Esports Arms Race: Latency and Refresh Rate for Competitive Gaming Tasks

Abstract

In the world of esports (competitive video games), hardware and software configurations are optimized for winning. In many games this means minimizing latency ('I see you before you see me') and maximizing refresh rate ('I see your move more accurately'). Most esports athletes and competitive players ensure this by using high-end hardware (computers, monitors, and GPUs) while turning off superfluous in-game graphics features. By doing so, one can demonstrate the competitive benefit of modern display technologies. We conducted two user studies that compare esports performance using common display settings. We conclude that 240 hz, today's highest-speed display technology, provides a competitive advantage.

Publication
Vision Science Society
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