I'm Crap and I Know it

[Airget]

Just break out of the mentality that you are a terrible player and overcome the obstacle, if you use the disease as an excuse for your play then you won't push yourself to overcome that handicap life has dealt you. Might sound rough to say but if there is a will there is a way and if you just keep pushing you may find yourself capable of playing to a style that helps you.

One trick you could try, is if you have poor hand eye coordination, then practice playing blind, feel your tools and memorize the texture, if it helps put texture cues on your keyboard mouse, so that when you feel it, you know what you're touching and you aren't relying on hand eye coordination to do the work for you. Much like how the f and j key have dents you can feel to give use the cue that that's the starting position for typing. You could set something on your 1 button to know when your hand is on one, and by keeping your finger at 1 you'll know how to reach 2-3 because they are right next to each other.

Play around with ideas, it's something you can consider while crafting and gathering is how can you make it easier on yourself, how can you overcome the obstacle that's been a part of your life and ya, goodluck, hopefully maybe if this advice doesn't sound like nonsense it can help you come up with a means to play with more ease.

[Krylo]

feel your tools and memorize the texture, if it helps put texture cues on your keyboard mouse

Probably shouldn't comment on these things unless you have some knowledge. Multiple Sclerosis is a nervous system disorder and generally comes with some degree of numbness in the extremities (with attacks leading to full or partial paralysis). This varies from person to person, but it's quite possible you just did the equivalent of asking a person mentioning they have a hard time with their wheelchair to just walk across the room.

@OP: My mother suffers from NMO (Neuromyelitis Optica) which is similar to MS in some ways. She was originally diagnosed with MS in the 90s, and then I forget what in the early 2000s, and finally with NMO which is a pretty newly discovered disease. Like MS it involves the demyelination of the spinal cord, but the cause in NMO is an auto-immune disorder where the body's immune system attacks it. It also attacks the optic nerves (thus, optica).

She prefers dungeons and plays well enough, but hotbar MMOs are one of the only games she can still play (we used to play a lot of other games like Mario Kart, various Zeldas, etc. but that's not really possible for her, anymore) and it will prevent her from ever being 'great'. She still does better DPS than a majority of people I pick up in DF (or even PF), however, and is only rarely the cause of wipes. The main thing for her is not caring, because, like you, stress causes her to have trouble. I'm usually on skype with her when we play and I'll try to remind her to take deep breaths and/or calm down and/or that it's just a game and it doesn't really matter and her performance will generally improve quite a bit.

[raelgun]

What mouse do you use?

A razer naga or logitech G600 would assist with increased amount of accessible keybindings as they have 12 buttons alone on the side just for your thumb to press on, less need to click on your hotbar like this.

Also, something like a razer tartarus might help with control as its a lot better ergonomically to use as your hand should wrap over device, dunno if that will help with any trembles as using a keyboard you force your hand to hover over the keys.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Razer-Expert-Gaming-Mouse-Handed/dp/B00E8JKKPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439659102&sr=8-1&keywords=razer+naga

and

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Razer-Tartarus-Expert-membrane-Gaming/dp/B00ELGHM8C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439659111&sr=8-1&keywords=razer+tartarus

[Mallea]

What mouse do you use?

I'm using a Razer Naga Epic mouse; Razer Blackwidow Keyboard; and Razer Orbweaver. I struggle with the Orbweaver, so it's used exclusively to bind keys for crafting.

Not mentioned, I also use voice recognition software -- Tazti. It doesn't react promptly enough for combat situations, so I use it for mundane commands, like summoning battle pets and mounts, also for using potions, and switching classes/jobs.

I've done just about everything possible to avoid having to do precise clicks on the screen with my mouse. When gathering I have an in-game macro that targets and takes me to nodes. Very helpful, even though you'll often see me bouncing off trees and boulders. :P People "friend" me a lot when I'm out gathering because they think I'm a bot. Not so, I'm just very patient and have good key binds.

[raelgun]

I'm using a Razer Naga Epic mouse; Razer Blackwidow Keyboard; and Razer Orbweaver. I struggle with the Orbweaver, so it's used exclusively to bind keys for crafting.



I've done just about everything possible to avoid having to do precise clicks on the screen with my mouse. When gathering I have an in-game macro that targets and takes me to nodes.

