Aim assist
Targeting help on a gamepad that nudges the player's aim toward targets, to offset a thumbstick's imprecision versus a mouse.
An analog stick cannot point as precisely as a mouse, so console shooters compensate quietly. The common forms are slowing the reticle as it crosses an enemy ("sticky aim"), bending shots a touch toward a target ("bullet magnetism"), and a light snap when you pull the trigger. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) set an early benchmark for how natural it can feel.
The tuning is delicate. Too much and the game seems to play itself; too little and the pad player feels cheated. The question turned heated once crossplay put mouse against stick in the same match — aim assist that compensates for the stick can suddenly look like an edge the mouse lacks, forcing developers to rebalance it or split matchmaking by input.