Designing the Ultimate MMO Gaming Mouse: The Razer Naga Epic

Designing the Ultimate MMO Gaming Mouse: The Razer Naga Epic

Overview The Razer Naga won numerous industry awards, was called the "ultimate MMO gaming mouse" by top notch reviewers worldwide, and IS the best selling MMO mouse in the world. Today, hundreds of thousands of MMO gamers, pros and amateurs alike, swear by the Razer Naga when grinding and PvPing.
So how did we design the ultimate MMO gaming mouse? And more importantly, how the hell did we design something that would top that?

What is design? Phenomenal design is when it just works - when it feels just right and that it did not seem designed at all. It's designing toward having someone say "Now why didn't someone think of that before? I could've done that easily..."

The iconic 12 button thumb grid of the Razer Naga. Now that's the secret behind the Razer design process - how we've redefined a whole generation of MMO gameplay. By designing it...just right. Like how we've managed to place 17 buttons in a single mouse - 17 buttons in an intuitive, easily accessible thumb grid - many others have tried (and have created monstrosities that are virtually unusable) but the sheer genius of the Razer Naga is in the design of the simple thumb grid that has become an icon in MMO gaming.
Experts in Gameplay ErgonomicsIt's a well known fact that Razer has the world's foremost experts in gaming ergonomics. We have more dedicated ergonomics experts on staff than the entire staff of most of our competitors. And it shows from our hundreds of thousands of testimonials attesting to the fact by users of our products.
Over 300 models were made for the Razer Naga and the Razer Naga Epic. Comfort is not just the single most important facet - but accessibility and gameplay coupled with extended comfort. Our products are stress tested and designed to provide you with the ultimate edge - and it shows as we put in more models, designs than any other gaming company - and we did the same, over and over again with the Razer Naga Epic.

Early clay model of the Razer Naga. Most peripherals companies would make anything from 1 to 5 ergonomics models for each product. When we designed the Razer Naga and it's follow up, the Razer Naga Epic, over 300 models (including both Naga and the Epic editions) were made to test hand shapes, sizes and gameplay styles.

We use a variety of materials for the models, including free form clay all the way to fully tooled samples for testing. Foam models were also used for ergonomics and sensor placement testing. Literally fully working mouse models are made, developed and tested before we go back to the drawing board to redesign and improve on each design. That's part of the Razer design magic. Full working 4-button prototype. For example, we had full working units of the Razer Naga Epic running with a pinky button but we decided ultimately that it was a terrible idea from an extended gameplay ergonomics perspective. Early working prototype with a button for the ring/4th finger - it didn't make it to final production as it fell short of our ergonomics expectations. We focused on comfort and ease of use in reaching the iconic thumb grid - and tested it over extended MMO game play. We had rooms set up with multiple cameras synced up with gameplay, extensive reviews with the test subjects (that spanned North America, Europe and Asia) to come to the best designs which were then sent to CAD, prototyped and then iterated and reiterated again. And all the work culminated in one single design - the Razer Naga Epic. If you ever wonder why the Razer Naga Epic is the single most epic mouse you've ever held and felt, you'll know it's because we designed literally 300 mice before we nailed the final designs. And it's not just comfort, but that it just works. And that's why MMO gamers worldwide swear by the Razer Naga - and why it outsells every other so-called MMO gaming mice by 10 to 1.

The Razer Naga Epic That's It In short, that's what went into the design of the Razer Naga - it wasn't just fun and games for us, but a true labor of love and hundreds of thousands of test sessions in MMOs. And that's what makes us, the world's leading brand in gaming hardware - because we're For Gamers. By Gamers.