Introduction

It’s not hard to visit any of the top gaming teams website and discover what type of gaming contraptions they are using these days. You may be expecting to find the latest and most expensive hardware on the market being used but this is more than often far from the case. Many of today’s fanatical eSports players are opting to use older models or versions of gaming peripherals over the new technology.

Technology Improvements

Firstly, i’ll touch on the mouse, every gamer’s most prized possession. Let’s take the old and ever so popular Microsoft Intellimouse Optical 1.1 for an example. Many players, including myself, started playing on this specific mouse. It was there from the very start; as if it was a limb we were born with as ‘gamers’. Using anything else just wouldn’t seem right.

But let’s be rational here and take a step back to actually look at some of its stats: a mere 400 DPI and 125 Hz USB report rate. Compare this to say the very recent Cyber Snipa Stinger which boasts a 3200 DPI and 1000 Hz report rate respectively and you’ve got quite a broad difference. I’m not going to bore you and write in detail about the specifics of how the latest technology in gaming peripherals benefits your game – but just trust me when I say there are advantages of using the latest hardware, no matter how small. Latest technology can allow your mouse to respond faster and make more precise and smooth movements. For a further insight into the differences between mice specifications and their benefits Visit Sujoy Roy’s Mousescore 2007 post over at ESReality.com.

Headsets give that 4th dimension to gaming. Playing without sound is like asking a pole dancer to strip without a pole. She could still probably do it, but she’d feel uncomfortable and out of place! Today we can see headsets with a much larger range of frequency response, improved microphone noise cancellation and larger ear cups to block out all background noise. Especially in intense and loud situations at LAN events, having good sound can make all the difference. But usually, most gamers are fine to upgrade to the latest headsets as long as they don’t weigh 20kg and feel as if you’re squashing your ear into your brain.

Worth a small mention are keyboards and monitors. Newer keyboards may allow for things such as pressing numerous keys at the same time and still getting a response. But almost all USB keyboards these days provide the same level of functionality and so we don’t need to worry ourselves over going out and spending $1,200 on a keyboard that has a separate stand-alone display on each key! Monitors do definitely play a huge roll in performing better as a gamer, with latest screens allowing higher refresh rates, response times and resolutions. But all of this doesn’t mean so much until official LAN tournaments start using better monitors or allowing players to bring their own. Most are still opting for the sexiest model and not the ones that boast the highest specifications.

Old habits

Gamers are stubborn. They want to use what they’re most comfortable with because in the short term of things, they will perform better with what they’re used to. But would changing to the latest technology really do them more harm than good?

Take a look at football and you won’t see David Beckham playing with a pair of old Mario style slip-ons but instead possibly using the latest, lightweight and most effective Adidas trainers. You won’t see a top Ferrari Formula driver using 3 year old versions of brakes as they just wouldn’t give him that edge that he needs on the track. eSports does abide to the specific unwritten law of sports, where a top player simply needs good equipment in order to play a game but it doesn’t abide to the fact that in almost every other sport, the latest equipment is being used and endorsed by these players.

Time to upgrade? You decide

If you take a look at any popular eSports game title, the skill level between the best teams is so close that any one of them can win at any given event. It all depends on who’s having a ‘good day’ as they call it but being from the top team in my game genre, I rather tend to call it the ‘random factor’. Gaming is so close these days that even the slightest advantage, that 1 extra frag, could provide the edge a player needs to win.

The latest hardware can provide that edge. Everyone can get used to something new, even if it does take an enormous amount of time – it may pay off in the end. But do we really think that slight advantage is actually worth it? Would exploring new options just lead you to realize that in fact the gaming peripherals that we used from the moment of our conception as gamers are actually the most effective to channel our talent? You decide.