The Effect of Input Device on First-Person Shooter Target Acquisition

Gaming has become a billion dollar industry over the past several years. First-person shooter (FPS) games have become increasingly popular, and the player’s ability to accurately control their weapon and acquire targets quickly is very important. This was a two part study that assessed the effect of input device on FPS target acquisition. Study 1 assessed players’ accuracy on eliminating targets in the FPS game Star Wars Battlefront II ™ using three different input devices (mouse, Playstation 2 (PS2) controller, and joystick) with two different weapon types (sniper rifle and blaster rifle). No significant differences in performance were found between input devices. However, participants did take fewer shots in the sniper rifle condition when using the joystick. There was a significant difference found between the rifle types, with participants taking fewer shots and less time to eliminate targets when using the sniper rifle. Trends observed in the results suggest different input devices are more effective for eliminating static versus moving targets. Study 2 assessed players’ who were experts with one of the input devices performance at the same task using only the blaster rifle. Joystick users were trained on the device before completing the tasks to assure they were at the same level of performance as the mouse and PS2 participants. No significant differences were found between devices for time to kill targets. However, participants using the mouse took significantly fewer shots than those using either the joystick or the PS2 controller. This suggests that after training the mouse is the most efficient input device for first-person shooter target acquisition.