At esports events, a player’s mouse and keyboard can receive almost as much attention as the player themselves. The attention their equipment receives is comparable to how sports cars are inspected before a major race — but why is this the case? The short answer is that they do this to prevent cheating. Cheaters can hide malicious microchips in their keyboards that can be used to their gaming advantage.
Such checks are important, especially when you consider how many people depend on fair gaming. By ensuring fairness, cheaters are eliminated, and only the best players win. Many people now place sport bets on eSports tournaments. Bettors want to know that fairness is ensured before they place match winner, correct score, or over/under bets.
Why do esports players use their own keyboards and mice?
Gamers tend to build and modify their own devices to ensure high speeds and low latency.
Just like in real sports, esports players prefer specific equipment to others. Some keyboards might feel more comfortable to them than others, while one mouse may suit their clicking speed more than another model.
Keyboards and mice can impact various aspects of play, including sensitivity, precision, and speed. Plus, players develop gaming habits on the mouse and keyboard they normally use. When they suddenly have to use different equipment, it can impact the quality of their play significantly.
Familiar equipment is important, but so is fairness. Therefore, each piece of equipment needs to be checked and approved before the competition can start.
What are equipment inspectors checking for?
Overall, inspectors are looking to find anything that gives a player an unfair advantage. Microchips can be inserted into keyboards and mice to perform pre-programmed inputs. With this, a player does not need to perform all the actions they need to succeed in a competition, providing them with an unfair advantage.
Most tournaments prohibit macros, scripts, and hardware-assisted cheating. For example, standard Fortnite competitive rules prohibit hardware and software that manipulate inputs or provide an otherwise competitive advantage. Specific features that are banned include SOCD (simultaneous opposite cardinal directions) cleaning profiles and hardware-level rapid triggers.
Sometimes, identifying all competitive advantages can take time. Therefore, gamers must submit their equipment to event administrators in advance. This way, inspectors can examine each piece of equipment closely and return it before the competition starts.
Equipment is sometimes locked away until just before the game starts. This way, referees can ensure that no tampering takes place in the time following the inspection.
Protecting the integrity of esports
Esports is a relatively new phenomenon, and the industry is only just finding its feet on the international stage. The esports market CAGR is expected to grow at a rate of 20.4% between 2026 and 2030.
At this point, it is vital that competition organizers put integrity first and limit cheating as much as possible. This, above all else, is the reason why players’ mice and keyboards are inspected so vigorously ahead of competitions.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
