Ever Tried A TrackBall For Gaming

The first commercially marketed mouse shipped as a part of a computer , the Xerox 8010 Star Information System in 1981. Mice remained relatively obscure until the Apple Macintosh was released in 1984 .

John C. Dvorak, San Francisco Examiner, 19 February 1984 in reference to the mouse:

“There is no evidence that people want to use these things"

To say John was wrong would be a slight understatement.

In a computing landscape filled with thousands of different peripherals for controling that tiny little white cursor arrow the mouse rose above all others to become the undisputed king. A whole industry revolves around mice.  The basic physical shape and function hasn't changed in twenty years, but each year companies try to incorporate new technology in the attempt to gain market share.

The sexy design of the trackball shows how well it has kept up .... oh wait a minute no it doesn't

 The track ball was designed by Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of the Royal Canadian Navy'sDATAR system in 1952 .  That was eleven years before the mouse was invented and like trackballs today it was a secret.

Mice can be expensive, especially gaming mice, designed to "give you that competitive edge" and like any expensive product they are marketed with an image.
Razer, Microsoft, Logitech:  they each pour millions of dollars into pushing the idea that their particular mouse will improve your game.

But what if the extra Dpi, blue LEDs, weights, and dancing girls can't remove one common mouse flaw. The way we actually use it.
A mouse requires motion on the desktop. Most people move their wrists and fingers, some move the heel of their palm and fingers and others flail like hillbillies at a ho-down.  It all depends on the playing style and sensitivity setting of the mouse.
The trackball user however is always the zen master only requiring minimal hand motions for any control action or situation.

Arguments For Trackball Use

Lets pretend you are doing an in game sniper shot over a long distance. It requires a one pixel movement.
An enemy player sneaks up behind you, you need to spin around and take care of him too. It requires a 180 degree movement plus the circle strafing /bunny hoping afterward.

Scenario 1
You use your gaming mouse dpi setting for your sniper shot then turn to deal with the enemy, you turn too slow because of the dpi setting and you are killed. You respawn only to find you are being base raped.

Scenario 2
You use your gaming mouse dpi setting for your sniper shot, notice the enemy. You switch dpi as you turn to deal with the enemy. The microsecond delay required to press that extra button and adjust to the transition costs you time and accuracy,  boom head shot. You respawn, jump in an APC looking for revenge. Half way down the road the explosive strapped to the undercarriage of your APC is detonated.

Scenario 3
You don't use the Dpi setting of your gaming mouse, you take out the sniper target and turn to face the enemy, slaying him in style. You walk over and proceed to T-bag his corpse to let him know he was pwned. Tragically mid-T-bag a sniper delivers a head shot from 320m.
_{In the back of your mind you think "I bet that was Code..ASSASSIN , with a 20-1 KD ratio he has to use hax"}
 
The problem with scenario 3 is if you use a gaming mouse without the dpi you need to make a trade off to balance "in game" speed and accuracy at the two extremes. Which in this case are taking an accurate shot of one pixel error, or being able to spin 180 degrees swiftly without flailing the mouse.
With dpi you need to adjust your motion to the change in sensitivity.
This is where the argument for the trackball comes in. You set a trackball up so that it is a one to one screen ratio. One finger movement from side to side equals a full screen width. This is acceptable for sniping. This is the same trade off you make with a mouse but .....
The advantage with a trackball is that fast and accurate movements don't require different or extra motions. A 180 turn is no effort because if you really need to you can just spin the ball, you don't need to lift the device to gain extra room or motion that some situations require. During games I check behind me while running by spinning the ball, performing a 360 degree turn. My avatar never stops moving forward but I get to see if anyone is chasing me with a knife.( I've often wondered what this looks like to other players)
Other advantages are standard to trackball design, reduced physical stress and susceptibility to RSI. It may not be sexy but it is good for prolonged frag fests and other computer work. The trackball system also allows for better hand eye co-ordination based accuracy.

Arguments Against Trackball Use

The devices are not actively developed or marketed to gamers. In fact there are only two major companies offering a trackball solution at present , Logitech and Kensington. The Kensington trackballs have a poor button placement for games and are not customaisable. That leaves Logitech, and they appear to be phasing out trackball production. The only real option at the time of writing this article is the Logitech Marble Mouse Trackball

The tracking optics used in modern trackballs do not compare to the optics found in the latest mouse offerings from Logitech and Razer . There is no Dpi control and rarely any of the extra button customisations found in gaming mice. There are no current models offered with a scroll wheel and the modern trackballs have gone for the smaller ball design which again reduces the advantage over the traditional mouse.

Conclusion

Physically a trackball reduces the likelihood of discomfort and the design is better for hand eye co-ordinated movements. The devices are better in smaller desk spaces too. I personally play better with a trackball and my gaming improved after I switched to one but I don't use any macros or special keys.

I have used the newer mice and I must admit that I am envious of the cool features and reliable tracking offered in newer hardware. The larger hand motions of mice impacts my play in twitch shooters and a mouse moves when you press fire while trying to snipe an opponent. I always end up going back to the trackball

There was a time when I would suggest a trackball to gamers as a realistic alternative but the hardware, software and designs are too far behind the current generation of gaming mice for that recommendation to be an honest response today.

It's all looking a little sad, the number of trackball users is reducing. There is a hole in the market that could be filled by any company willing to produce a gaming grade trackball. It would need a cue-ball sized ball, have all the bells and whistles of modern hardware in order to get the public’s attention, but with updated hardware as a gaming device it would dominate the field.

There are hundreds of gaming mice, no gaming trackballs. I personally hope there is a company that wants to place something truly different on the market.

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