Playing games on an Acer 6311 is infurating!

[GivenZane]

Hi everyone,
So this is just a quick question. Has anyone else tried playing games on an Acer 6311 with Acer switches and found it infuriating? I was trying to play Celeste which requires decently fine controls to be able to make decent progress and I was playing with my Acer which I absolutely love to type on from time to time and I couldn't get any progress made at all. I ended up switching to a cheap Chinese MX board with Akko Ocean Blue switches, and it was so much easier to play! I made literally 10 times the progress in 5 minutes then I did in 30 on the acer. I don't have this trouble on my Model M or on my Chicony with SMK 2nd gen Blues or my Zenith with Alps Yellow, but the acer switch... Dear Lord are they unwieldy in this game! I'm just curious if anyone else has ran into this, or is it just me not being able to get a hold on how to play with them....

Sorry for the rant. I just spent 30 infuriating minutes playing on the acer....

Cheers,
--Given

[Go-Kart]

I don't even try to play games on my vintage boards. I mainly play competitive FPS, in the dark; for me, this means small, modern, backlit boards. I couldn't imagine how crippled my left hand would be after an hour on my M122. I did entertain the idea of using such a board to play WoW, with all of those extra keys, but I my re-entrance to WoW only lasted a few days...

[Bjerrk]

Can you describe the problem in some more detail?
I'm not much of a gamer myself, but I'm a bit perplexed as to what would make Acer switches particularly terrible.

In general, I'd assume that heavy weighting or excessive hysteresis would be bad, but I haven't noticed either in Acer switches, from what I can remember.

Speaking of - Acer switches are easy to linearize (and it's reversible). Linearized Acer switches are fairly light linear switches, which I would imagine works well for gaming.

As for using vintage keyboards for gaming, I don't see why not. Some are better suited than others, of course. On the desk next to me is an old Cherry G80-1800 with spring-swapped vintage MX blacks (lighter springs). To me that would seem almost ideal for gaming, but I have to admit I haven't put the hypothesis to the test ...

[Bitteneite]

I use my vint boards for everything, lots of gaming too. These days, I find myself playing mostly Rocket League, FiveM Drifting, and Trackmania. Basically anything with cars, which do need fine controls. Yet, I don't think they're that big of a deal.

As far as my experience with my Acer 6311-K, I do remember the tactility making it a bit awkward to double-press quickly, but other than that, I enjoyed the clicky nature of it. Shame it's not the smoothest switch around, because I found the scratchiness much more annoying than the hysteresis.

I've recently been rotating between mostly my Beamspring and Model M. One of them is very big and awkward, and the other is heavily-weighted and has 2KRO. Both have a fat hysteresis and weren't even made for gaming in the slightest, so why didn't I mind them? Of course, everyone plays different games and has different needs, but personally, I found smoothness in gaming to be extremely underrated.

Smoothness is what makes or breaks a clicky switch for gaming, since you need to predictably "load" the switch right before the actuating. When a switch binds and scratches often, you can't naturally pick this up. Unfortunately, my 6311-K wasn't smooth, and, in certain games, I found myself just praying that the switch goes down exactly where I want it to. I'm guessing it's the same case with yours.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that, even if Acer switches were light, a smooth clicky with a big hysteresis is still better than a light scratchy clicky with a small hysteresis.

[micmil]

I was trying to play Celeste

I like Acer switches. I like my 6311.

I would never try gaming on it beyond maybe Minecraft. It's just not an accurate enough feel. That weird in-between of tactility and clicky that works really well for typing (for me) just doesn't work for games.

[GivenZane]

I don't even try to play games on my vintage boards. I mainly play competitive FPS, in the dark; for me, this means small, modern, backlit boards. I couldn't imagine how crippled my left hand would be after an hour on my M122. I did entertain the idea of using such a board to play WoW, with all of those extra keys, but I my re-entrance to WoW only lasted a few days...

Hi Go-Kart,
I honestly rarely game any more and my vintage boards are so much better to type on that I generally just use them.

Can you describe the problem in some more detail?
I'm not much of a gamer myself, but I'm a bit perplexed as to what would make Acer switches particularly terrible.

