Why Is Mouse Acceleration A Thing?

[Dash Lambda]

It's a terrible feature that most people just shut off. It isn't just bad for games, it makes general use irritating because the mouse rarely goes exactly where you're trying to put it. I can understand having the option, because options are always good, but why is it always on by default? What the hell purpose does it have?

 

I just get more confused when I look at the setting: "Enhance pointer precision"...

Okay, so i guess low-eye-strain-mode display options should be called "Enhance color accuracy", and battery-saver options should be called "Enhance PC performance", and Vsync should be "Enhance input responsiveness".

[AlwaysFSX]

Thank slow laser mice from the 90s for it.

[klh2000]

I ve always used acceleration, and am much more accurate with it than without, but I'm not an serious FPS player either

 

[AyeJayKay]

Perfect optical sensors ftw.

[porina]

There was another thread about this more leaning towards gaming not long ago. Personally I don't like it, but the consensus seemed to be if you get used to it either way, that's what you do well with. My bigger problem is when you don't have the option to turn it off, like on some touchpad drivers, MacOS and many linux distros.

[AstroBenny]

Designed for moving around the desktop more quickly.  The majority of people who use computers aren't gamers or graphic designers etc.

[Unhelpful]

9 minutes ago, klh2000 said:

 

If I wore a 75lb concrete shoe my whole life, then suddenly took it off one day... I'd probably have a bit of trouble walking. That doesn't mean that the shoe was beneficial, even if my leg is now buff as hell.

[klh2000]

Just now, JoeyDM said:

If I wore a 75lb concrete shoe my whole life, then suddenly took it off one day... I'd probably have a bit of trouble walking. That doesn't mean that the shoe was beneficial, even if my leg is now buff as hell.

No, it might not be beneficial. I have tried to use my computer without it, and can't navigate nearly as fast. When I need to do fine cursor adjustments I will normally keep the front stationary and pivot the rear.

[Enderman]

Acceleration is very useful, it allows you to move around really quickly without having to move your arm half a meter, while still allowing very precise control when you slow down

 

If you use it for a long time you can get very good at controlling the mouse pointer and making it go exactly where you want it to

It is harder to learn though, which is why most people just turn it off for fps games and headshots and 360 no scopes

 

I have tried playing csgo with acceleration off and it was horrible, I get way more kills with acceleration on

 

[porina]

4 hours ago, Enderman said:

btw if you use chrome then you also have mouse acceleration

i bet you didnt even notice that

Care to expand on that?

[Enderman]

12 minutes ago, porina said:

Care to expand on that?

chrome has pointer acceleration built in

whenever you use chrome you also have mouse acceleration

but you're probably so used to it that you dont even notice its there

[HelplmChoking]

5 hours ago, Enderman said:

chrome has pointer acceleration built in

whenever you use chrome you also have mouse acceleration

but you're probably so used to it that you dont even notice its there

Really? Because the mouse behaves the same in Chrome and out? And I definitely have acceleration off, although my sensitivity is fairly high.

[vanished]

It's funny actually - I've always had it on the desktop and it feels much more natural, and honestly makes total sense - some times to need to just quickly move your mouse across the screen into a corner without a lot of precision, but some times you want to move it very precisely, 1 pixel at a time, and having acceleration on makes both of those easy.  Remember that's for desktop use; gaming is an entirely different story.  Without even realizing it, I've never used mouse acceleration in games.  I realized this one day when one stupid game had it enabled and I got to see what it felt like for the first time.  oh my god it is impossible to control!  So I guess it depends on what you are doing and what you are used to

[Enderman]

12 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

Really? Because the mouse behaves the same in Chrome and out? And I definitely have acceleration off, although my sensitivity is fairly high.

oh my bad, its chrome os not chrome

misread

[vanished]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

oh my bad, its chrome os not chrome

misread

yeah I would think so

[BrightCandle]

From a desktop perspective its got a lot of benefits, it does allow you to use a much smaller mouse mat. When you think about the beginning user of Windows they don't need accuracy for long movements they need the accuracy when they are trying to clock on an icon or a menu. As such varying movement speed is extremely beneficial to the first mouse mover. Its also very beneficial to mousepad movement as well, just because they are so small on laptops and they all have quite a bit of acceleration in built.

 

So I think its mostly about saving space and new users. You can learn to be good with it and win at a pro level using acceleration.