So you have that mouse, ok then if you have found your self already using all of the keybinds, try to make new keybinds which are shift+whatever is binded for the mouse, you can effectively double the number of binds to do so or CTRL + whatever. The orbweaver design takes some getting used to but I personally found it exceeded the keyboard after a few weeks granted and using shift commands will also take some time but they do end up being a lot nicer to use once you get some practice in.

[ErzaScarlet77]

just play sch. spam physick and let eos carry you. but it says you main smn there? smn is probly the worst class for someone like you lol, so many button to press

[Remilia_Nightfall]

Ok, I am going to be the unpopular one here by commenting from a strictly pragmatic point of view.

First of all, I am calling this an "attention grabbing" thread. By calling out your illness while at the same time self-commiserating yourself with terms like "crap" you are clearly expecting a bunch of people to try to convince you otherwise due to the fact that "being nice with unlucky strangers on the Internet is cool".
You then write that you are just curious, but if that was your original intent, there was no need to label yourself as "crap" or adding stuff like "watch out for me". You could have kept it much more neutral without attracting the horde of white knights.

Secondly, "crap" is a subjective term. You probably aren't suited for endgame raiding (or, more generally, group content as a whole), which means that yes, if put into such a situation, you would be severely underperforming and thus bad. There are no two ways around it. Performance is a parameter which is objectively measurable regardless of your personal circumstances.
Accept that, due to your situation, you are indeed "bad" in terms of performance. People in this thread trying to convince you otherwise in order to feel better with themselves are not going to change reality.

Now, feel free to flame away at me.

[Mycow8me]

I play with essential tremor. Causes uneasy shaking in the hands and arms. Very rarely when excited or nervous (near death or first time in dungeon I guess) it happens in my neck.

I've found playing with weights and magnetic apparel helps kinda. The idea is to lower the effect of the shaking.

Playing with the keyboard was rough cause the shaking had no where to go and spasmatically hit wrong keys. Hooked ps3 controller into PC and got a made in china driver for it and now its a lot easier to play. Arms can shake freely and there is hardly any shake in the hands, none in the fingers.

Magnetic wrist watch ftw.

[Aegrus]

First of all, I am calling this an "attention grabbing" thread. By calling out your illness while at the same time self-commiserating yourself with terms like "crap" you are clearly expecting a bunch of people to try to convince you otherwise due to the fact that "being nice with unlucky strangers on the Internet is cool".

You beat me to it. That being said, people are indeed bad, and while you may play a subscription to play, so do the other 3-7 people in your group. You seem self conscious enough to be aware of your performance, but that does not mean others are. I personally can care less on what someones situation is, nor should you care about my own. It is a game you play, and you are allowed to play it the way you see fit, just as others are within their rights to choose who they want to, and if that happens to not be with you, who are you to judge.

[Nyalia]

Ok, I am going to be the unpopular one here by commenting from a strictly pragmatic point of view.

I don't know the OP and can't speak for them, but I can say it can be comforting for someone with a disability to know that they aren't alone. I read the OP as them just trying to (1) validate their decision to run dungeons despite a handicap that adversely affects their ability to play the game optimally, and (2) see if anyone else is in a similar position and how they handle it. These are, in my opinion, both totally valid and important. Look, it's great that you don't have a disability. It really is. But other people do live with a disability every day, and it isn't always easy. We aren't here to troll you. We just want to play the darn game.


If you think its selfish for someone to go into a roulette knowing they might perform worse than the average player, then you must think the majority of players are pretty selfish. It turns out that half of them perform worse than the average player.

In DF, you get matched with random people. Some of them perform better than others - that's just how it is. Is it also selfish for someone in minimum ilvl gear to queue for a duty? Or healers who don't have THM to 26 for Swiftcast? Or anyone who is playing a role they are unfamiliar with? Or anyone who has new skills that they haven't completely figured out how to use optimally yet? If you only ever want to run dungeons with the absolute best performers, set up parties through PF (and be sure to indicate just how awesome you are at the game in the PF description - its very important).


Strictly speaking, the most pragmatic way to deal with underperformers is to change your playstyle to accommodate them where possible. That gets the duty over sooner, reduces wipes, prevents having to wait for someone new to join, and keeps the environment from becoming hostile or unwelcoming. Calling out everyone who isn't as good as you think they should be for being an underperformer is not pragmatism, nor is saying that people with disabilities shouldn't play video games.