Will Modding Your Peripherals Make You a Better Gamer?
A lot of what we show on our page has to do with modding and how amazing it is. At the same time, it is important to understand that there are functional mods that do affect the way you play, but there are also purely aesthetic mods that just increase your enjoyment of using that device.
In most cases, you would think that the non-functional mods are not as important for your gaming experience but I’m here to argue otherwise.
Functional Mods
The list of functional mods is long but since we are talking about peripherals the most important mods will be related to your mouse since this is your main directional input in most games. Your mouse allows you to aim at things, click on things, and move around with ease.
Because your mouse is under constant use you would want to make it as light as possible so you get higher precision movements without lugging the weight around. A lightweight mouse is a major step in improving your aim overall so a weight reduction mod is highly functional.
Paracording your mouse is also important because you eliminate a lot of the friction and restriction of a normal cable that would get in the way of your movements. Adding custom feet to your mouse (PTFE, ceramic, sapphire, etc) will also change the way it glides on different surfaces and how much control you will have over it. Each of these mods will allow you to improve your accuracy and speed while clicking on heads in games, therefore, should always be on your radar.
Fun Mods
Fun mods are things you do to your peripherals that do not necessarily make you better at gaming but improve your enjoyment of gaming altogether. In this category, you can stack all of the keyboard mods you can think of and in a way, weird mouse pad choices.
To clear up my mousepad point – there isn’t much you can do to a mousepad to call it a mod, but having something like a SkyPad is a mod in itself since it does not necessarily help you get better aim (the fast surface requires a lot of mouse control to be used properly) but it is fun as hell to use.
The main culprit though when it comes to fun mods is your keyboard. Most keyboard mods all deal with improving the way it looks, feels, or sounds. There is nothing you can do to improve the keyboard functionally (apart from maybe using a special type of keycaps that makes it easier for you to type).
You can lube your switches, mod your case with foam, and have a special mount, and none of it will impact the way you play significantly. Moreover, in some cases choosing switches that feel great for typing will work against you when gaming (heavy linear switches – great typing vs light linear switches – great for gaming), and the wrong profile of keycaps will make fat fingering inputs a complete mess. So why would you even bother with any of these mods?
Well, in life people like to have things that feel nice and make them happy, and these mods although do not improve your aim will improve your mood while being at the PC. In a lot of cases, you wouldn’t even get to the gaming part of the day unless that nice-sounding keyboard would keep you at the PC.
The psychological factor of satisfaction is also important in gaming as more pro players in different games started adopting custom keyboards and modded mice. If it helps them play, it will help you as well.