Improve Your Game

Most casual gamers don’t realize exactly how crucial audio and their gaming surface is to their game. If you’re a hardcore PC shooter fanatic, odds are this article won’t apply to you, but if your a beginner or a casual gamer, you just might find some tips here that will vastly improve how you play.

The instant you fire up your favorite game, no longer are you equipped with a “human input keyset” and a “pointing device”, you should think of your mouse and keyboard as weapons of mass destruction! If you spend around 7 hours or more gaming a week, save up and treat yourself to a decent mouse, keyboard, and pair of headphones. Getting a good mouse, mouse surface, and headset are the most important, but if you have the cash to spare, getting a gaming keyboard is nothing short of a good investment.

When purchasing a gaming mouse, make sure that the mouse is comfortable, accurate and resistant to wear and tear from intense gaming. The exact same goes for your mousepad. I cannot stress enough that a good mousepad is just as important as a good mouse. I can personally recommend the SteelSeries QcK+, an absolutely giant fabric pad. There are similarly sized hard surfaces available. A cheaper alternative is to tape waxpaper over card stock on top of your desk. When it comes to gaming, just your desk just won’t do. When fine tuning your mouse, crank the DPI and refresh rate as high as possible, and turn off all mouse acceleration and things like “SmartMove.” Then, in-game, go to the lowest sensitivity you can possibly stand. This low sensitivity will help you be much more accurate. If you have carpal tunnel, or just don’t like flicking your arm around when gaming, you might want to look into a product like a Logitech Marble Mouse.

Audio is key to being good at the games you play, and cheaping out on a headset is not exactly a good idea. Odds are that a cheap headset will break much sooner than a nice set of earphones, and you’ll be stuck buying another. Get some nice 5.1 headphones, you can find them cheaper than you think. Even a decent set of earbuds is better than crappy stereo headphones. If you have a 5.1 sound system, great! Just make sure whatever you end up using, crank the volume up so you can hear details like people reloading, footsteps, etc.

Well, I hope some people will take this advice, and become worthy opponents! I know I did. Happy Fraggin’!

skitzo