What's so special about "gaming" mouses/keyboards?

DevoidChaos Oct 15, 2015 @ 4:19pm

they have mechanical switches and other extra stuff

#1

Vynira Snowy Oct 15, 2015 @ 4:20pm

Originally posted by DevoidChaos:
they have mechanical switches and other extra stuff

That doesn't tell me anything.

#2

DevoidChaos Oct 15, 2015 @ 4:23pm

Originally posted by Mint-Berry Crunch:
Originally posted by DevoidChaos:
they have mechanical switches and other extra stuff

That doesn't tell me anything.

well mechanical switches last a lot longer and are more reliable, and a lot of gaming keyboards now come with RGB backlights, and some basically have an extra numpad for binding things like scripts (not aimbot, scripts are different)

Edit: and the mice often have much higher DPI and specially designed mice have numpads bulit into them for MMOs and MOBAs

Last edited by DevoidChaos; Oct 15, 2015 @ 4:25pm

#3

Floridaman Oct 15, 2015 @ 4:53pm

Many regular mice have a lot of fancy stuff like drift control, angle-snapping, or even built-in acceleration that's fine for the average joe but not for gamers that need precision and muscle memory. Also, many gaming mice have a higher polling rate, up to the max for USB which is 1000 per second.

Gaming mice may also come with other features such as per-game profiles, easy support for rebinding the buttons, or DPI switching. For example my $43 Logitech G402s has all of this, a flawless sensor, AND stores settings inside the mouse's memory so I can take it with me to go.

I can't comment for keyboards... I think "gaming" keyboards are overrated and not as useful as the mice.

Also, wireless for anything has a small degree of delay vs wired. Besides the possibility of wireless stuff dieing on you in the middle of an important match, all the delays add up.

Wireless delay, polling rate, events being passed through the window manager, monitor response time and display lag, refresh rate, etc.. This all adds up ms of delay on top of your ping.

The keyboards and mice with over 9000 buttons are overkill, but the mice that don't even hit $50 that solve the problems of regular mice are worth it.

Last edited by Floridaman; Oct 15, 2015 @ 5:04pm

#4

Tanya Degurechaff Oct 15, 2015 @ 5:25pm

they are faster prettier and everyone will think your mlg

#5

Sir Dookface McFerretballs Oct 15, 2015 @ 10:56pm

The special part about "gaming" keyboards and mice is the word "gaming" and an increased price for said "gaming" moniker... They might add a few buttons or lights or something but that's about it.

Over the years it has become an easy way for companies to rip off computer and console newbies and the PvP "gamer jocks" with overpriced cheaply made crap. I've used my fair share of computer bits and bobs over the last 25 or so years and most the time all the "gamer" stuff is actually of worse quality and barely even lasts 1/3rd the time the non "gamer" titled similar stuff does.

My favorite ripoff is "headsets" using many sub par parts and even adding steel weights to make them feel more "substantial" and then charging prices of $150 and up... Meanwhile the audio snobs at head-fi forums have done multiple tests showing that a $30-$60 set of decent stereo headphones and a $1 lapel microphone can out perfrom $300+ "gamer" headsets.

The same BS is used with just about any computer peripheral... Though the same people that buy this "gamer" stuff are the ones that believe a gold plated HDMI cable for $90 will somehow out perform the regular $5 ones (it's a digital signal so it doesn't matter if it is gold plated)... They like to think that high cost equals high quality so the hyper competitive "gamer jocks" will buy into anything that makes them think it will make them a better "Gamer". Oops... I just sniped you from across the map with a pistol while using an old 360 controller and your overpriced KBAM "gamer" goodies didn't help you one bit. ^_^

#6

♠ZerØ♠ Oct 15, 2015 @ 11:03pm

The Mice have extra Dpi settings to adjust pickup and sensitivity. Which I can see people caring about. And extra buttons. I know I love my 9-button mouse. Mapping scope, reload, weapon swap and melee to a thumb press is pretty great.

The Keyboards... I don't know... They glow sometimes? Some have displays for temp and processor usage? Hotkeys? Honestly, I never got the keyboard thing.

#7

bear Oct 16, 2015 @ 12:14am

The opinions on gaming headsets are pretty spot on in this thread everything else should be taken with a grain of salt. Unless you play Competeive FPS or RTS games you wont notice or need any of the extra features of gaming mice or keyboards. I've been competing since the days of cs 1.3 and while I'm sure I could still fair decently with an old trackball mouse it won't compare to a mouse with optics and overall design that fit your style of play.

Different gaming mice go as far as to be ergonomically designed based on what popular grip styles you use. Then you get into how the optics actually track, whether or not theres any hardware acceleration, how they handle liftoff, ect...

All of this means nothing unless you need pixel perfect accuracy for whatever you're playing. I even know people with half a dozen mice that they'll swap depending on what game they're about to play.

Most of the "features" like having 10k DPI are indeed a gimmick in my opinion because that will never be practical for in game accuracy until 8k+ gaming becomes standard but the optics themself do make a huge difference. If you lined up a handful of highend gaming mice all with different sensors at the same settings you would notice differences but again not if all you do is play star trek online.

