I’m curious about how the mouse could be used in novel ways in gaming. Are there some interesting uses you’ve seen? Can you think of some novel ways it could be employed?
How many buttons do you think are typically on a gamer’s mouse?
The poll is about your mouse. If there is a mouse wheel that can be clicked, count it as 1 button.
Five: The obvious left & right, click-wheel and two thumb buttons.
While I don’t need one of those 20-button MMORPG monstrosities, I wouldn’t mind maybe one or two more. I’m not sure of any novel uses that don’t boil down to “replaces a keyboard hotkey”. I have my thumb buttons mapped to toss bandage packs and grenades in Battlefield 1 but that’s hardly innovative on my part – that’s why the buttons exist.
Twelve buttons on my gaming mouse.
In what ways do the extra buttons come in useful? Do you see ways in which they could be better used?
I voted wrong. I voted 15 and I meant 17. Razar Naga.
Double post
I used to have a Razer Naga, like the one Ike Witt posted, which I (briefly) used while playing an MMO (specifically, Star Wars: The Old Republic).
In an MMO, you may have a couple of dozen different powers / abilities which your character might use during a fight. The buttons on a gaming mouse take the place of using “hotkeys” (on your keyboard) or toolbar buttons (on screen) to activate those powers. In theory, once you get used to using such a mouse, it’s supposed to be faster than either of those other approaches.
I never got good at using the Naga; my thumb would just get sore from using it.
I have a Razer Nostromo, which was given to me by a friend, and is meant to have similar sort of functionality to a gaming mouse, but is used with your left hand (note the little thumb-joystick on the right side). Never got good at using this, either. 
I feel like, if I had that many buttons, I’d always be hitting the wrong one or spent too much time staring at my mouse buttons versus the game.
This thread reminded me though that I own a G402 Hyperion, I just never took it out of the box since my current Monoprice mouse was still working fine. I only bought the G402 because it was on clearance for $5 and figured it would be handy to have a backup mouse. That one has nine buttons though (8+the wheel) so maybe I should bust it out.
The extra buttons are invariably assigned to various keyboard hotkeys, and can be assigned on a per-game basis. For example, in Grim Dawn my buttons are assigned to the various hotkeys on the action bar (1-10, -, =) for my characters actions. I did similar things in World of Warcraft as well.
I can’t really imagine how they could be better used. Most are operated with the thumb, with a couple of them operated by the index finger. I wouldn’t mind having one button the the ring finger, like my old Microsoft Optical mouse had. I don’t think I have enough ring finger dexterity to warrant more than one easy-to-hit button though.
L1, L2, R1, R2, Triangle, Circle, Square, X, D-pad, Start, Select, Left Joystick, Right Joystick, L3, L4.
15!
Logitech G600. 20 buttons. (There are about 5 that I rarely or never use.)
Until recently, it was 11 buttons on a G602, which I preferred.
Well, if we’re just counting input devices then I guess I have ~130 buttons
Now I know that my memory is flawed! I use a G602. Apparently I have 11 buttons, not 12.
You use an Atari Jaguar controller? </90s console humour>
I have a mouse that has the standard two-plus-wheel, but in addition to clicking and rolling the wheel, you can also tilt it left and right (it’s mostly used to mimic the left and right arrow keys, and is intended for giving presentations). Does that count as 3 or 5?
Eh, doesn’t really matter, since I usually use a 3 anyway.
Three that are usable. Right, left, thumb.
I’m pretty sure 17, but a few are for mouse functions - one to double-click, and two others to change mouse resolution. Throw in left, right, wheel, and 12 buttons on the side that are never used…and it’s 18. Oops.
In addition to the normal 2 and the scroll wheel, I have: One lower thumb button (theoretically used to change the mouse speed quickly), the Thumb-operated Back and Forward buttons like on most multi-button mice, and two index finger buttons. I’m not much of a gamer, but I wanted a quality wired mouse. This was the least fancy I could get and still be decent quality. I don’t use the other buttons at all any more, except accidentally. I did get some use out of them in WoW for a month or two, but that wasn’t why I bought it.
With those MMORPG mice, I wonder if you could map WASD to the thumb buttons and play a basic FPS or similar without touching the keyboard. Might be useful if you were missing an arm or something, I guess.
I’ve got five, I think, (I don’t want to get up and find it) not counting the wheel but it’s a Corsair Vengenance M65 designed more for FPSes and other games where you want real precision in tracking. If I played lots of RPGs these days, I’d might want a second mouse with more bindings. For what little I use a mouse on my laptop for, I’ve been happy with it.