Have you ever wondered why some people are better at first-person shooters than others? Certainly, there are many differences but one important one is how people see while playing.
Nikkei recently posted a clip tracking an FPS vision while playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and compared the data that was taken from an amateur player.
Both players wore glasses with infrared sensors and cameras.
Esports pro Leisia of Libalent Vertex, the most successful Japanese Call of Duty team, perceived the map differently from the amateur player.
In the clip, the red dot tracks the player’s sight. When Leisia’s focus of sight became fixed, the red dot became larger.
His line of sight was stable throughout the map, and he was aware of the sounds and sights throughout the map during play and would then focus on what was necessary.
One field of vision expert compared this to how pro golfers focus before hitting the ball.
The amateur player’s eyes darts around quickly, never seeming to really focus until he’s killed. There isn’t the pinpoint focus of the pro.
While moving, his focus is even more frantic.
In stark comparison, when Leisia is on the move, he keeps his focused vision in the center of the screen. Notice how the pro keeps referencing the map to know where he is while on the move. According to Leisia, he tries to imagine where enemies will appear.
It’s how they see the game that makes such a huge difference in how they play it.