Is there really a big enough skill cap difference?
Seemingly everyone swears up and down that you must use a mouse and keyboard if you are going to play a shooter, arguing that it’s subjectively better to control and objectively makes you play better. Often I see people suggesting that if two players of equal skill level, one on mouse and keyboard and the other on a controller, compete that the mouse and keyboard user will win every time.
You don’t hear of such input-favoritism anywhere else. Fighting game tournaments allow users to use whatever form of input they desire from various controllers to a multitude of fight sticks, and the general consensus is that there is no major difference. Likewise, despite having a relatively non-existent competitive scene, no one claims that a distinct advantage can be had by using a controller or driving wheel in racing games. So what’s up with shooters?
I haven’t played many shooters competitively or online on PC, so I can’t speak from experience, but is there really such an advantage to using mouse and keyboard? There are millions upon millions of gamers who shoot with controllers on PlayStation and Xbox, and plenty of PC shooters fully support Xbox controllers. So there is a significant number of people who prefer to play with a controller, including me. I just abhor using a mouse and keyboard, I really do.
So if there really is such a huge advantage to using mouse and keyboard that it’s not fair as many claim, and with PC gaming on the rise, should the major games separate matchmaking for keyboard/mouse and controller users?
The first glaring issue with doing so is that it would further segregate the community who already have to deal with varying levels of DLC ownership that creates a segmented player base. Thus it would probably not be an option for smaller-name games, but big boys like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and now PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have large enough player bases that it wouldn’t affect matchmaking while not creating mismatches based on input method.
Of course it would be hard to enforce and prevent people from deceiving the game into thinking they’re using a controller when they aren’t, but assuming there was a way to prevent that should there be separate playlists? Or perhaps is the whole skill cap difference overblown?
