MW3 expert TrueGameData revealed why players on keyboard and mouse (KBM) are missing more shots than they think, and the answer will surprise you.
It’s no mystery that controller players benefit from having aim assist. The feature helps to guide a player’s crosshair on enemies by slowing down their aim when on target to compensate for a thumbstick’s lack of precise control.
Ever since the crossplay floodgates opened, it’s been an ongoing struggle for the CoD developers to create an ecosystem from keyboard and mouse and controller users to co-exist. On Nov. 17, during a live stream, devs from Sledgehammer Games said aim assist is at an “okay” place, but they “want to look at it closer.” To add insult to injury for KBM players that demanded change, during that same live stream, Sledgehammer acknowledged mouse input issues but didn’t share any plans to address them. Professional Warzone player HusKerrs slammed the devs for not doing more, but TrueGame Data may have finally cracked the case.
TrueGameData reignites KBM vs controller debate
In a thorough YouTube video, TrueGameData showed footage and used statistical evidence to prove that keyboard and mouse players are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to shooting accurately in MW3. The YouTuber revealed that the three main culprits of aim sway, strafing, and aim down sight behaviors create random and clunky movements while using a weapon with KBM. For example, TrueGameData went into the MW3 shooting range and put his reticle right on the head of the test dummy. But when he aimed down sight, the reticle zoomed in to a random point away from the target, making it nearly impossible for players to have any consistency while aiming at an enemy.
TrueGameData argued: “All of these things compound and make aim that feels really floaty and weird. For mouse and keyboard you have to be perfect to hit your shots, while as controller, you can be close to perfect and let aim assist take the wheel.” The YouTuber then went into a private match on Rust to hammer the point home. While aiming at an enemy at the top of the tower, rotational aim assist made it much easier for a player using a controller to have the reticle lock onto an enemy while swaying back and forth.
MW3 proved to be an outlier in having aiming and strafing reticle shifts while using KBM. TrueGameData looked at the aiming behaviors of 16 other FPS games and found no evidence of either as the reticle stayed consistently in the middle of the screen without bouncing around. TrueGameData’s findings went viral and sparked heated debates on social media. So, don’t expect the heated controller vs. KBM debates to die down any time soon.