In general, I'd assume that heavy weighting or excessive hysteresis would be bad, but I haven't noticed either in Acer switches, from what I can remember.

Speaking of - Acer switches are easy to linearize (and it's reversible). Linearized Acer switches are fairly light linear switches, which I would imagine works well for gaming.

As for using vintage keyboards for gaming, I don't see why not. Some are better suited than others, of course. On the desk next to me is an old Cherry G80-1800 with spring-swapped vintage MX blacks (lighter springs). To me that would seem almost ideal for gaming, but I have to admit I haven't put the hypothesis to the test ...

Hi Bjerrk,
I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out why it was a bad switch for Celeste, and I am starting to wonder if the switches are to tactile in a way. I will have to compare them later to some white alps. The problem I was having is that this game requires quick changes in keypresses with some fine control in the timing of the keypresses. With the Acer I was having a lot of trouble with performing those fine motions. So I was thinking about it, with Acer switches, I always bottom out. So I'm wondering if that is the reason. Basically bottoming out on this switch combined with slower spring return then a Model M for example, mean I am not letting the switch return to it's reset point before pressing it again. If that makes sense.

I don't want to linearize my switches, but I appreciate the option being brought up. I like Acer switches for their tactile feedback to type on, and I have over a dozen linear boards.

TL;DR
I think it's because the switch doesn't hit it's reset point fast enough and I am just pressing the switch before it's ready.

I use my vint boards for everything, lots of gaming too. These days, I find myself playing mostly Rocket League, FiveM Drifting, and Trackmania. Basically anything with cars, which do need fine controls. Yet, I don't think they're that big of a deal.

As far as my experience with my Acer 6311-K, I do remember the tactility making it a bit awkward to double-press quickly, but other than that, I enjoyed the clicky nature of it. Shame it's not the smoothest switch around, because I found the scratchiness much more annoying than the hysteresis.

I've recently been rotating between mostly my Beamspring and Model M. One of them is very big and awkward, and the other is heavily-weighted and has 2KRO. Both have a fat hysteresis and weren't even made for gaming in the slightest, so why didn't I mind them? Of course, everyone plays different games and has different needs, but personally, I found smoothness in gaming to be extremely underrated.

Smoothness is what makes or breaks a clicky switch for gaming, since you need to predictably "load" the switch right before the actuating. When a switch binds and scratches often, you can't naturally pick this up. Unfortunately, my 6311-K wasn't smooth, and, in certain games, I found myself just praying that the switch goes down exactly where I want it to. I'm guessing it's the same case with yours.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that, even if Acer switches were light, a smooth clicky with a big hysteresis is still better than a light scratchy clicky with a small hysteresis.

Hi Bitteneite,

Could you Acer have been dirty? The board I got is basically like new and super clean and it's very smooth. Id say about on par with Cherry MX Reds for smoothness. Also, I haven't had a single switch bind for me. :/

Honestly, I rarely game any more due to full time work and school, but when I do any more it's short little casual games. Bullet hells are a favourite for me in that stead.




Thank Everyone!
-Cheers!
--Given

[Bitteneite]

I don't think I've necessarily got a bad 6311, just not a great one. If I press the keys down straight, it clicks just as good as any clicky Alps would, but as soon as I try to press slightly off-center, I suddenly start feeling the scratches. Still feels great fun, definitely a great starter vint, just not exactly "refined".

I just whipped out my 6311 for a quick test, and to be honest, coming from a Model M as my current daily, it doesn't feel all that heavy or massively tactile, which is funny, because I used to think that it was incredibly tactile back when I was dailying my Beamspring. Weird.

I did give it a little run in Trackmania, and I could definitely see how the tactility could throw you off. It's too tactile to make micro-adjustments and repeated presses.

I don't think it's horrible or anything, I could still see myself playing the usual FPS with it, but if you always bottom out with them, then they're probably best left solely as a typing board, no other way around it.

Even after trying out many great boards, I still think they're great fun to type on! They're basically mad tactility for cheap!

