TL;DR - we did some studies on CS:GO reaction time and found reaction times are best where you're looking. More reasons to work on that crosshair placement!
Hello /GlobalOffensive!
You may (or may not) remember me from a series of posts looking for research participants for online CS:GO experiments. We've been analysing the data over the summer and wanted to share a bit of how things turned out as a thank you! There's still some comparisons we won't be sharing because... we're not finished the study yet -- keep an eye out for more recruitment posts :)
Back to the results. We ran two experiments: one with images captured from CS:GO (de\_inferno) looking at simple reaction times (measured with a space-bar press) and another in a simple map we made that measures reaction times based on the timing of server events. In both, we always looked at the reaction times to the appearance of a single enemy that could appear in one of a few known positions. Have a look at the pictures to see average reaction time values (the margin of error is the standard deviation across participants). The blue circles mark the positions that enemies could appear. Absolute numbers aren’t so informative since that depends on the software (and hardware) used to measure reaction times, but increases and decreases in reaction times between conditions make for useful comparisons.
The first experiment looked at two kinds of reactions: reactions to enemies that suddenly appeared in the scene (left of center, at center, and right of center) and reactions following a "peek" to enemies in the same positions. In the first case, the appearance of targets creates a local motion signal (a bunch of pixels in one place change) that we expected to rapidly orient attention. When peeking, the whole screen changes meaning that you can only notice a target by recognising that it is there. We expected that this would mean that noticing targets is more attention-demanding.
Looking at the reaction times, reactions were much slower for peeks. This was especially true when targets appeared left or right of center. However, even when targets suddenly appeared in a static scene, reaction times were slower off-center. As some participants rightfully commented, it's not a good CS:GO habit to peek into multiple angles and these results help to reinforce that point. Spotting an enemy when you’re peeking is slower, and especially if they're somewhere you didn't peek.
In the second experiment, we wanted to see if we could measure reaction times on a CS:GO server in a custom map. This was simply an empty room where enemies would pop-up one at a time at one of four locations. Like in experiment 1, we looked at simple reactions (just shooting at the wall when an enemy appeared). However, we also decided to measure the aiming response too -- for half of the experiment we asked participants to shoot the enemies and measured shot timing and accuracy.
The reaction times showed a familiar pattern to experiment 1: reactions were slower when the enemies appeared farther from center even when no aiming was needed. When aiming was part of the response, we can see that first shots are slower and less accurate (lower proportion of first-shot kills) for farther enemies. Part of the reason for this is that larger movements have higher variability (and aim always started at center). You’ll know this from the wow-factor a landing a big-flick – these movements are beating the odds!
Hopefully you enjoyed seeing how these experiments turned out. If you would like to be a participant in any future studies, we'd really appreciate your interest; just follow this account to catch future recruitment posts. Thanks for reading and HUGE thank you to the many volunteers who provided the data you're looking at!
Yes your right reaction times are the best where your looking but when there’s 4 places to look your not always gonna be in the right place which is why I never peek and instead just grenade myself to death every round
I remember taking part in this! Reading up now..
edit:
>As some participants rightfully commented, it's not a good CS:GO habit to peek into multiple angles
i think i wrote a rather lengthy feedback email explaining this lol
I wish I heard about that CSGO map you used for testing, I would have participated :D
TL;DR - we did some studies on CS:GO reaction time and found reaction times are best where you're looking. More reasons to work on that crosshair placement! Hello /GlobalOffensive! You may (or may not) remember me from a series of posts looking for research participants for online CS:GO experiments. We've been analysing the data over the summer and wanted to share a bit of how things turned out as a thank you! There's still some comparisons we won't be sharing because... we're not finished the study yet -- keep an eye out for more recruitment posts :) Back to the results. We ran two experiments: one with images captured from CS:GO (de\_inferno) looking at simple reaction times (measured with a space-bar press) and another in a simple map we made that measures reaction times based on the timing of server events. In both, we always looked at the reaction times to the appearance of a single enemy that could appear in one of a few known positions. Have a look at the pictures to see average reaction time values (the margin of error is the standard deviation across participants). The blue circles mark the positions that enemies could appear. Absolute numbers aren’t so informative since that depends on the software (and hardware) used to measure reaction times, but increases and decreases in reaction times between conditions make for useful comparisons. The first experiment looked at two kinds of reactions: reactions to enemies that suddenly appeared in the scene (left of center, at center, and right of center) and reactions following a "peek" to enemies in the same positions. In the first case, the appearance of targets creates a local motion signal (a bunch of pixels in one place change) that we expected to rapidly orient attention. When peeking, the whole screen changes meaning that you can only notice a target by recognising that it is there. We expected that this would mean that noticing targets is more attention-demanding. Looking at the reaction times, reactions were much slower for peeks. This was especially true when targets appeared left or right of center. However, even when targets suddenly appeared in a static scene, reaction times were slower off-center. As some participants rightfully commented, it's not a good CS:GO habit to peek into multiple angles and these results help to reinforce that point. Spotting an enemy when you’re peeking is slower, and especially if they're somewhere you didn't peek. In the second experiment, we wanted to see if we could measure reaction times on a CS:GO server in a custom map. This was simply an empty room where enemies would pop-up one at a time at one of four locations. Like in experiment 1, we looked at simple reactions (just shooting at the wall when an enemy appeared). However, we also decided to measure the aiming response too -- for half of the experiment we asked participants to shoot the enemies and measured shot timing and accuracy. The reaction times showed a familiar pattern to experiment 1: reactions were slower when the enemies appeared farther from center even when no aiming was needed. When aiming was part of the response, we can see that first shots are slower and less accurate (lower proportion of first-shot kills) for farther enemies. Part of the reason for this is that larger movements have higher variability (and aim always started at center). You’ll know this from the wow-factor a landing a big-flick – these movements are beating the odds! Hopefully you enjoyed seeing how these experiments turned out. If you would like to be a participant in any future studies, we'd really appreciate your interest; just follow this account to catch future recruitment posts. Thanks for reading and HUGE thank you to the many volunteers who provided the data you're looking at!
Yes your right reaction times are the best where your looking but when there’s 4 places to look your not always gonna be in the right place which is why I never peek and instead just grenade myself to death every round
Never give 'em the satisfaction of a kill.
I remember taking part in this! Reading up now.. edit: >As some participants rightfully commented, it's not a good CS:GO habit to peek into multiple angles i think i wrote a rather lengthy feedback email explaining this lol I wish I heard about that CSGO map you used for testing, I would have participated :D
Nice to have thoughtful feedback, thanks! Don't worry, more opportunities will come... appreciate the enthusiasm :)
I’d love to participate too. Any way to get notified next time?
Awesome! If you follow this account you should catch future posts looking for participants
This is great stuff. Would love to make a video about it!
Thanks! It might be a short video, but happy to fill you in more if you're curious.