so many things have changed since then. Even a search engine like Google isn't like it was -it was more free now, searching was more accurate, but now it's more about politics and stuff-. Same with certain gadgets, there were lots of experimental ideas.In my clanning days I actually knew a couple players that used a trackball rather than a mouse; I was always amazed that their control looked indistinguishable from any other mouse user. Rocket jumps, flick shots, high precision aim, etc. They also served as cautionary tales of the danger with falling in love with a non-standard input device -- sooner or later your one-of-a-kind gizmo is going to get discontinued and, unlike mice, keyboards, or console controllers, when it breaks you're screwed. If your trackball of choice was one of those marble-sized ones that you used with your index finger, then a golf ball-sized one you used with your thumb wasn't exactly a drop-in replacement in terms of your muscle memory. You basically had to relearn how to play FPS from scratch. Anyone that ever put the time into mastering a Steam controller and whatever that SLR camera-looking monstrosity is, is going to have a sad time when they inevitably have to replace it.
We used gamepads that were connected to the MIDI port, but it was a PITA. Some games might not recognize them, other times you didn't have enough buttons, or calibration was very hard...
As for the Steam Controller, it looks like a good idea, in modern times. Afaik many people created profiles for some games, and you can create pretty complex control schemes with it.
Not that you can't achieve that with a mouse featuring enough programmable buttons, and even create very complex macros -I think some people used those to beat fighting games like Street Fighter 2 with 1CC without losing a round performing ShoRyuKens all the time...), but the Steam controller can be still cool.