JustChara

In contrast, Eridians had to discover fire in a lab since their atmosphere doesnt have O2 like ours. So they dont have, like, an entire culture normalizing fire.

> Be me. Rocky the Eridian cosmonaut

> Tell Grace about Eridian space elevator design made out of Xenonite. Grace very impressed, says humans only dream about making space elevator.

> Odd? Ask Human friend Grace how humans got into space. Expecting some high tech solution since science humans clearly know more physics.

When you turn your mouse sensitivity down low, you gain increased precision at the cost of increased move distance. Anyone can enjoy this tradeoff of course, but it's most prominent among players of first person shooters, where aiming precision is critical. (I imagine osu players would utilise it as well.) Having a large mouse pad lets you move your mouse further in a single motion, giving you a functionally wider range of accurate, consistent motion.

But Anna, I hear you ask, moving my mouse the same distance always moves my cursor or aim differently each time! Why is that?

Well, most mouse settings use acceleration and smoothing to dynamically adjust the movement of the cursor. This has some accessibility benefits, but at the cost of consistency. Because it's multiple systems interacting with each other, moving your hand even slightly differently will result in a drastically different outcome. To remove that inconsistency, there are some settings you can change.

So what do we do about it?

If you don't care about increased precision, don't bother, this isn't for you. But if you struggle with aiming in video games, and want to improve your consistency, then you can optimise your mouse settings no matter the size of your mousepad. Even people with regular-sized pads can benefit from setting up their mouse this way.

Here are rules of thumb for tuning your mouse sensitivity:

Your computer mouse settings should have the pointer speed bang in the middle. Turn off all acceleration, smoothing, and other adjustments, both in your computer settings and your game. You want raw input only because that ensures consistency, and this will get you the closest as possible.

Now tune your turning sensitivity ingame. Lift your mouse, place it on one side of your mousepad, and make a full horzontal slide from one side to the other. Your goal is to make that motion rotate your game view a little further than 180 degrees. A full turn backwards plus a lil more. Fine-tune the sensitivity settings until you've got that.

Do this and... well, you'll feel sluggish at first until you acclimate. You're going to have to teach yourself that the position of your hand = the position of your curson/aim. This internal reframing may take some work! Your arm will move a lot more, and if you don't already lift and replace your mouse a lot, then you'll have to get used to that. But in a couple of weeks your precision will be unlike ever before. (It helps to play aim trainer games, there are a lot of free ones out there. Start slow.) Basically, you're taking a step back in exchange for massively increasing your skill ceiling.

But that's a lie, and it's killing you. Sooner or later, you break. The mask can't go back on. Your true self has been ripped from your core for all to see.

"That's okay," says Handler. "You're better off like this, anyway."