Quantifying Wrist-Aiming Habits with A Dual-Sensor Mouse: Implications for Player Performance and Workload

Title of the Paper

Quantifying Wrist-Aiming Habits Using a Dual-Sensor Mouse: Impacts on Player Performance and Workload

Paper Information

• Field of Study: Human-Computer Interaction, Esports, User Experience
• Keywords: Fitts' Law, Pointing Tasks, Esports, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Computer Mouse

Research Background and Problem Statement

• Background and Problem Statement:

  • The computer mouse is one of the most critical input devices in competitive video games, with user performance and proper usage methods receiving significant attention.
  • Wrist-aiming habits are an important yet scientifically underexplored parameter that affects users' mouse operation performance and workload.
  • Despite extensive online discussions about wrist-aiming (e.g., recommendations for more stable aiming methods), there is a lack of quantitative analysis tools and conclusions based on scientific and experimental evidence.
  • While mouse hardware technology has significantly improved, research on accurately assessing users' aiming operations remains limited.

• Significance of the Problem:

  • The lack of effective methods to quantify wrist-aiming habits makes systematic research on player performance and health-related issues challenging.
  • The gaming community lacks sufficient analysis of the potential relationship between wrist-aiming and shoulder, elbow, and wrist-related diseases (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome).
  • Both professional and amateur gamers need scientifically systematic tools to optimize mouse settings and reduce injury risks during training and learning.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Current studies suggest that behaviors such as rotating the elbow or wrist affect mouse aiming operations, but using traditional motion capture systems to study this issue is prohibitively expensive.
  • This study aims to utilize cost-effective dual-sensor mouse technology to quantify wrist-aiming habits and address the lack of quantitative methods in previous research.

Proposed Solution

• Proposed Solution:

  • The study introduces a new technology using a dual-sensor mouse to quantify wrist-aiming habits, defining a scalar metric called the "W-index" to represent the intensity of players' average wrist-aiming habits.

• Innovations:

  1. Applying dual-sensor mouse technology to foundational research on wrist-aiming habits, eliminating the need for expensive motion capture systems.
  2. Measuring the mouse's angular velocity (θₘ) using the dual-sensor mouse and further estimating players' wrist angular velocity (𝐸[θₚ]), thereby quantifying the "W-index."
  3. The low-cost technology enables widespread application in large-scale user evaluations.

• Implementation Steps and Technical Highlights:

  1. Using a dual-optical sensor mouse to capture users' angular velocity during mouse operation. Constructing a "W-diagram" and estimating the player's W-index through linear regression.
  2. Validating the method through two user experiments:
     • Experiment 1 verified the reliability of estimating wrist angular velocity using the dual-sensor mouse and analyzed participants' W-index across three game types.
     • Experiment 2 studied the impact of changes in W-index on player input performance and upper limb workload during FPS game tasks.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  1. Data from the dual-sensor mouse can estimate wrist angular velocity with high precision (R² = 0.94), enabling reliable quantification of the W-index (R² ≈ 0.99).
  2. Professional FPS players' average W-index was approximately 20.2% higher than amateur players, indicating stronger wrist-aiming habits among professionals.
  3. Increased mouse sensitivity led to higher W-index values, demonstrating a significant impact of sensitivity on wrist rotation habits.
  4. Workload increased with higher mouse settings precision (e.g., positive correlation between applied force on the mousepad and W-index).

• Comparative Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • The cost of the equipment used is significantly lower (dual-sensor mouse costs approximately $100).
  • Provides a standardized, reusable evaluation metric (W-index) and open resources (including open-source manufacturing logic).
  • Fills a gap in directly analyzing the impact of wrist-aiming habits on performance.

• Experimental Results and Limitations:

  1. The correlation between wrist-aiming habits and FPS task performance (e.g., hit time, failure rate) was weak, with positive effects observed only in some players.
  2. Workload showed a positive correlation with W-index, suggesting that wrist-aiming may increase upper limb strain.
  3. Players generally believed that weaker wrist-aiming (shifting to "arm aiming") could help reduce wrist injury risks.
  4. Future research directions include exploring more direct physiological indicators (e.g., electromyography signals) and real-time data in broader free-play scenarios.

Conclusion and Outlook

• This study opens new avenues for scientific research on wrist-aiming habits, particularly in developing low-cost, replicable foundational tools (dual-sensor mouse, W-index).
• The research aims to foster community discussions among esports players regarding optimal mouse settings, training habits, and long-term health optimization, while calling for industry manufacturers to support and promote dual-sensor technology.
• Future studies could further investigate causal relationships between mouse habits and long-term health injuries, aiming to provide more scientific recommendations for gamers and professional players.