You might have seen lights on gaming keyboards and wondered if they are really of any use.
For many gamers, they definitely aren’t a must-have accessory but keyboard backlighting can have plenty of uses.
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Why Do Gaming Keyboards Have Lights?
PC gamers use keyboard lights to illuminate various sets of keys that they regularly need to press in order to carry out in-game actions.
The eye will register a color much faster than it will see the tiny letter, number, or symbol on top of the keycap and this can help when you’re playing a new game and aren’t yet familiar with all of the inputs.
For example, a gamer could assign a blue backlight to the WASD or arrow keys used for movement, green color to keys used for healing or defending, and a red backlight assigned to keys used to attack or cast spells that do damage.
Once you’re familiar with a game you won’t need different colors to show you where the keys are, but the lighting can be useful to highlight keybindings and shortcuts in complex MMO games that you’re not yet familiar with, like League of Legends.
If you want to double-check each and every key that you press, you can make RGB lighting on your keyboard reactive.
Essentially, this makes every key you press to change to a color of your choosing for a split second.
Many high-end gaming keyboards also have extra macro keys and it can take a while to become familiar with their positions on the keyboard.
Gaming keyboard lights can help to illuminate macro keys and help you to get used to their position and function.
But the lights on a gaming keyboard have many more uses than what we’ve discussed so far.
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Customization
You can use the lights on gaming keyboards to customize the keyboard to your style and to quickly and easily change things up every now and then.
If aesthetics mean a lot to you and your gaming space is themed to your specific style with the use of RGB lighting, then lights on a gaming keyboard are going to be extremely important so that your keyboard can blend with the lighting on your other peripherals.
It will also allow you to quickly change up your style if you become bored with your current theme.
You could put clear keycaps on your RGB backlit keys to set up different color layouts which will change up how your keyboard looks without you having to go out and spend money on things like new keycap sets.
To Play At Night
RGB lighting behind the keys also allows optimal visibility so that PC gamers can continue to play in dimly lit or even dark environments.
And playing in the early hours in the dark is something a lot of gamers do on a regular basis.
To Warn You When Your PC Is Overheating
You can set certain keys to change color and warn you when your system is getting too hot, or even to warn you when your wireless connection suddenly drops.
Final Thoughts
If you like to change up your style a lot and often find yourself learning key layouts for new games, then you’ll probably get plenty of use from gaming keyboard lights.
However, if you don’t think you would use RGB for the things we’ve discussed in this article, then you’ll probably just find it to be a gimmick and soon get bored with it.
If this is the case, it’d be better to give the RGB feature a miss and try to spend your budget on a higher-quality mechanical keyboard.
