Former Fnatic League of Legends head coach, Luis “Deilor” Sevilla, has revealed he’s producing a new type of ergonomic gaming keyboard: The Shortcut.
This is designed to ‘increase performance and comfort while reducing the risk of repetitive strain injuries (RSI)’, and comes in two parts – one for the left hand and one for the right.
Each hand pad has 14 buttons, with adjustable columns so the gamer gets the keys the right spacing for them. The two pads can be used independently, so for example a gamer can disconnect the two pads and just use the left-hand one, giving them more room for their mouse on the right-hand side.
The spacebar has been replaced by a thumb area, which has one key and a four-way directional stick. The Shortcut’s keys can also be reprogrammed.
It’s an open source product, so anyone can download the Shortcut’s schematics.
Deilor said he wanted to remove the ‘200-year-old technical limitations of the typewriter’, which he believes keyboards still have today.
“When a player has contractures on his back or something as severe as carpal tunnel syndrome on both wrists, is it because he just plays so much that the body can’t handle it?” Deilor said. “I think it’s a matter of the keyboard not being designed for today’s activities and the lack of easily accessible information about how to take care of our own health.
“I want to create the best possible peripherals for gamers and help spread the correct information so we can make better decisions regarding our performance and health.”
“I want to tackle these issues. I want to create the best possible peripherals for gamers and help spread the correct information so we can make better decisions regarding our performance and health.
“We shouldn’t accept a mediocre tool just because it’s been with us since we were born. With today’s technology and human body knowledge, we can create a keyboard designed to fulfill today’s tasks and needs at a level never before possible.”
Deilor is also looking for testers, and is asking prospective testers to fill in a questionnaire, for a chance to win a prototype. More than 1,200 responses have been collected in just six hours.
You can check out the full video reveal of the Shortcut keyboard here:
Further reading: ‘League of Legends won’t be around in 20 years’ time’ – Deilor
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
