about gaming mousepads

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DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
14,646
3,010
136
"sgt flame", you are again one of those people who likes to talk without any reason to do so. Literally EVERY SINGLE ONE of the "leaderboards" players of every game that remotely resembles e-sports uses a mousemat, and i don't know of a single one who uses a generic, non-brand mat.
But wait, you are on the leaderboard of ... left for dead? OF LEFT FOR DEAD.

You telling ME about leaving out the kids, but then there are thousands of people who have been playing quake, CS and UT since 1996+ say you are the kid. Rofl. L4D should never be used as a comparison to a real FPS, the very fact that you do says you are a complete casual who should not speak on anything FPS. Wait, let me google "left4dead world championship" .. hmm .. no. no results.

unreal world championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFBxa5Qp5k
quakeworld world championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfPoACc_ihY
quakelive world championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rce75JYlJd8
quake3 world championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q45bSALiVBI
painkiller world championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMeZsKP9xkA
CSGO world championship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Z9z-jvdt0

ESReality http://www.esreality.com/?a=forums
aim400 http://aim400kg.com/
mouse guide https://geekhack.org/?topic=56240.0
he4rtl3ss guide http://www.esreality.com/post/2634596/guide-how-to-hit-40-lg/

your opinion of mousemats is about as valid as your opinions on the ceramic heatshields on the shuttle.
 

rh71

No Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
52,844
1,049
126
^ I'm trying to understand, where is this tracking issue if it's as sensitive with or without a mousepad in my real-world test right in front of my face? What does it matter what game it is? It moves minutely and/or quickly just the same with or without a pad. Explain what tracking/sensitivity issue I'm missing.

The 4 links you posted above say little to nothing about mouse pads (glide/shape/sizes are personal preference), but rather strategies, mouse sensors & sensitivity settings. Where's the details about mouse pads and its effect on tracking?
 
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DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
14,646
3,010
136
in theory (i'd like to stress *theory*) if you had a perfect desk, it would count as a rigid mat. rigid mats have little friction (called "control" in the gaming terminology) thus requiring you to use particularly low sensitivity (speed at which the mouse converts DPI to pixels) which might be unpractical. in mouse-sports, accurate aim means flicking the mouse to pixel-perfect precision, therefore a mat which has friction helps you stop in a particular spot instead of a few millimeters off.
Most casual games, say, Garden Warfare, do not require you to have accurate aim. Competitive games are the opposite. Unless you have experienced the need for accurate aim, it's hard to explain what that means, i can only say, go play QL against someone who has been playing for sixteen years and try to tell the difference between their aim and an aimbot.

My sens in QL is currently 67cm x 360, that is, my mouse needs to travel 67 centimeters 26 inches for me to turn 360 degrees, 13 inches to face backwards. Lower sens is what you need to prevent micro-movements of the mouse when reacting very fast to moving targets (seems counterintuitive but it's how it works), and also to be able to aim to a specific pixel onscreen.
Consider if someone printed your screen on your mousemat; the larger the print, the larger that particular pixel would be, but the more movement you would need to move across the "screen".
 

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
136
Moving to a gaming mouse pad to me made a HUGE difference in my accuracy in BF4 and WoT. Before I used a cheap cloth style one. I now use a World of Tanks Razer Goliathus Soft Gaming Mouse Mat. I mostly got this one because of the cool print, but I REALLY like how it feels.
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
5,723
325
126
I think the biggest reason to use one is consistency. It'll have the same speed and tracking everywhere. I moved to one and it helped my game. Not that I though my desk was tracking poorly, but I paid more attention to getting ergonomics right and keeping the whole mat clear so I wouldn't be running into bills or a can of mountain dew. Granted you can do it without a mat, but once you start making sure all the small details are rights, its worthwhile.
 
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Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,683
631
126
in theory (i'd like to stress *theory*) if you had a perfect desk, it would count as a rigid mat. rigid mats have little friction (called "control" in the gaming terminology) thus requiring you to use particularly low sensitivity (speed at which the mouse converts DPI to pixels) which might be unpractical. in mouse-sports, accurate aim means flicking the mouse to pixel-perfect precision, therefore a mat which has friction helps you stop in a particular spot instead of a few millimeters off.
Most casual games, say, Garden Warfare, do not require you to have accurate aim. Competitive games are the opposite. Unless you have experienced the need for accurate aim, it's hard to explain what that means, i can only say, go play QL against someone who has been playing for sixteen years and try to tell the difference between their aim and an aimbot.

