there it is. Home Row Confusion.
For a second, I'm a bit confused about why my typing isn't quite there. Maybe I need coffee, I reason. Then, it hits me. Like a ton of fire-bricks dropped by a raging gnome warlock trying to squash a Human down to size (See how HE likes being called "Shorty"). I am sick with a malady so powerful it's causing my brain to think my work computer is a gaming machine when, let's face it, the damn thing can barely run IE.
Like the WoW-inspired dreams that proclaim my infatuation with lore, dragons and being stealthy, this symptom of my addiction also frequently reveals itself to me after a particularly long playing session the night before. Apparently, my mind is still in play-mode, and is trying to tell me it would rather be questing among the lands of Azeroth than working. But alas, that is not usually an option at the moment the affliction strikes. Instead, I take a moment to refocus. Pry my fingers off W-A-S-D. And relocate them to A-S-D-F. Sometimes, caffeine is a necessity for them to remember this new configuration.
But the long-term effects can wear on. If you don't treat yourself, you could see this symptom popping up more and more frequently until one fateful day when you reteach the world what SHOULD have been defined as home keys from the start. But don't let yourself reach that point, for there is a cure. Clearly, your brain thirsts for more playtime after work or school. Another dose of WoW, a good rest, and you should be good in the morning.
Has anyone else suffered from a case of Home Row Confusion? What about any other WoW-related ailments that haunt you IRL?
Reader Comments (34)
I must have the opposite issue... too UN-familiar with the keyboard to know instinctively where particular keys are.
WoW is the ONLY PC game I've really got into - online or not - and i still have to look at the keyboard to type anything... bit of a pain when you get a message & are responding to it while everyone else moves on to the next group of trash... :(
Honestly, I gave up on the "proper" home row LONG ago. Ever since the rise of FPS my hands always slam down on wasd.
I also buy keyboards that allow me to hit the control key with my palm. That is an RTS habit for grouping or checking the health of units.
Like Gregg mention, I've actually gone through and remapped my movement keys to SDFC. Although, I'm odd in the first place though, because I never could get used to WASD, and always mapped my forward key to S and then mapped backwards to X. Maybe it's the whole home row deal, which I was never officially taught, my hands just gravitated towards that as I learned to type in MUD's, and you had to not look at the keyboard to keep up with conversations as Jeff mentioned. Either way though, I find it more comfortable to have Strafe and Forward on the same row.
One of the biggest benefits I find of using SDF is the F key on most keyboards has a little notch on it, and when playing, that tactile feedback is great for making sure my hand is in the right position, especially when first trying to get used to the new keymapping.
This also has the benefit of giving you extra left side keys. I do have to remap Tab to Q though, since Tab is just a bit to far away. But using A and Z as emergency buttons (Blink and Ice Block on my Mage) has really upped my reaction time.
The other benefit I was hoping to achieve was to be able to go from movement to typing quicker, but that hasn't happened for me, I think from naturally correcting (or trying to) my left hand position all these years has thrown me off now that I've moved the keymapping. So, I think I should be shifting my hand to the right to type, but I don't need too anymore.
However, there are also a lot of mappings you have to move as well doing this, like reply (R), Assist (F), Character Panel (C). Although, I also usually unmap reply and set it to autorun.
I never have any problems going from typing to WASD.
I learned to type in HS 26 years ago to pick up girls. (1 or 2 guys in the class ;) ).
What always causes muscle memory problems for me are games that use slightly different controls. Say going from the right/left lean keys of the COD series to L4D.
I've gotten atleast 7 RL friends into war (some easily addicted) And one day i got my guidl t-shirt and wore it in public.. i got so many /rofl looks i wanted to /camp :*( I also dream about (whatever alt im lvling at the time like my druid right now) them having top end gear and pwning Ulduar like it was yesterday's news. I also talk to myself, sometimes in third person using my characters name, while at the same time hearing the log-in screen music. I've been playing since release but it only got htis bad the last.. 4 years 5 months :P
yes its sad i always find my left hand naturally on the wsad keys :(
I never leanred to type like you're supposed to.. my fingers are always on wasd just from the days of fps.. plus i dont know how you can take your right hand off the mouse for keybindings, unless your a keyboard turner (which is bad!), I use my left hand on wasd, and my left hand uses all the keybindings, while my right hand sits on my mouse..
I don't mouse click any of my abilities, I have like 48 keybindings.
my hands always go to the W-S-A-D key, i find it funny
I've never had this problem either.