With the keyboards alot of it is gimmicky but the various kinds of mechanical switches do act very differently and again thats more about personal preference. The only other thing that really matters is what kind of anti-ghosting capabilities a keyboard may have. Your average keyboard can only register a couple of simultaneous keystrokes due to most of them using a matrix circuit grid array. Gaming keyboards depending on design could suport more simultaneous keystrokes than any two hands could muster. This comes into play with any game with WASD based movement and really any game where there is a potential for multiple keys needing to be accurately pressed at once.

If you just casually play games then its not needed but its not all just gimmicks.

Last edited by bear; Oct 16, 2015 @ 12:20am

#8

Commander Makara Oct 16, 2015 @ 4:28am

Whilst a lot of aspects are gimmicky and largely unnecesary since milliseconds of mouse response is offset by hand-eye coordination etc. and no amount of such hardware is going to directly improve anyone's ability*, in many cases, to fully utilise certain features requires an alogether different skillset - such as remembering speciofic macro combinations or when to change sensitivities etc.
However, I personally find that some features often reserved for so-called-gaming hardware' such as mechanical and anti'ghosting keys are of immense value. For example, I have a keyboard which is comfortable and ergonomic for writing, but it woefuilly lets me down for gaming, since it will not accept certain key combinations (such as crouch, side-step backwards and reload concurrently).

I am also bemused with more 'standard' hardware with regards to mouse thumb-buttons which I have come to rely on.
_

Ultimately, as with any such marketed products, there are advantages and disadvantages. The best advice, I feel, is to identify what might benefit you more opposed to what's unnecessary gaff that you will never use or will not be sufficiently helpful.
Be aware many 'gaming keybvoards' and 'mice' are marketed as such under flimsy reasoning, such as "backlit keys" or "customiseable macros" etc. wich are rarely sufficient to perform to a standard and functionality demanded by even perhaps the 'average' game enthusiast.

-

*By which I mean that hardware facilitates and utilises existing abilities, or allows a greater proportion of potential to be realised, rather than expand or futher develop an existing talent. I am also solely referring to the use of Gaming Hardware, not, for example, prosthetics in healthcare.

_______________________________________

Originally posted by Sir Dookface McFerretballs:
The special part about "gaming" keyboards and mice is the word "gaming" and an increased price for said "gaming" moniker... They might add a few buttons or lights or something but that's about it.

I was suprised the other day to see a (typically ludicrously priced) pair of "Gaming" Goggles - essentially what appeared to be just a pripherally-restrictive visor helmet with a yellowish tinted lens filter...

Last edited by Commander Makara; Oct 16, 2015 @ 4:31am

#9

Charlie Oct 16, 2015 @ 5:01am

Gaming Mice are generally better built, have extra buttons that can be mapped for functions, have higher quality sensors and faster response times... Plus they look purty

Gaming Keyboards are again generally built better, they have higher quality key-switches/membranes, they have additional buttons that can be programmes and again higher response times... Plus they look purty.

#10

Commander Makara Oct 16, 2015 @ 5:30am

I had a Logitech G11 which had problems after around 4 months, a Razer Deathadder mouse which failed after about 7 months and before that a Razer DiamondBack which lasted an entire 11 months. In my opinion, the rumour that 'Gaming devices' are 'better built' is simply an invention of the manufacturers that wish to market overpriced goods which are 'built' in entirely the same way, if from different components, in factory mass-production lines with the very same level of quality assurance.

I task anyone to find any proof of any specfically differing construction method (not material) in building 'gaming hardware opposed to an alternative.
If anything, the addition of more features can negatively impact the overall quality of a product simply statistically being 'more things to 'go wrong'.

#11

Floridaman Oct 16, 2015 @ 5:52am

Yeah, of course the label of "gaming devices" is abused to give the appearance that a quality is of high build.. And Razer is notorious for having stuff that fails or breaks down quickly. Most of the stuff on the market is overpriced trash.

Originally posted by Commander Makara:
If anything, the addition of more features can negatively impact the overall quality of a product simply statistically being 'more things to 'go wrong'.

That's like saying smart phones have less overall quality than old flip phones because more features = more bad things can happen. Also most of the frills are dependent on a driver from the manufacturer, otherwise when you plug in the mice, the OS just uses the standard usbhid driver and it functions like an average mouse.

The sensors in most mice meant for gaming remove a lot of the features meant for the average computer user so it's actually the other way around. I think people just have a bad taste in their mouths from the label "gaming devices" and for good reason, because of how much that label has been beaten and abused.

Last edited by Floridaman; Oct 16, 2015 @ 5:56am

#12

Janni Oct 16, 2015 @ 6:06am

Gaming Keyboards (in most cases mechanical) have different switches which are easier and more reliable to press down.

Red Switch: the most popular for gaming because its the lightest and fastest to push

Blue Switch: the most popular for typing because it is a little bit harder to push and gives people sound "feedback"

Brown Switch: The balance between blue and red switches basicly

those are the usual ones being sold there are some more kind of switches but not worth mentioning.

(you will mostly notice the difference of mechanical keyboards switches in rythm games such as osu! though it can help in normal games aswell but you wont notice as much probably)

Other than switches gaming keyboards also have macro-keys which you can bind to do what you want (most helpful in mmorpgs)

Gaming mouses usually come with more DPI options and a better grip for muscle memory (extremly helpful for any shooter and Osu!)
and some of them also have numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0) on them (most helpful in mmorpgs) to quickly do certain spells or attacks.

Last edited by Janni; Oct 16, 2015 @ 6:08am

#13

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