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Yeah it is. It's horrid for any kind of game, really. I noticed a few hardcore gamers wondering about trackballs recently (maybe because it's known that Valve considered using them in their gamepad?). Either way, I tried trackballs a few times ages ago and they simply suck. There's reason why barely anyone remembers or mentions them anymore.

Trackballs are useful if you don't want to have to move your arm/wrist to move your mouse cursor. That being said you also greatly constrain the distance you can travel in any given motion by using them and, personally, the resetting motion required to continue was always less fluid and longer with a trackball than with a regular mouse.

That being said for casual non-gaming use the trackball was fine. Though I also don't miss it at all.

I bought this one:

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/wireless-trackball-m570

I like it because it resembles a mouse (mouse wheel and everything), only that you don't move it around with your wrist or arm, but use your thumb to roll the ball. I bought it specifically to be used on the sofa so that I wouldn't need a table or an even area to move a mouse around, and for that, it works great.

However, for high-speed FPS games, it isn't as good as a mouse. It feels pretty precise, but I have mainly two problems with it in high-action FPS games (e.g. when I tried playing Far Cry 2 and TeamFortress Classic with it):

- when I am moving around my thumb in high speed, rest of my hand may sometimes move a bit from the rest of the device as well, meaning my other fingers are not necessarily any more on the buttons.

- sideways movement with the thumb is pretty easy and precise, but up/down movement where you basically flex and straighten the thumb, less so.

It may be that changing the mouse speed all the way up helps with those issues so that only very minimal thumb movement is needed, but then it will be less accurate.

I am pretty sure if I kept practicing it, it would get better. I have passably played some FPS games with it and I definitely think it is better for them than e.g. trackpads or analog gamepads, but overall I rather use a mouse for high-speed FPS games. For e.g. RTS and strategy games, I think is suits better and there I don't necessarily miss a real mouse.

I don't regret buying it, it is a nice alternative sometimes instead of the mouse (when I am not using a table).

I don't have any experience or opinion on the other kind of trackballs where the ball is on the top.

The style of trackball with large central ball is useless for most twitch games. While you may be able to move the ball fast and with great agility you have to take your fingers off the buttons to do so! XD

I tried once. It was a horrible experience.

Generally, trackball propably'd perform worse in games - it's better to use mouse & keyboard / a gamepad.

I cant speak from experience though.

However, I know that trackball is the preferred controller in some arcade games, eg. Missle Command.

That's what she said!

Yes. Just because a girlfriend buys something for you, doesn't mean you have to wear it.

I presume that's due to the nature of arcade cabinets. Installing a trackball seems to be cheaper and safer than having a wired device like a mouse that you will have to move around a lot.
True words of wisdom.

Kensington Expert Mouse worked just fine for me in UT99 and the like. Thumb never leaves the trigger button either.

I tried playing Elder Scrolls II, where you have to click and drag to attack, with my laptop's trackpad. I went about and bought a mouse an hour later.

You missed your mark.