Competitive gaming, or eSports, is a rapidly growing industry that has been gaining popularity in recent years. With more than 200 million people worldwide participating in competitive gaming and an estimated market value of $1 billion by 2020, it’s no wonder why so many people are interested in getting involved.
But what exactly is competitive gaming? How does it differ from casual gaming? What skills do you need to succeed at the highest level? And how can you get started with little-to-no experience under your belt? These are all questions we’ll answer below!
Choosing the Right Game
When you’re first getting started, it’s important to choose the right game. There are many different types of games out there, and each one has its own unique competitive scene. For example:
- Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games like League of Legends or Dota 2 are team-based and require players to work together to defeat the other team in combat.
- First-person shooter (FPS) titles such as Call of Duty or Counter-Strike can be played either solo or in teams; these games focus on aiming accuracy rather than strategy or teamwork.
In order for your competitive gaming career to be successful, it’s important that you understand what kind of game suits your skillset best–and what kind of community surrounds each genre!
Getting Started
- Learning the game mechanics
- Finding a team
- Practicing
Improving Your Skills
As you’re getting started, it’s important to set goals for yourself and track your progress. This will help keep you motivated and give you something to work towards.
Setting Goals:
- Set a time frame for when you want to achieve a certain level of skill in competitive gaming. For example, if I wanted to get good enough at Overwatch so that I could compete in tournaments within six months, then my goal would be “get into Diamond league (top 5%) by [date].”
- You can also break down this goal into smaller steps along the way if necessary–for example, maybe one step would be making Gold league (top 10%) by [date], another step might be getting into Platinum league (top 1%) by [date], etc., until finally reaching Diamond League before hitting that deadline. That way there will always be something tangible happening every week or two where we can say “I’m making progress!” which keeps us motivated throughout our journey as eSports athletes!
Staying Motivated
If you’re serious about becoming a competitive gamer and reaching the top of your field, it’s important to stay motivated.
There are many ways to do this: creating a routine can help you stick with it, finding support from friends and family will keep your spirits up when things get tough, celebrating successes will give you something positive to focus on instead of dwelling on failures or setbacks–and so on.
Creating an Online Presence
In order to get started in competitive gaming, you’ll need to create an online presence. This can be done through social media and streaming platforms such as Twitch, which allows players to share their gameplay with other gamers around the world.
Creating an online profile on Facebook or Twitter will allow you connect with other eSports athletes who may be interested in playing with you or learning from your expertise. It also allows fans of eSports (or even just casual gamers) who want to follow your progress as a player and cheer for their favorite teams/players!
Streaming is another great way of building up an audience base while simultaneously improving at the game itself: watching others play gives us insight into what we could do better ourselves when we get back into the driver’s seat ourselves!
Equipment and Setup
- Choosing the right hardware
- Optimizing your setup
- Improving your internet connection
Managing Stress and Mental Health
Stress and mental health are a big part of being a competitive athlete. As you progress through your career, you’ll find that there are many challenges that can affect your performance.
- Practice mindfulness: Being mindful helps you stay focused on the present moment instead of worrying about things in the past or future. It also allows you to be more aware of what’s going on around you so that if something does happen, like an opponent trying to take advantage of your weaknesses or teammates arguing with each other, then it won’t affect how well-prepared for competition as much as it would otherwise have done so had there been no mindfulness practice involved beforehand.* Understand the importance of rest: Resting properly between matches is crucial because it gives players time recover from injuries sustained during previous games while also allowing them ample opportunity prepare physically/mentally before facing off against opponents again later down road–something which cannot always happen due to scheduling conflicts between competitions (eSports leagues often hold multiple events per year).
- Manage anxiety levels effectively: Anxiety is normal when starting out with any new activity but learning how cope effectively with feelings such as fearfulness will help reduce stress levels significantly over time
Tips for Professional Players
- Create a schedule.
- Manage your finances.
- Find sponsorships.
Now that you have a better understanding of what competitive gaming is, and how to get started in it, let’s take a look at some of the most important things to keep in mind as you begin your journey.
- Reflect on your progress: Did you accomplish everything on your list? If not, what did go wrong? Did something come up that prevented you from doing what was planned? How can this be avoided in the future?
- Set new goals: Once all of the tasks above are complete, consider setting some new ones! Maybe instead of playing one game for 8 hours straight every day (which would get boring pretty fast), try playing two games instead–one during the day when friends are available and another at night when they aren’t. Or maybe try out an entirely different genre altogether; there are so many options out there! Whatever it is that gets them excited about playing again will help keep them motivated throughout their journey towards becoming an eSports athlete.
