The Slow Erasure of the Human Element
Razer have introduced the new Snap Tap and Rapid Trigger Mode to their new Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Keyboards. This update was specifically targeted to Counter-Strike 2, Valorant and other FPS games to assist with player's movement and aim while moving.
The Snap Tap Mode
Movement is a key mechanic in FPS games to either jump over certain gaps and to evade enemy bullets. A key part of movement is actually maintaining your own aim while moving.
An example of this is counter-strafing where you swing out and hit the opposite movement key to halt your momentum. This allows you to be still for the few microseconds that you fire your weapon. Being still increases your accuracy tremendously with any weapon in Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant. Counter-strafing isn't as valuable in Valorant but incredibly valuable in Counter-Strike 2.
The Snap Tap mode essentially automates the counter-strafing process by ensuring the latest input is prioritised. If you press and hold A then pressed D on your Razer keyboard, the D would be prioritised and you would move right.
On a normal situation if you press and hold A then pressed D, you would be standing still instead like a sitting duck until you took your finger off either key.
Counter-strafing is a difficult skill to perfect and make it become second nature especially under pressure or fatigue. You have to time your finger coming of the opposite key, line-up your crosshair and press fire all in one action.
Nobody even in the pro scene is so consistent with their counter-strafing that they can predict where their first bullet would land. There are so many factors that could make their counter-strafe too long or not even happen at all.
But what about the binds that do the same thing?
The Snap Tap mode isn't the first tool that had been created for counter-strafing. There have been many scripts which have automated counter-strafing. However, these script have been banned from professional play in Counter-Strike 2.
The reason why the Snap Tap has created a stir because it is ALLOWED to be used in Professional Tournaments. The Head Counter-Strike referee, Michal Slowinski responded to a tweet from Styko stating that the keyboard is allowed in the tournament.
A lot of the varied responses were asking why the keyboard was allowed but the scripts were not. There was a lot of other unhappy players such as gump from Mindfreak stating that it is cringe to hide automated counter-strafing behind a $350 keyboard. There have been others pointing at Wooting who have a similar code in their keyboards already.
The Erasure of the Human Element
We're reaching a point in Esports where we have to consider the prospect of dealing with hardware and peripherials which automates counter-strafing or any other mechanic flawlessly.
It is a significant advantage where a person does not have to worry about counter-strafing and has a general idea of where his first few bullets will hit.
By allowing these sorts of keyboards to provide a significant advantage for some players, we're slowly erasing the human element of the game. What's next? A mouse that automates the spray pattern of the AK-47? A monitor that highlights body parts in the smoke?
At this point, the game wouldn't even be about skill. It is about having the right mouse and keyboard to play for you. Future matches in this reality would become boring because everybody's actions are perfect even under immense pressure.
There are no clutch moments or massive moments as mostly everything would be automated.
This situation isn't unique as the same discussion has already occurred in other scenes. It has happened in Speedrunning and World of Warcraft.
How did the other scenes handle the erasure of the human element?
The Speedrunning moderators have strict guidelines on what can and cannot be used for speedrunning which include banning TAS (tool-assisted speedruns). The main rationale is that it robs the honest human element of speedrunning.
For speedrunning, it is much easier to tell if a run is done via TAS because there are tricks that no human would take the chance on due to requiring inhuman inputs.
It is harder to detect in a game called World of Warcraft where macros and addons are allowed.
World of Warcraft had an addon called "AVR" which allowed you to draw diagrams on the ground for where the boss should be, where people with certain mechanics went and put markers down where ranged, melee and other players should be.
It even drew the range and timers for mechanics. This addon completely eliminated any chance of human error on messing up mechanics. Blizzard broke this addon very quickly.
However, World of Warcraft have slowly reversed this approach as an Addon called WeakAuras has been added which essentially handholds you on your rotation for your own class, boss fights and even PvP.
It has effectively become an addon arms race where the WoW developers are literally designing PvE encounters with addons in mind (mainly WeakAuras).
WoW has now introduced "Private Auras" which WeakAuras cannot track to counter the Addon.
You can see the issue within WoW itself. You can no longer play the game without any addons. If you want to make any progression on any boss fight in WoW, you must have WeakAuras.
If Snap Tap is allowed, there will come a point where if you don't have Snap Tap, you can't play Counter-Strike 2 at a high level.
Should the Snap Tap be banned?
This should be a no brainer for most Esports as the Snap Tap would have a significant impact on any FPS game. You would need to also ban any other keyboard/mice that tries to emulate the Snap Tap's features.
The main rationale should be simply that it automates a key mechanic that has a significant impact on the game. The Snap Tap automates Counter-Strafing where a player with the keyboard only has to focus on crosshair placement.
If you don't ban the keyboard mode, you'll put yourself in an impossile rat race until the technology plays the game for you. It'll get to a point where Valve has to design the game around these keyboards, mice and even monitors.
It is better to draw a line in the sand before the human element is completely erased.