Small Latency Variations Do Not Affect Player Performance in First-Person Shooters

High base latency significantly degrades player performance and subjective experience in first-person shooters, yet minor, continuous fluctuations in latency—commonly referred to as jitter—do not exert a measurable influence on competitive outcomes. While previous research has established that substantial technical delays negatively impact hit rates and kill-death ratios, these studies often rely on extreme, non-representative latency values. By isolating the effects of ±50 ms variations within a controlled environment using the title Cube 2: Sauerbraten, it becomes clear that such minor inconsistencies are negligible in the context of standard gameplay.

The study employed a 2x2 within-subjects design involving 28 participants to evaluate both objective performance metrics and subjective player experience. Both frequentist and Bayesian statistical analyses confirm that while base latency remains a critical factor in gaming quality, latency jitter does not meaningfully alter performance or the majority of player experience subscales. The evidence suggests that these minor fluctuations lack practical relevance for most gaming scenarios and do not serve as a confounding variable in broader latency research.

These findings validate the methodology of existing literature, confirming that prior studies on network and system latency remain robust despite not accounting for inherent, low-level jitter. By demonstrating that players are largely resilient to small-scale latency variations, this research clarifies the technical thresholds that developers and network engineers must prioritize to ensure optimal competitive integrity. Consequently, efforts to mitigate latency should focus primarily on reducing high base latency rather than eliminating minor, unavoidable fluctuations in network or system performance.