Do "Gaming" mousepads make a difference with today's optical mice?

Professional gamers will bring their own mice as well as mice pads to events. The reality is no surface is frictionless, nor does any surface have consistent friction throughout it. As a result there are parts of the surface in question which the mouse will move on at different speeds.

A good mouse pad will have even friction throughout it. How much friction you want on your mouse pad is usually a matter of personal preference (like tuning your mouse response settings). I usually advocate low friction mouse pads for laser mice, but I know a number of competitive gamers who prefer high friction mouse pads for higher precision (as the mass of a mouse is usually so small that the force difference between high acceleration and low acceleration is small).

I have personally used a gaming mouse pad since I started competing at Counter Strike. I quite enjoy it, but I recommend you try before you buy. Go to a store that has games on computers and play them for 10 minute stretches.

Its also worth noting that a high quality mousepad may require a different cleaning regimen than you are use to. Make sure you find this out first.

It depends on the mouse.

One of my favorite mice is a Laser mouse made by Razer, but the mouse really sucks unless you've got a good mousing surface to go with it. I personally use good mousing surfaces for all of my computers (even when I'm just at work programming, without a gaming mouse), because I like the extra precision.

Some mousepads offer support besides the actual pad for the mouse, such as a wrist support. These can help whether or not your mouse is optical, if it's comfortable for you, a fact which has actually helped a number of gamers I've known.