Eye Tracking Expert Esports Players

In the rapidly expanding esports industry, eye-tracking research is shedding light on the intricate mechanisms behind elite performance, particularly in fast-paced games like First-Person Shooters (FPS). In a recent study published in Computers in Human Behavior, “The aiming advantages in experienced first-person shooter gamers: Evidence from eye movement patterns,” Yang et al. (2025) investigated the aiming advantages of experienced FPS players by analyzing their eye movement patterns under varying spatial and temporal conditions. The research aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the cognitive and perceptual processes underpinning superior aiming abilities.

Esport Eye-Tracking Methodology

The study involved 63 participants: 28 experienced FPS players (with at least two years of regular FPS gameplay and weekly playtime) and 35 non-FPS players. 

An Eyelink 1000 Plus (SR Research Ltd, Canada) with a sampling rate of 1000 Hz was used to track and record eye movement data. Participants were seated 57 cm from a 24-inch display (1024×768 resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate), with head movements restricted by a chinrest. A nine-point calibration was performed at the start and after each break to ensure data accuracy.

The experimental task, adapted from Counter-Strike 2, mirrored dynamic aiming, requiring participants to click a central yellow dot before targeting a red dot that appeared at varying angles and distances after 250 ms or 500 ms. Participants aimed to hit the target quickly and accurately across 72 trials. Data analysis covered behavioral measures (accuracy, execution time) and eye movement indices (fixation/saccade counts, durations, latency, amplitude), including crucial nonlinear patterns.

Coordination Between Vision and Motor Responses is More Efficient with Experienced FPS Players

• Fixation and Saccade Counts: Experienced FPS players exhibited significantly fewer fixations and saccades compared to non-FPS players, indicating more efficient visual search. Target distance also significantly affected both fixation and saccade counts.
• Fixation Duration: A significant three-way interaction (group x target distance x target appearance latency) was observed for average fixation duration. Experienced FPS players showed longer fixation durations for near targets in the 500ms condition, similar to non-FPS players, suggesting that increased task difficulty disrupted their automated responses.
• Saccade Latency: Target appearance latency significantly affected saccade latency, with faster saccade initiation in the 500ms condition. However, this faster initiation did not translate into improved performance in terms of accuracy or execution time.

The nonlinear analysis of eye movement patterns provided crucial insights beyond traditional analyses.

• The most common eye movement pattern for experienced FPS players was the “0-fixation-1-saccade” pattern, where they completed the search-aiming process with a single saccade directly from target appearance to hitting it, without any intermediate fixation. This highlights their superior spatial remapping capabilities and efficient eye-hand coordination.
• In contrast, non-FPS players typically exhibited patterns requiring multiple corrective adjustments, such as the “1-fixation-2-saccades” pattern (saccade to target, fixation which overshoots, then saccade back to target) or “2-fixations-3-saccades” pattern.

This pattern-level analysis revealed that the coordination between visual inputs and motor responses is more efficient and refined in experienced FPS players. 

The study highlights the critical role of eye tracking technology in revealing nuanced behavioral and cognitive characteristics that might be obscured by traditional statistical methods. By analyzing nonlinear eye movement patterns, researchers gained deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms of expert performance, going beyond simple gaze metrics such as saccade latency and fixation duration. The paper shows that eye tracking is not just a tool for measuring where someone looks, but a powerful instrument for understanding how individuals process visual information and execute complex tasks in the real world. 

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