trackball for gaming

[Melvang]

Does anyone know of any trackballs that have a plethora of side/thumb buttons similar to the Razer Naga?  I was toying with the idea of using a trackball for gaming but I play WoW almost exclusively and have 99% of any raid abilities keybound between my Naga and my Orbweaver.  So this comes back to my question.  Are there any with at least 12 buttons on the side for keybinds type stuff?  If not how difficult would it be to build one?

[davkol]

Have you seen CST trackballs with external button clusters?

[vun]

Have you seen CST trackballs with external button clusters?

But how easy is it to reach those without taking your fingers off the trackball?
I can't recall seeing any trackballs that would be on par with the Naga or G600, I don't think there's much of a market for trackballs with that many buttons, but I suppose you could make something out of a CST if you manage to attach a keypad or something to it.

[SNF]

Are there any pro gamers that use trackball?

Just curious 

[Morwrath]

Kerp from Alternate use a trackball, only one I have seen with one.

[Alex]

I've used a CST trackball with World of Warcraft for quite some time, it's an acceptable way of controlling the game, I'd rate it above a touchpad. Unfortunately I just couldn't pull off cursor control and clicking with the same speed, accuracy and consistency of a modern gaming mouse. It was especially noticeable when raiding as a healer, where I needed to quickly select players on the raid UI.

As much as I enjoy trackball usage in general, I didn't find it up to par for anything other than laid back gaming. The only case where I remember it excelling over a mouse was when using a flying mount in World of Warcraft, holding down the mousebutton and controlling with the trackball felt incredible.
I tried using it for excessively playing League of Legends over a weekend, and all the clicking and rolling of the trackball ended up making my hand hurt quite bad. And switching to a mouse was a relief.

[MrJohnK]

Sorry for the late reply, but was just catching up.  I ended up making my own trackball using an ADNS-9800 laser sensor and 15 Cherry MX blacks.  All pulled together with a Teensy 2.0.  I mostly play WoW with it, but it is my daily driver.  I sure wish there was a commercially available "gaming trackball" like this.  Pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8465641@N07/sets/72157633258917941/

-John

[Melvang]

That thing looks nice.  I would assume you have a couple of the mx switches set up for mouse clicks.

[eth0s]

Are there any pro gamers that use trackball?

Just curious 

No.  Trackball is not good for gaming.  Trackball is good for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome/ RSI, or other problem.  Trackball will inhibit ur ability to pwn. 

[StevieC]

Trackball is also a godsend when you can't afford the amount of desk space needed for a mouse to be viable.

[Morwrath]

Are there any pro gamers that use trackball?

Just curious 

No.  Trackball is not good for gaming.  Trackball is good for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome/ RSI, or other problem.  Trackball will inhibit ur ability to pwn.

Kerp from Alternate use a trackball....

[cinnamoncider]

I can't imagine playong MMO or FPS games with a Track Ball - that's hard 

[piglickjf]

I can't imagine playong MMO or FPS games with a Track Ball - that's hard 

I've used nothing but a trackball for years (specifically, the Kensington Orbit), and I don't find it at all difficult to game with one.

I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, but I've played many, many an hour of EQ, TF2 and many other games with no problems. Before I got my trackball I played EQ with a mouse, and had lots of wrist discomfort after long sessions, but it was much better once I switched to trackball.

That being said, I'm interested in this topic because I also wouldn't mind having a few extra buttons but there don't seem to be many good options out there for trackballs.There's the Kensington Expert Mouse and Slimblade, both of which have 4 buttons. There's also this that I came across, which has 6 buttons, but it's unclear to me how configurable/assignable they are. It's definitely not made for gaming and I don't see any info on dpi, etc., so I don't know how suitable it would be (plus, it's huge and sort of ugly, but those may or may not be a big deal).

PigLick

[Puddsy]

I've asked around, mainly pro CS players.

The consensus seems to be "If it works, it works"

Most of them don't know anything about trackballs.

[NiP player] says you should try the slimblade and see if that works.

[Canious]

Trackball for gaming just sounds... wrong  )

[funkymeeba]

I've been using my L-Trac for gaming a lot more for the past six months, and am really learning to love it.

I don't play games professionally by any means, I just do it to have fun.

I wonder if I would be any good at Q3A with this...

[yasuo]

CTR L Track or Simblade?

[funkymeeba]

CST L-Trac for me. I love it!

[N080D7]

I wonder if I would be any good at Q3A with this...

Have been using trackballs for a decade and a half (was mostly using the Logitech Marble Mouse until I got my CST L-TracX 2 years ago, love this thing) and those that say you cannot use a trackball for fps gaming clearly have not tried using one long enough to learn.  Trackballs are great because you can do very smooth movements but then still do quick 180's with the flick of a finger, ESPECIALLY games like Quake.

[mr_a500]

Trackball for gaming just sounds... wrong  )

Not to me - one of the first video games I ever saw (1980) had a trackball:

Have been using trackballs for a decade and a half (was mostly using the Logitech Marble Mouse until I got my CST L-TracX 2 years ago, love this thing) and those that say you cannot use a trackball for fps gaming clearly have not tried using one long enough to learn.  Trackballs are great because you can do very smooth movements but then still do quick 180's with the flick of a finger, ESPECIALLY games like Quake.

I agree. I've been using trackballs even longer and comments that they're not good for gaming sound ridiculous to me. I always considered the mouse as something not good for gaming. I once whipped a mouse across the room in frustration (back in 1989) because it kept screwing up and wrecked my high score. I've never whipped a trackball across the room.

[Melvang]

Thanks for the insight guys but I was mostly wondering about a trackball with a plethora of buttons for memo type games.

[tp4tissue]

I don't think it's possible with most games,   because most games were DESIGNED for mouse and keyboard...

games that require high precision and  quick directional changes.. will always benefit from arm swing, without too much built up momentum.

The trackball, even though the precision itself may remain intact with modern setups, it's still much harder to change directions..

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Back in the day, when I moved in with 2 other roomies, I was the only mouse user, both of them were trackball users.

However, 1 was a thumb ball user, the other was a index/middle finger ball user.

They both played WoW together, but they couldn't use each other's trackball, but when it came to my mouse, they were ok using it.

Funny how trackball users seem to have preferences for what type of trackball they use

[tp4tissue]

Back in the day, when I moved in with 2 other roomies, I was the only mouse user, both of them were trackball users.

However, 1 was a thumb ball user, the other was a index/middle finger ball user.

They both played WoW together, but they couldn't use each other's trackball, but when it came to my mouse, they were ok using it.

Funny how trackball users seem to have preferences for what type of trackball they use

wow with track ball?

was there special support?

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Back in the day, when I moved in with 2 other roomies, I was the only mouse user, both of them were trackball users.

However, 1 was a thumb ball user, the other was a index/middle finger ball user.

They both played WoW together, but they couldn't use each other's trackball, but when it came to my mouse, they were ok using it.

Funny how trackball users seem to have preferences for what type of trackball they use

wow with track ball?

was there special support?

Beats me, each person had a preference and couldn't use the other person's trackball, however, each one of them can use a mouse just fine.

[mlcarson]

A Logitech marble trackball works fine with Wow.   It's a smaller ball than most trackballs and that makes changing direction easy. The only problem with this trackball is that it should have 1 more button on each side identical to the two top buttons above the main buttons.