Quickies Have Their Advantages
September 19, 2008 72 Comments
Last week for our customary stave off boredom Friday activity we filled out a short questionnaire, the answers of which were compiled to inform us if we were left brained, right brained, or an evenly balanced freak of nature. After getting our results, we then related it to our FPS gaming style. Some found it insightful while others simply received confirmation of what they already knew. The majority of the people who took the quiz were quite even, with the right hemispheric crowd then outnumbering the smaller left hemispheric population.
After the discussion died down, VapidFrobie made a comment about a game that tests your reflex time. As someone who loses the sword fight after the initial clash 100% of the time (yes, I know about the alternate slash and no, I still can’t win the race to the button), I thought a reaction time test would be perfect for the next activity. Since I am very much past my gaming prime, I assumed I would score on the lower end of the scale. Before I share my results, let me offer some excuses for why they are less than stellar: It’s 2 AM, I’m tired, and I’m as old as fuck. Now that we have that out of the way, it’s time to share!
I took a reaction time test five times in order to obtain an average. According to the data collected thus far on that particular website, the median reaction time is 215 milliseconds. I rang in a little slower with a collective average of 233.4 milliseconds. Interested in improving my reaction time with the hopes of also improving my FPS game, I followed their link to user submitted tips giving advice on how to achieve a better score. One of the answers? “Play lots of video games.” Clearly that doesn’t work but thanks anyways jerkface.
Hop on over and take the test. Did you find your results correspond accurately with your reaction time on the virtual battlefield? Come back and share your times so we can compare stats. We won’t make fun of you. Not that much anyways.
I got the average, but I guess it depends on your state of mind. Playing a videogame is like overclocking myself :P
I got an average of 240.4 over 5 attempts. Shows you why I suck at sniping.
Woo! 216/5! I even had 197 as my best. Try stop me now.
well, i got 274.3
I don’t think that really effects gameplay as much as good sensitivity on the controller, or being able to judge things like how far a grenade will go in a pinch.
225.4
But I wouldn’t use that as a true benchmark, given how it could differ slightly over web browsers. On my very first click, as I clicked Firefox stalled slightly and I was told .8 of a second :?
That and the red and green is too bright. Makes it very painful to look at it for too long >.<
I may not be able to press the trigger when a player’s head is in the crosshair (when sniping), but my grenade throwing is immaculate. I once threw a grenade from the back of a mongoose at the top of the elevator in The Storm and it landed flush in the front hole of the Scarab.
208.6 with a best of 189.
Is that good? Did I break it?
=)
Woot!
5 tries. Averaged 192.8!
240′s average with a best of 186
I still suck at sniping
Interesting.. Holding my breath actually helped reduce my average.
229.6
yeah I got too much time on my hands.
252 hmmm…i blame it on lag lol
I had an average of about 270. I feel slow.
I only averaged 243. Their system must not be calibrated properly.
Average: 217.8
Best: 191
Worst: 258
I guess I’m about average.
Took it again and got 208.8/5 with the best of 184.
Your reflexes play a part, but it also helps to have a high quality mouse. :)
Mine’s teh 308.4.
And yet every time I see a sniper on Guardian, I still can’t get my battle rifle straight before he takes a shot.
Hah, the first test I took was about 280 (probably wasn’t paying attention), but the second one I took rounded out to 240. My best was 20 ms. O_o
333.8 thats horrible for the other results here.
boxer button layout = win in swords
It swaps the left trigger’s function with the b button’s
best:280
goal:1337
260……
I fail……
lol
Meh… I got 210.93. I still suck at sniping!
Don’t worry about your sword reactions, BS, I hail myself as a swordsman, yet got a measly 240 average, with extremes at 203[ :) ] and 290[ :( ]
Guess I need to start playing against better people…or I’ll try again later when I’m not in a parking lot with a glare on the screen :D
211.
cool. I’m 32 so I’ll take it.
*Sigh* Only managed a 261.6–not bad for an almost 42 year-old. That’s OK, I more than make up for it with an over abundance of guile :)
I got an average of 185, but i couldn’t break that dang 135 mark as a low…..i got it twice in a row, then continued to fail on the next three. i think i got excited a little bit…
Maybe this is why I play on sensitivity 1? I am able to react a bit quicker than if it was on 3 or higher….my aim sucks, but at level 1, I am a decent if not good sniper. again, my aim sucks so it usually takes two shots, sans the few times I am “on” meaning i have hella host advantage…
out of 11 tries i got a 220. Not fair when in my second half of scores i got 3 in a row that were below 190, best being 171.
Yeah, I don’t think its a good test. I could tell the amount of time It took me to depress my mouse button until it registered was interfering. Obviously, if you have a hair trigger mouse, its going to vastly improve your score on that along with how fast you can move your finger (that’s the only way I see somebody getting 117 [huh] milliseconds as the top score). Sure it’ll help in computer FPS immensely, but when reaction time that actually matters (aka, in real life) finger speed and equipment aren’t going to help you.
