Ever since the dawn of computer gaming there has been a drive to improve the way we interact with games. There have been numerous different input methods including joysticks, gamepads, steering wheels, and even full on mech control hubs with hundreds of buttons. All those things aside, the best method of input is still the gaming mouse and keyboard.
Now I'm sure you are asking yourself, “with so many options on the market, how do I know which mouse to buy?” This is purely a question of personal taste, but I can help you to learn how to choose the best gaming mouse for you by considering just four qualities when deciding on your ultimate gaming mouse. The qualities are: customization level, functionality, number of buttons, and DPI.
Customization is very important because it can change the way your mouse feels in your hand making you feel at one with your game or not. One of my favorite gaming mice is the R.A.T 7 gaming mouse from cyborg. This mouse has the ability to alter the weight of the mouse so that it can feel heavy or light in your hand. The length of the mouse can also be adjusted by sliding a plastic piece at the bottom of the mouse forward or backwards. In addition, you can modify the thumb and pinky rests on the mouse so that your hand doesn't feel fatigued after long gaming sessions. All of this is important because it affects how you interact with your mouse, but when you are trying to play a computer game with the best accuracy that is where functionality comes in.
Different computer mice have different levels of functionality. Some functions are built for specific games. With The R.A.T 7 mouse there is a sniper button which lowers the DPI in the case that you are playing a first person shooter and want to increase your accuracy. This function, and all other functions are usually controlled by the firmware bundled with the mouse.With most good computer gaming mice you will be able to have multiple profiles in which you can alter everything including macros, quick commands for faster game play, to button mapping. With the Razer Naga Epic Gaming mouse there are 12 buttons on the left of the mouse that can be specifically mapped to cast different spells when playing games like World of Warcraft or Everquest. So basically the functionality of a mouse is highly dependent on the firmware that comes with it and how well that firmware lets you change the use of the mouse buttons.
Mouse buttons and DPI are the two most important things to consider when choosing the ideal gaming mouse for you. I personally love to play World of Warcraft so I chose a mouse with upwards of 17 buttons that can be remapped the way I want. However if you are playing a first person shooter like Call of Duty or Counterstrike the number of buttons is not as important as the DPI of the mouse. DPI stands for dots per inch and in technical terms translates to the number of number of steps the mouse will report to the computer when it moves one inch. For quick speed and fast shooting the higher the DPI the better, with some mice these days reaching up to 8600 DPI. However as I wrote earlier, when sniping or doing something that required better accuracy than speed it is important to choose a mouse that can scale its DPI down to a lower number like 800-1000 DPI for slower, more accurate movement.
I hope that this article has helped you to become a more discerning gaming mouse buyer. Now stop reading and get back to your games!
