"I love my steam deck but I’ve got one huge problem," redditor Alpha-Quartz recently wrote (via GamesRadar). It might be closer to the truth, though, to say what he really has is, well, two small problems.
"I have an abnormal hand, where I have two small thumbs instead of one big one, on my left hand," Alpha-Quartz wrote in the Steam Deck subreddit. "The left joystick is simply too far 'in' towards the screen for my thumbs to reach it. Is there a simple mod where I can like move the stick to the left, or some thumb extenders or something."
I love my steam deck but I’ve got one huge problem from r/SteamDeck
Predictably, some people had to be jerks about it—the post was eventually locked by mods "because people can't behave"—but to the credit of Reddit, there was plenty of help to be found, too.
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Some users linked to different sorts of accessibility products, but redditor SpecificGreen9140 took it to the next level by 3D-printing a thumbstick extender: "A little help for people with two thumbs on one hand."
Steam deck helper from r/SteamDeck
Alpha-Quartz said the design was "amazing" but asked if it could be moved out just a little bit more. SpecificGreen9140 couldn't get to it right away, so another redditor by the name of Woogies shared their own somewhat more refined design, leading to a lovely exchange of pleasantries: SpecificGreen9140 said the design "is much better than my version," [[link]] leading Woogies to reply that "you did the heavy lifting. It's far easier to refine a design than design it from scratch."
That complimentary back-and-forth is representative of the thread as a whole, which is genuinely heartwarming: People coming [[link]] together to help out a guy, help out the guys helping out the guy—a number of redditors offered to print the thumb-extenders for Alpha-Quartz if he doesn't have a 3D printer of his own—and make gentle "three thumbs up" jokes that are, in this particular context, kind of sweet.
One redditor, by the name of D_Bagggg, got so caught up in the joy of the moment that they decided to 3D-print an extra thumb so even two-thumb-havers could partake in it.
I printed something for people who want to use u/SpecificGreen9140's helper but only have one thumb on each hand from r/SteamDeck
"To be clear, I'm not making fun of anyone with this post," they wrote. "The willingness to help someone with a specific need is a beautiful thing, and I personally think having 50% more thumbs is pretty rad! I just want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to equally enjoy this helpful design."
Well, you have to allow for that sort of thing. Even Alpha-Quartz acknowledged, with a clear [[link]] sense of humor, that his request for help "is getting so much attention because most people are more interested in the thumbs rather than solving the problem. Where do I do the AMA?"
Comment from r/SteamDeck
(If you're curious, he said in other posts that "the inner thumb is more precise, the outer thumb is stronger," he wears gloves by squeezing them together, and he's refused his family's encouragement to have it removed because "I like it. Besides if we did get rid of it i would be left with a super small thumb which sucks.")
Alpha-Quartz is still testing solutions, but the response of the Steam Deck community was not lost on him. "Overall I am simply overwhelmed with the amount of positivity I've gotten from the community," Alpha-Quartz told GamesRadar. "I expected maybe a few dozen views and 4-5 suggestions. Instead I've got 100 different people trying to print different attachments and mailing them to me. Nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
