Toward Understanding Display Size for FPS Esports Aiming
Gamers use a variety of different display sizes, though for PC gaming, monitors in the 24 to 27 inch size range have become most popular. Particularly popular among many PC gamers, first person shooter (FPS) games represent a genre where hand-eye coordination is particularly central to the player's performance in game. In a carefully designed set of experiments on FPS aiming, we compare player performance across a range of display sizes. In two experiments, we compare 12.5 inch, 17.3 inch and 24 inch monitors on a multi-target elimination task, once with stationary, and once with moving targets. We find that aiming improves as display sizes increase. Next, we highlight the differences between 24.5 inch and 27 inch displays in a third experiment using very small targets. We find a small, but statistically significant improvement in aiming when using the larger monitor. Overall, our results indicate that in typical desktop gaming settings with freely varying head position and field of view, FPS aiming improves as display size grows, though improvements begin to decline as size approaches 30 inches.
