It is hard to play shooters on controller#

On my toot about the blog post, Icil replied with this:

@3kh0 I’m fighting you over aim assist. Some people genuinely need the help,  and it’s half the reason shooters are tolerable to play with controllers. (The other half is gyro controls) @Icil@mastodonapp.uk

Icil raises some good points. Controllers are designed for games like Mario and not intensive competitive shooters, so they are more challenging. I fully agree with that, but in this case, it is about how the game balances it to make it fair for both parties.

Let’s look at Apex Legends, a popular competitive shooter game for PC and console platforms. On Console, AA (Aim Assist) is available to anyone using a controller to play, regardless of whether it is plugged into a console or desktop. It is important to restate that on PC, AA is only active if the player is using a controller. If they choose to use a mouse and keyboard, they will not be allowed to use AA.

If you have a lobby full of controller players using AA altogether, that is fine since everyone is on a level playing field, and the only thing that separates them is their skill level. The debate comes from when crossplay (players from different platforms in one lobby, e.g., controller players with keyboard players) happens. AA is enabled for all controller players, and the mouse and keyboard do not get any changes. While this looks fair, many players say the AA for controller players is overpowered and should not be in crossplay lobbies.

Overwatch 2, another popular shooter game, does not have AA in crossplay lobbies with PC and consoles, and the Apex Legends community has taken note of this and is pushing the developers to adopt this similar style of play.¹

Modern Warfare 3 has been notorious for their overpowered AA, which one player was able to abuse and could manage to get kills without using their right stick, which is used for aiming: Aim assist isn’t overpowered - r/Warzone. Even if this is one example, there are other games where the AA is not as blatantly overpowered but still causes a problem.

There is no good solution to this issue, but I propose that AA should not be allowed in any lobbies that crossplay from keyboard and controller. Regarding Apex Legends, the developers have been tweaking the AA to be more balanced and fair for all players. Most of this is on the developers’ listening to community feedback and modifying these systems as needed.

It is needed for Accessibility#

This was a counterclaim raised by Bitl. Unfortunately, they deleted their posts before I started writing, but my replies are still up, so I can help piece it together the best I can.

They had responded to one of my replies to Icil:

@Icil Good point, I am mostly referring to PC games with aim assist. But I also know some people who can play FPS games with a controller. It does make it much harder, but it also is complex when it comes to whether is it fair to play against someone with built-in aim hacks @3kh0@defcon.social

If my memory is good, I remember that Bitl replied by saying, “It’s an accessibility feature.” All of these claims should be taken with some salt because I can not ignore my personal bias and might have misrepresented Bitl’s claims.

While yes you can argue that AA is to help disabled gamers enjoy their games, it is hard to justify them having a sometimes overpowered system. I also found an article about a pro from Apex Legends winning the Apex Legends Global Series with a controller and going as far as to give a shoutout to his controller in a post-game interview ² and I doubt he was disabled in any way. This Reddit post also had a few good comments from the community as well:

“Literally the best players in the world get an advantage from controller aim assist. This tells you all you need to know about how broken it is at lower levels of play.” - u/Mangomosh

“As much as players want to deny that controller is superior to M&K due to AA, this proves the opposite. Can we please nerf AA for God’s sake.” - u/Cykotr0n

Another point is the abuse of AA. Bitl had claimed that abuse of AA does not happen. Riot Vanguard and Activision Ricochet can detect XIM devices and issue bans. An XIM allows people to use a keyboard and mouse and emulate them as controller inputs, and this will have the advantages of AA while being much more precise on a mouse and keyboard. Valorant is the gold standard for anti-cheat software with Ricochet being a close second, while games like PUBG and Apex Legends still suffer issues with using XIM devices.

Overall, this topic made me do a lot more research into how different games handle crossplay and even general information about other shooters. I do acknowledge that I might have made mistakes in my research since I have barely played most of these games, and I am only using news articles and Reddit posts, which is not the same as having over 1000 hours in each game, but it is the best I can do.

I mostly play games from the Counter-Strike franchise, which is known for being mostly PC only with keyboard and mouse (although there have been some exceptions…). AA is a complex issue with many sides and games that do things differently. I should have clarified my stance in my first blog post, so here is a revised statement.

Aim Assist in shooter games (this is referring to AA in crossplay lobbies) While Aim Assist can help bridge the game, it is important for it to be balanced on crossplay servers so it does not feel unfair to play against

Walled Gardens#

A walled garden is a software ecosystem designed to ensure that users remain within a controlled environment, making it difficult to use competing services or products.

Apple controls what apps can be installed on its devices through the App Store, and all apps must comply with Apple’s strict guidelines and up to a 27% cut on all in-app purchases to be available for download.

Apple’s software and hardware are designed to work together, encouraging users to buy and use Apple products exclusively. Another example is features like iMessage and AirDrop, which are only on Apple devices, encouraging users to stay within Apple.

While this can be very nice for people already in the garden, it is anti-competitive and highly predatory.

Stupid high prices#

Apple products are outrageous and expensive. We can all agree on this.

Repairability#

Apple is known for locking down its products and preventing independent repair shops from repairing them. I am not as knowledgeable about how Apple is fucking you with repairs, so I recommend watching this video by Louis Rossman about this. If you don’t know who he is, check out his Wikipedia article!

Fanbase#

The term “Apple fanboy” is accurate in some edge cases, but not all. There is a range when it comes to Apple enjoyers. You have the people who just enjoy their iPhone for the “it works” mentally, then the people who are the real fanboys or fangirls:

As the Urban Dictionary says:

Apple Fanboy A bunch of people brainwashed by a giant company called Apple. Who only knows what Apple had told them is good. They all at least fit in one of these silly scenarios:

• Go and hate all competition, pretending only Apple shall exist in the mobile gadget market
• Think Apple devices have the best benchmark scores on earth, esp. believe iPad is the most powerful tablet on earth while ignoring Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has real multitasking that iPad never have.
• Go live in the concealed Apple planet and never see the day of light.
• Thinking a Mac computer never need any modern functions as those in PC. They don’t need games, optical drives and blu-ray encoding in their Macs.
• He has no problems with Apple softwares, so are you! Don’t shout out any problems you have with Apple softwares because those Fanbois assumes Apple software are free of that.
• Love to buy tons of accessories for their Apple devices, like plastic cases for their aluminum iPhones/iPads
• Own iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad at the same time does the same thing on each one
• Always hate Samsung for no reason, but ignoring their iOS devices are mostly produced by Samsung
• Always believe Apple creates, others only steal from Apple

Strangely with all the Apple Fanbois around, Apple still brings up a “Why you will love iPhone/iPad” campaign to gain back fanbois confidence toward Apple.

PC guy: Hey, my PC has blu-ray encoding, how about your Mac?

Apple fanboy: Who needs blu-ray anyway?

Android user: I am so happy with the quad-core CPU in my Android phone, your iPad doesn’t seem to have that?

Apple fanboy: Go get a life Fandroid, we don’t need quad-core CPU to run iOS. Urban Dictionary: Apple Fanboy

This describes how an outsider sees the craziness some people have for this one company. Again, this is the pure extreme; most people just enjoy the products and are fine with the high prices and being unable to repair them, but I would personally not enjoy using an Apple product.