By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 27, 2013
Maybe you made the leap when you were still in high school, or maybe you’re waiting for the “right one” to come along. No matter if and when you take the big step, I assure you that it is both an excellent and anti-climactic moment in any gamer’s life.
Yes. I am talking about gaming mice.
Especially if you’re a weekend-and-evenings gamer, not so serious about being in the best league or particularly far up on the global high scores list, it’s hard to justify spending a chunk of change on a mouse when other (and much less expensive) options are available to you. I’ve gone through three mice in the last five years, and I recently spent $80 of my hard-earned cash on a Razer Taipan. It’s ambidextrous (even though I’m not), has more hot key options than I ever dreamt I would have at my fingertips, and has more DPI than my scanner.
In some ways I regret it—think of all the things, after all, that $80 could go towards—but in other ways I’m choosing to think of it as an investment. Is it going to really change my gaming performance that much? No. But it’s going to last me a while, and I think that (plus the hot keys) is what’s helping me condone it.
At the end of the day, a mouse is a mouse. But there are some things that make some mice better than others.
Ergonomics
In the cheaper range, mice tend to have exactly the same curvature. It’s designed to fit most hands reasonably well, but think of it like the difference between brand new shoes and the broken-in ones that fit like a second skin. The first isn’t uncomfortable, per se, but the second is definitely more comfortable.
Some gaming mice come with two or three different side panels, which means you can pick the shape (from slim to wide) that’s best for your hand. Try a couple out and see what works best for you – you might be a claw, palm, or fingertip grip, and there are mouse styles that fit each. (Claw grip literally looks like a T-rex claw, with your two fingers curled and the hand raised above the mouse; palm is the basic palm-to-mouse grip; fingertip grip has the pads of fingers on buttons and a pulled-back palm so there’s no actual palm and mouse contact.)
This is one of the most important things to look for in a mouse – if it’s not comfortable, it’s going to suck.
Hot keys
Hot keys are another area where gaming mice win over their less-expensive counterparts. I shied away from the 17-button mouse with the thumb-accessed number pad in favour of a more reasonable nine-button mouse (which realistically I’ll probably only use six of, but is better than the four I had access to on my old mouse). These buttons aren’t really something you have to worry about when you’re writing an essay or surfing webpages, but handy if you want to replace keyboard shortcuts to control batches of troops, swap weapons more easily, or fire off all four attacks using a single hand.
Cool factor
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it’s inner beauty and ability that truly counts, but when push comes to shove, aesthetics definitely have a role in things. My mouse—and all Razer mice, to be honest—look very fucking cool. Logitech makes gaming mice that also receive stellar reviews and perform well in the same scenarios, but they lack the same sort of cult-cool-factor that Razer has.
DPI and other technics
Besides buttons, shape and cool, there are some hard numbers hiding inside every mouse – stats that make them faster or slower, more sensitive or less, more suited for first-person shooters or MMOs.
DPI, or dots per inch, is the first number you should take a look at. It basically describes how sensitive the mouse is to movement and how quickly it can respond. A non-gaming mouse averages between 400-800 DPI; general consensus states this is enough for day-to-day mousing, and still manageable for non-serious gaming. My new mouse clocks in at 8200 DPI, which is honestly obscene. If you can swing something between 1500-2000 DPI, you should be golden in most cases.
It’s also worth noting that sensitivity can be adjusted with any mouse – a higher DPI simply means you’ll have more accuracy with your movements, and not necessarily faster movements.
The other big choice in mince is between sensors – laser versus optical. Optical sensors tend not to work on shiny or reflective surfaces, and laser optics tend to be more accurate. Some mice (including mine, the Taipan) have both, and I don’t see how you can go wrong with that – although if you have to choose, laser will serve you better in more locations with fewer problems.
Like I said, buying a gaming mouse can be both and excellent and anti-climactic moment in your life. Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, are you going to really notice the difference between mice? Maybe, but probably not. Personally, I recommend the investment as worth it – if only for the hot keys alone.