Sweet. I took it again and scored an average of 191.6
best/worst time: 121/208
5 tries with an average of 199
Best of 152.
I did it five times and my average is 350.2 ms.
WOOT!!!
Waaaaiiiiiit…that’s a BAD THING!!!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
194.4/5 hmm guess im pretty quick. allso AT-AT its a reaction test, it test how fast your brain responds to somthing and translates what you see or think into action.
205 is my average…Woohoo! I took it tiwce though, the first time i did really bad.
282
best: 176
worst: 478
I’m stoopid
256.4
Very slow, matches my playing style. Fortunately I am sneaky and lucky. ;)
I just woke up and was feeling all refreshed so I retook the test. My average this time was 255.2. I blame my mouse.
Average of 191 over 6 attempts. Not bad.
I averaged 213
My best was 195!!!
I’m a Strike Commander… does that correlate?
I averaged 217. With my best time at 202.
Okay… I was averaging 216, until I tried depressing the mouse button as far as I could without clicking… then it dropped to 50 and even 17. I think I was lucky with the 17.
AVG.: 196.4 ms
Best : 175 ms
To be fair, this was on my third attempt. Sadly, there doesn’t really seem to be an obvious correlation between good reaction times and sniping abilities–unless I have host, that is… ; )
I averaged 183. My best was 174, worst was 192. I thought I was old and slow. I guess not.
average was 220
best was 108
worst was 210
22 ms as best time. Lucky me.
Brought down my average to 193 ms.
phoenixfire,
How do you average 220 with a worst time of 210?
My average was 190.33
but then I kept going to try and bring it lower, instead it kept rising till it skyrocketed to 882.40.
Over all, it’s exactly what I thought it should be. Fairly decent sniping most of the time, occasionally doing really well, and then the fatefull moment when I see an enemy sniper… …and I just stare at them till they pull the trigger.
*sigh*
story of my life.
175.4 average. If I’m not mistaken, that’s the best so far :P
Best was only 160 but that’s just means I’m consistent. On top of being awesome.
Yes. You do love me.
Oh and Handmade Hero, even better than Boxer is Bumper Jumper. That way you can jump AND melee without having to lose your aim. And since you don’t need to worry about reloads and picking up weapons in Swords games it’s not at all hard to get used to. I switch every time Swords comes up.
Try it everyone (especially you, angel ;P), you’ll see an improvement.
259
That’s a fail for me :)
177.4 average
140.3 was my best time =D
208.8, whaha I feel fast now compared to a lot of people.
I got 178.4 and I did it 10 times to try to get ‘expert mode’ but apparently one of my 10 clicks didn’t count..
my best was 163. Impressed? You should be.
My average though, was 193.
250…i’m on a laptop…my fingers arn’t in shape to move that fast in that direction…weak sauce test
BS, what time zone are you in? or were you napping, I do that sometimes, life just tires me out
I tried again, and my best was 31. I’m pretty sure it was a fluke. Or was it?
And the real wonder of it all – how effectively LAG can equalize all our reaction times!
‘Say hello to my little friend!’ It’s LAG!
205.92 after ten tries but it was getting a lot worse (210) so I bailled before my average dropped much further.
I also jumped the gun once, lol
I wonder if they’ve found a way to get rid of lag? Otherwise the results are contaminated.. However, at 37 years old, and with a major cold, I consider it to be pretty good. Playing Halo 3 with a closed NAT has probably helped me significantly. :P
I did it again, this time on my laptop with a new mouse. 215.2 was my average. LOL, … I don’t think I can change the variables much more than I have. :)
lag greatly effects gameplay and reaction time…when i play h3 at work i rock socks all day long, but when i get online i am missing beatdowns, headshots, and grenades all day…so even normal “lag” that you dont notice really effects gameplay
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Pikmingod/8ms.jpg
or you can just count to 11 quickly…you may go early, but its random and it never his b4 11
Noooo.
My average was 267… I thought I was faster than that… I beat Ninja Gaiden on Master Ninja… I’ma go cry now.
My average is 187. I got a highest of 54ms.
By the way, regarding that “play lots of video games” tips – it’s unfair to say that it doesn’t work because your reaction might be worse if you haven’t touched video games. The only way to verify that tip would be to have someone try the test before and after playing vid.games.
You are correct clippit. I’m just bitter that I play video games as much as I do and still only have a mediocre reaction time. :)
all this test is good for is to see how good you are at this test
I averaged around 250. My girlfriend did much better, averaging around 220.
Reaction time is a small part of Halo skill, IMO, but this test is cool. Thanks for the link!
:(
My left is a (9)
My right is a (6)
I’m not happy. :P
My average was 245.
No wonder I royally suck at sniping.
Wow. So I just decided to do this (just got off work a bit ago), and I’m not sure if it got slowed because I wasn’t sure what to expect on my first click or not, but my best was something like 168ms, and my average out of 5 tries was 192.6. Is that good? Should I wait a few days and try it again?
Average: 236.8
Best: 214.5
I’m lame.