My Crosshair - why it doesn't suck

 The other night I was playing a game of Competitive mode.  While I don't queue up for Competitive, occasionally I'll accept an invite to join a lower ranked team.  My team was solidly trounced 1:15 as our opponents had several higher skilled players.  On the last round I was the last survivor as I was the only member at the other bombsite - and one of my teammates mocked my crosshair (not the first time it's happened).

Unlike the vast majority of "pro" players (and wanna-be pro players), I use the Classic Dynamic crosshair (with a center dot) rather than a static crosshair.  It's also bright pink and thick.  And each of those characteristics is by choice and for a specific reason.

For the longest while I was using the default crosshair - why change?  Sure I could copy some pro's settings, but I'm no pro.  But then I started really watching my games (one of the advantages of recording everything) and studying what I was doing.  What I realized is in a lot of cases I wasn't actually aiming - actively trying to put the crosshair on the target.  Instead I was really only looking at the target.

What I needed was to learn what real-life shooters call "obtaining a sight picture" -where you are looking both at the sights on the gun and your target and putting one over the other.  The first thing I needed to do was make the crosshair stand out, so it would be visible against any background and almost force my eyes to focus on it.  So I made it "magic" pink (#FF00FF magenta, called magic because it's often used my video overlay hardware).  Then I increased the thickness as I found the default too thin on my 27" 2560x1440 monitor.

I use a center dot because my objective is to "put the dot on the head / target".  I use a dynamic crosshair because it tells me when I will be less accurate.  (I wonder how many players complain about how that perfect shot missed when their static crosshair is misleading them about their accuracy.)

Since I made these changes I've noticed a definite improvement in my shooting skills.  So while it might not be a "pro" crosshair, but it is helping me get better at CS:GO.


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