The SteelSeries QcK Performance series has reignited my excitement over the simple pleasure of a quality mouse pad… and trying to click skulls with pinpoint accuracy

Some of my colleagues might poke fun at me for this, mouse-on-desk heathens that they are, but I used to be a bit of an obsessive freak over mouse pads—they’re important, okay? It’s been a long time since I fanned that flame, so it was with an almost audible ‘uh oh’ that I looked upon the new SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pads that landed at my doorstep.

And not just because they have a lingering rubber smell that tickles my fancy in just the same way that the smell of tyres, clean car interiors, and petrol does (though that is a benefit).

No, these mouse pads have unlocked a part of my past I thought was well and truly shut. The part where I’d spend the early evening hours comparing mouse pad and replacement mouse feet reviews and the late night hours shooting the same static targets over and over again in Counter-Strike to train muscle memory for bomb site entry.

Or the almost-but-not-yet-dawn hours I’d spend trying to up my lightning gun accuracy by one percentage point in the halls of Quake Live Clan Arena matches. Followed, of course, by an exhausted collapse into my bed, eyes shutting before the sunlight can break through the blinds and judge me for my nocturnal degeneracy.

Great mouse pads are linked to that peculiar part of my past, so saying I had ‘mixed emotions’ at this QcK Performance series is a bit of an understatement. These new pads are performance-focused (duh), with Speed, Balanced, or Control options for $40 (£40) for Large (490 x 420 mm), or $50 (£45) for Extra Large.

I’ve been living the casual gamer life for a while now—normal bedtimes, enough sleep, and nary a passing thought over the best surface to help me make microadjustments in the competitive games that I now rarely play—and I’ve been free. I’ve been happy.

But as the first of these mouse pads flopped on my desk and my Logitech G Pro X Superlight skated across its gorgeous surface, I felt something rise in me that I thought was buried. I scrolled down my Steam Library to Counter-Strike 2 and hit ‘Install’.

Last night, I was up until 3:30 am playing Overwatch 2, then CS2 deathmatch after CS2 deathmatch, followed by some Diabotical aim training to compare the different surfaces (also here’s a quick toast to that game—if you know, you know). That wasn’t because I had to, to compare the mouse pads (although that’s certainly the justification I used), but because I wanted to.

And yes, a big part of that enjoyment comes from the mouse pad; and yes, I probably would have staved off the competitive FPS bug if it wasn’t for the QcK Performance series (especially the Control version) alighting the flame.

Once I cracked the lid on CS2 and started to reignite that head-clicking muscle memory with the help of the QcK Performance Control, it wasn’t long before I was able to stop my crosshair at that precise point betwixt enemy shoulders and feel a level of control over my mouse aim that I haven’t felt in quite some time. (Before being shot in the back, of course… this is Dust 2 deathmatch we’re talking about.)

And yes, I’m definitely feeling the rust, not to mention the years (I’m an old man at 30, now), but I’ll be damned if these young whippersnappers are going to get the best of me. Not while I’ve got that sweet somehow-smooth-somehow-not Control pad under my fingertips.

The Control version is what you want if you want pinpoint accuracy and control (duh) above all else. SteelSeries even warns as much: “This mousepad has been crafted for a unique tribe of hardcore gamers who prioritize control over comfort.” The Speed version is fun to use (weeeeee) and can be great for flickshots and the like, but performance is where it’s at for a wannabe degen like me.

And the truth is, I don’t know to what extent my actual aiming is improved by the mouse pad itself or just by my belief that it’s improving it. But does it matter? I believe it is because it feels like it is. And it’s incredibly enjoyable to whip my mouse around for that loooong-distance low-sensitivity 180 and stop my crosshair almost exactly where I want it.

Whether it’s psychological or not—possibly aided by the general high-quality feel of the mouse pad including its neoprene base and low-profile stitching—I’m rockin’ those dust-trodden maps like it’s 2012 again and I’m keeping the noise down so my mom doesn’t know I’m still awake and swearing at my Russian teammates.

I do tend to believe what the SteelSeries rep told me, too, and (I think) not just out of wishful thinking. In a briefing, they spoke about just how fine-tuned for competitive gaming and performance these new mouse pads are—how great they feel thanks to a “specialised blend of materials” and how they’ve been meticulously adjusted with the help of pros for performance and comfort.

For instance, different coatings were tried to waterproof them, but this “just wasn’t an option” because it would wear things down too fast or cause sensor spin-outs.

“We really looked at every single element that we could and could not use on these pads to make sure that the durability was there, that [there is] maximum performance, and that these are premium on every single level.”

In other words, there seems to have been a genuine and diligent attempt to craft mouse pads that really do put performance first.

Which is just the kind of thing to reel an old timer like me back into an unhealthy obsession with perfecting my entry frags, staying up far too late, and developing jedi-like muscle memory for the ‘mute teammate’ button.

And, of course, it’s made me remember the simple pleasure of the surface under my mouse skates that makes the experience all the more enjoyable.