My sens in QL is currently 67cm x 360, that is, my mouse needs to travel 67 centimeters 26 inches for me to turn 360 degrees, 13 inches to face backwards. Lower sens is what you need to prevent micro-movements of the mouse when reacting very fast to moving targets (seems counterintuitive but it's how it works), and also to be able to aim to a specific pixel onscreen.
Consider if someone printed your screen on your mousemat; the larger the print, the larger that particular pixel would be, but the more movement you would need to move across the "screen".
So you're just babbling on about mousepads replacing DPI settings. It's ok that you spent a lot of money on a mousepad but it doesn't mean you're the definitive expert on accuracy in FPS games.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
14,646
3,010
136
since it looks like you won't be going away anytime soon, i might as well explain this to you.
sensitivity, is not a fixed value. you would think that dots per inch is always the same value, but this does not factor in the amount of force you put on the mouse. in fact, you are not expressing sens in dots per inch, but in force that you apply, which then results in a variable movement, depending on friction. thus you can have a high sens, high friction, or you could have low sens, low friction, and while your hand might factually move move, they would feel the same.
we avoid too high sens - or rather, too small movements - as it makes tiny adjustments harder. flick aim (moving to any point in 3d, up to 180° in any direction) in any sens is still fast enough, provided the friction is low enough.
in a perfect world, you would want to use as much of your arm as possible to aim, but due to the effort needed, and the friction of whatever surface you use, the general consensus among people whose PROFESSION is to win at FPS games, such as strenx, cooller, rapha, fatality, cypher, and so on and so forth, is that the ideal aim is between 40 and 60cm for a 360 (a complete turn). You can measure this easily yourself, by going ingame, placing your mouse along a straight surface, and moving it sideways until you have done a whole turn and are now facing again the same pixel as you were before. The length it has to travel is your cm/360.
my guess is that yours is around 15/18cm.

regarding my expertise in FPS, it might not be the most in depth, but at least the things i know are fact, not opinion. considering that you quoted a coop PVE game as your concept of FPS, i don't think i even need to prove this to you in game. i doubt you'd even manage to make your own config in quake, much less get a frag.

bonus : me pubstomping (and getting hackusated) in BLR with iron sights and noob gear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4b7iLnhdQw
pubstomping in QL / TDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccqaSU281Dw
 

Stg-Flame

Diamond Member
Mar 10, 2007
3,683
631
126
You're saying because I mentioned L4D, that means my entire gaming history revolves around that single game. Good to know. Also, L4D has competitive PvP modes and just because the other team might not have guns, doesn't mean accuracy isn't important. They are all video games and I think you need to be reminded that your little-man syndrome falls short (no pun intended) while on the Internet. I get the feeling you're the type who screams racial slurs and obscenities at the other team when you win a match or will disconnect if you're losing to keep your stats high.

If you can play a video game and have fun (win or lose) with or without a mouse pad, it doesn't matter. If you're playing professionally, then I'm sure you already have everything set that will help you win. I already took my turn in competitive gaming and while it was fun for a while, it just wasn't something I wanted to devote all my time toward.
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
^ I'm trying to understand, where is this tracking issue if it's as sensitive with or without a mousepad in my real-world test right in front of my face? What does it matter what game it is? It moves minutely and/or quickly just the same with or without a pad. Explain what tracking/sensitivity issue I'm missing.

The 4 links you posted above say little to nothing about mouse pads (glide/shape/sizes are personal preference), but rather strategies, mouse sensors & sensitivity settings. Where's the details about mouse pads and its effect on tracking?

It's not about moving fast. It's about the mouse sensor to be able to accurately track across the surface. Your ability to adjust to the game without a pad doesn't mean a pad isn't more accurate for the sensor. It also ensures the surface is even for the mouse to work on. What it really comes down to is pixel accuracy which may or may not be important in the games you play or how competitive you try to be.
 

moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,731
3,440
136
I just don't want to wear a damn hole through my desk, which is exactly what would happen if I tried to game without a mousepad. I am so fast and robot like, that even 5 minutes without a mouse pad and my desk will catch on fire. None of you noobs have that problem right? Yeah, didn't think it.

Incase you are wondering, I coat my mouse pads with the same ceramic material used on the reentry shield of the space shuttle.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
14,646
3,010
136
if you're losing
i don't even know what that means.

flame, why do you insist? you clearly do not know about high-level gaming, but for some reason instead of accepting that you don't, you want to pass your opinion as fact, when there are many credible sources besides myself who say the opposite.
 

Grooveriding

Diamond Member
Dec 25, 2008
9,147
1,330
126
This stuff makes a difference if you are really trying to improve FPS gameplay. In order of strength of improvement to my fps gameplay, these were what helped me :

1.) 144hz monitor
2.) Zowie EC2-A mouse
3.) Ergonomics: Getting a well positioned chair and having the monitor the right distance from my eyes.
4.) Steelseries qck+ thick mousepad