[Weezer]

Just use a beamspring. They're the best B)

[Rhododendron]

I couldn't imagine how crippled my left hand would be after an hour on my M122.

For the record: After a day or two your fingers get used to the weight pretty well

[GivenZane]

I don't think I've necessarily got a bad 6311, just not a great one. If I press the keys down straight, it clicks just as good as any clicky Alps would, but as soon as I try to press slightly off-center, I suddenly start feeling the scratches. Still feels great fun, definitely a great starter vint, just not exactly "refined".

I just whipped out my 6311 for a quick test, and to be honest, coming from a Model M as my current daily, it doesn't feel all that heavy or massively tactile, which is funny, because I used to think that it was incredibly tactile back when I was dailying my Beamspring. Weird.

I did give it a little run in Trackmania, and I could definitely see how the tactility could throw you off. It's too tactile to make micro-adjustments and repeated presses.

I don't think it's horrible or anything, I could still see myself playing the usual FPS with it, but if you always bottom out with them, then they're probably best left solely as a typing board, no other way around it.

Even after trying out many great boards, I still think they're great fun to type on! They're basically mad tactility for cheap!

Hi Bitteneite,

I am for sure going to take your advice and keep it as a typing board. It's a great board to type on after all. I am curious though, what exact variant do you have of the Acer? I have a 6311-KW made on 03/26/1996 (MM/DD/YYYY) and it doesn't have and scratchiness that I can detect? Did the quality of the switches drop as production went on? I'm curious because I've been trying to find another one and want to find a decent one.

--Cheers
--Given

P.S. Please pardon any typos or grammatical errors. I'm typing on a Cherry G84-4100 at the moment because I hate myself LOL

[Bitteneite]

I am curious though, what exact variant do you have of the Acer? I have a 6311-KW made on 03/26/1996 (MM/DD/YYYY) and it doesn't have and scratchiness that I can detect? Did the quality of the switches drop as production went on? I'm curious because I've been trying to find another one and want to find a decent one.

Interesting. I too have a 6311-KW, from 1993 if I'm not mistaken.
It has the black stem, and it wasn't in too bad of a condition when I got it. I'm guessing it was stored in a dusty environment.
I'm kinda intrigued now by what a smooth Acer switch feels like.

I'm typing on a Cherry G84-4100 at the moment because I hate myself LOL

A path so dark & cursed, only the brave could take

[schwi]

I daily'd (dailied? dailyed?) my 6312-K for a bit. My friend invited me to play some Minecraft and holy christ I swapped boards right after the first game of bed wars, lol. It's just agonizing. The worst part is its impossible for me not to run into the 2kro. But I don't do much gaming, so it's not a huge deal overall. I love Acer switches, the case, and the grey Data General badge.

It may be an asshole for games, but I still love the thing to death.

[ddrfraser1]

If I game, I use the Apex Pro. As others have said, good typing boards (ei, vintage boards) don't usually make for good gaming boards. Not a hard and fast rule but I don't think I've ever even attempted to game on something like a buckling spring or even an alps board. IMO, better to use the boards that were specifically designed for it.

[Wazrach]

If I game, I use the Apex Pro. As others have said, good typing boards (ei, vintage boards) don't usually make for good gaming boards. Not a hard and fast rule but I don't think I've ever even attempted to game on something like a buckling spring or even an alps board. IMO, better to use the boards that were specifically designed for it.

I like gaming on capacitive buckling springs, I kind of like the hysteresis - it feels more precise to me.

[Yasu0]

I game on buckling spring. Works about as well for me as anything does. I've tried the rgb otemu blue inexpensive gaming boards, those work fine too.

[ddrfraser1]

If I game, I use the Apex Pro. As others have said, good typing boards (ei, vintage boards) don't usually make for good gaming boards. Not a hard and fast rule but I don't think I've ever even attempted to game on something like a buckling spring or even an alps board. IMO, better to use the boards that were specifically designed for it.

I like gaming on capacitive buckling springs, I kind of like the hysteresis - it feels more precise to me.

Yes, you'll have better luck with capacitive. And hey, if you can make it work, why settle for less?