15% of PC Gamer readers are still rawdogging their desktops, while 43% of you are wholesome full desk pad people

4 weeks ago 15

Cloth or glass mouse pads? | Tested - YouTube Cloth or glass mouse pads? | Tested - YouTube

Watch On

Mouse mats, or mouse pads, or slippy slidy slabs, whatever you want to call them, are an integral part of a seriously competitive PC gamer's arsenal. Don't believe me? Just watch that video above and see how passionate some people, such as our Jacob, can get about them.

Jacob's a believer, but what about the PC Gamer readers at large, what do you think? So, we asked: Do you use a mouse mat while gaming? And, thankfully, the answers show that 83% of you are using a proper mouse pad, whether that be a big boi, standard cloth pad, plastic, or pro-level glass.

Do you use a mouse mat while gaming?

Votes (%)

Yes, I use a full desk pad

Yes, I use a hard plastic pad

Yes, I use a glass pad like a pro

Yes, but only if the nearest book I have to hand counts

Votes (%) Data ProductValue
Yes, I use a full desk pad 43
Yes, I use a cloth pad 31
No, just the desk, m'am 15
Yes, I use a hard plastic pad 7
Yes, I use a glass pad like a pro 2
Yes, but only if the nearest book I have to hand counts 2
PC Gamer Logo

Though, what we didn't ask is whether you actually bought that mouse pad. Personally, I've never bought a mouse mat, even in the before times of being a 20-year hardware journo. They were always things that just appeared, either free with your PC, or some other giveaway, or mum and dad brought one home, and who cares about what branding is on the scuffed, grubby thing?

Times have changed, however, and there are genuine differences a good mouse pad can make (and differences a really bad one can, too). And, in an era where we're ever more concerned about the aesthetics as well as the performance of our gaming setups, a pad can really add to the overall look.

But still, 15% of you are unconcerned with such niceties and are just plain rawdogging the desktop, forcing your gaming mice to suffer the indignities of a dusty desk surface. Eww. Gritty.

I do like a full desk pad, though, and so do the majority of PC Gamer readers. We're desk pad people. These full sweeps of mouse-friendly surfaces sit beneath your keyboard, too, and give your mouse no fear of hitting the edges of a responsive surface.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

Sadly, for Jacob, only 2% of you are rocking an expensive glass pad like a pro, however. That's roughly the same number of readers who are happy just using the back of a book or magazine. So, where do you stand on the mouse mat debate; a vital part of the PC gamer's arsenal, or an unnecessary expense? Let us know in the comments.

This week we're still interested in the desktop, but more your operating system's desktop. We're asking: How do you organise your operating system desktop? Are you a tidy human, or a messy mind? Do you let your OS desktop fill up with folders and files and icons, or do you meticulously sweep it clear? Let us know.

Secretlab Titan Evo gaming chair in Royal colouring, on a white background

Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he's back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

Read Entire Article