If you have played video games at some time (probably still play) and invested your time in looking for a suitable gaming keyboard, then you should have heard about the Anti-Ghosting feature which a quality gaming keyboard comes with. So what is this Anti-Ghosting? We’ll try to explain here.
To understand Anti-Ghosting, you must first understand what Ghosting is. Suppose a keyboard comes with a six key rollover (6KRO) which means that if six keys are pressed simultaneously, each will register a certain response on the screen, be you typing or gaming. But if you press a seventh key (or more) with them also, there will be no response from any key. If you are trying to type, no character will be seen on the screen, as you have crossed the maximum permissible limit for simultaneous key presses for a 6KRO keyboard. This occurrence is called Ghosting as the intended inputs of all the keys you pressed did not appear; they seem to have vanished or ‘ghosted’. Anti-Ghosting is all about making those keys respond.
Why Ghosting occurs
Ghosting may happen because of several reasons. One is that your keyboard’s n-key rollover (you can read more about it here) does not let it read multiple key presses after a certain limit, like 3 or 6 keys. It could also be due to the software on your PC not supporting multiple key presses simultaneously. Or, it could be due to the restriction of the communication protocol between the hardware and the software which only lets a select number of simultaneous key presses.
The advantages of Anti-Ghosting
If you are gaming using a, let’s say, 3KRO keyboard and have to make use of more than 3 keys at once to run, jump and fire your weapon at the same time, the key inputs won’t work and you’ll most likely fail at that point. To prevent scenarios like this from happening, you need to go for keyboards with plenty of Anti-Ghosting keys. Suppose you bought one with 20 Anti-Ghosting keys. This means all the 20 keys are capable of responding when pressed simultaneously. Also, sometimes, you may have to play using the same keyboard in a two-player game, with a buddy sharing your keyboard. Anti-Ghosting comes to your rescue then also by making sure all the key responses get registered in the order you pressed them.
To understand Anti-Ghosting, you must first understand what Ghosting is. Suppose a keyboard comes with a six key rollover (6KRO) which means that if six keys are pressed simultaneously, each will register a certain response on the screen, be you typing or gaming. But if you press a seventh key (or more) with them also, there will be no response from any key. If you are trying to type, no character will be seen on the screen, as you have crossed the maximum permissible limit for simultaneous key presses for a 6KRO keyboard. This occurrence is called Ghosting as the intended inputs of all the keys you pressed did not appear; they seem to have vanished or ‘ghosted’. Anti-Ghosting is all about making those keys respond.
Why Ghosting occurs
Ghosting may happen because of several reasons. One is that your keyboard’s n-key rollover (you can read more about it here) does not let it read multiple key presses after a certain limit, like 3 or 6 keys. It could also be due to the software on your PC not supporting multiple key presses simultaneously. Or, it could be due to the restriction of the communication protocol between the hardware and the software which only lets a select number of simultaneous key presses.
The advantages of Anti-Ghosting
If you are gaming using a, let’s say, 3KRO keyboard and have to make use of more than 3 keys at once to run, jump and fire your weapon at the same time, the key inputs won’t work and you’ll most likely fail at that point. To prevent scenarios like this from happening, you need to go for keyboards with plenty of Anti-Ghosting keys. Suppose you bought one with 20 Anti-Ghosting keys. This means all the 20 keys are capable of responding when pressed simultaneously. Also, sometimes, you may have to play using the same keyboard in a two-player game, with a buddy sharing your keyboard. Anti-Ghosting comes to your rescue then also by making sure all the key responses get registered in the order you pressed them.
