If you
play games a lot, especially multiplayer ones, you probably know something about gaming tournaments around the world, like the
DOTA 2 championship
in Seattle last year where a Swedish team took home nearly $1.4 Million
in reward money, along with some goodies. Gamers are now recognized as
pro-athletes in the U.S, and people as young as 13 years of age are
competing. Why? Simply because there's a whole
career to be made in
professional
, or eSports gaming, and some people have done just that!
Parents are often skeptical regarding any talks of playing games, but
the classical taunt "Playing games is a waste of time and money" can now
be turned around with the example of various world-renowned and
highly-paid professional gamers such as Jonathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel, Lee
'Flash' Young, and so on. Besides
making money,
recognized pro-gamers can also get a US P-1 visa, usually reserved for
sports players. These visa holders can stay and earn a salary while
‘playing’ in the US.
It all is, however, easier said than done. It takes hundreds of
man-hours of practice, skill, determination and teamwork to be
successful. Here are the top 10 tips to start off your career as a
pro-gamer.
1. Practice Against Bots
Yes, I know, AI is stupid, and won't let you get a competitive feel. But
before you go bursting out in the open, know the strengths and
weaknesses of the game, and of yourself. Many games like Counter Strike
will let you play against bots. So assemble a team of your bots, and
compete against the enemy to discover the ins and outs of the game.
Generally, you can use bots to asses your own performance, and adopt
your gaming style according to what feels most comfortable.
Practice a lot!
2. Practice teamwork
Playing with people is as important as playing against them. You cannot
be a successful gamer if you're not good at teamwork - get that through
your head! Most online games require teams to play against each other,
and almost all tournaments feature matches between teams.
Playing in teams lets you learn by observing others and getting tips
from them. What you can learn in a team, you can never learn by
yourself. Playing in teams also makes you learn teamwork strategies that
are invaluable for any gamer, and are the distinguishing characteristic
of a pro-gamer versus a casual gamer.
Gaming sometimes can get intense and argumentative. This helps you judge
the playing styles and abilities of each member in your team. So
assemble a team of friends, and practice with each other. It also helps
develop a particular gaming style. For example, when I play first-person
shooter games, I usually prefer long-range assault. But when playing in
a team, I rush head-on with an SMG, with some assault guy covering my
back. Similarly, I am fairly aggressive in solo real-time strategy, but I
mostly play defense when in a team. Developing strategies like these is
crucial to victory in any competitive match.
3. Understand The Jargon
Not necessarily the first thing to do but it is one of the more
important ones, know that there is a lot of jargon involved in
multiplayer games, and it’s not just limited to Internet speak. Game
jargon varies, according to the games you play.
For example in
MOBA
(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games like DOTA 2, League of Legends
or Heroes of Newerth, there are terms like stun, hex/voodoo, disable,
lane, neutrals/jungle or ancients.
First person shooter (FPS) players also give unique names to spots or
areas on the map. This allows your teammates to know the whereabouts of
enemy players. Competitive gaming rely a lot on strategy and fast and
effective communication with your team mates.
4. Watch Professionals Play
You can only get as good as your imagination can let you, so sometimes
you need inspiration from the ones who have been there, done that.
Watching
professionals
play lets you learn how the pros do it, how their complex teamwork and
strategies work, watch their key twitch and split decision-making in
action, tricks, ploys and more lessons that will help make or your break
your gameplay.
The good news is, many pro-gamers allow the world to watch how they play
live, made possible with live streaming. The number one site to watch
these pros in action is on Twitch.tv. However, YouTube is also a good
place to learn a game, even more in-depth.
Other times, instead of watching someone play, you can opt for tutorials
and guides where YouTubers explain what’s going on. You can also find
walkthroughs of single player games on YouTube if you’re stuck at a
level.
5. Jack of all is an ace of none
Each player in a team must have a specialized skill. All rounder players
don't usually perform well in competitive gaming. And really good all
rounders are hard to find. It's frankly easier to specialize in one type
of character, weaponry, class etc. If you're a good sniper, stick to
sniping and be the best damn sniper there every was, even if you suck at
assaulting. I am a good sniper, but it never was my thing. I specialize
in rushing (in FPS) or rush-raiding (in RTS - surprise, I've found, is
the perfect murder weapon :D)
6. Get Some Gaming Gear
Some people debate endlessly on why you shouldn't waste money on gaming
gear. They argue that using special gear makes you dependent on it, and
you cannot perform without it. While that might be true for casual
gaming, it is the wrong attitude for professional gaming. Gaming gear is
built for durability, responsiveness and accuracy, which is why I argue
that it makes you independent of hardware factors, and lets you
concentrate on your game.
For example, a normal desktop mouse has a response time of 8-16
milliseconds. But gaming mice, like the one I am currently using,
respond within 1 millisecond. Similarly, hi-tech 7.1 surround gaming
headsets will provide you much powerful hearing capabilities than normal
ones. Hardware plays a significant role in cutting down errors while in
the heat of battle, and if you're into hard-core gaming, you might find
it worth your while to invest in products from renowned companies such
as Logitech, Razer, SteelSeries etc.
7. Search For Tips, Tricks And Guides
Watching people play means you can closely watch their movements, but
this doesn’t give you information about the many other things going on
inside their head. Part of understanding the mechanics of the game is to
read about it, study it in-depth.
The internet is a great source to find out more in-depth things of just
about any game. We’re talking about knowledge on the characters, their
skills, their moves with weapons, their armory, the playing field and
more. No one said it was going to be easy, but the hard work may be well
worth it to win games. Once you learn what each character is capable of
doing, you won’t get caught off guard so easily.
8. Avoid hacks
No one turns pro overnight, even
professional
gamers have to practice and train for hours a day – check out their
live stream to get a feel of what gaming a whole day feels like.
Consistent gameplay and charting your progression in terms of team
performance may actually help build towards a gaming career.
Take every win and loss as a challenge to better your gameplay but it’s
important to enjoy the game for what it is. If you ever find yourself
needing to turn to hacks, don’t. While you may be thinking about using
hacks to advance in the game, it isn’t actually a good step, mostly
because you’re "not playing" the game anymore.
Pro-gamers are gamers who fully understand the game and exploit its
mechanics (without hacks) to their advantage. It’s also the reason why
many other fellow gamers respect their determination to climb their way
to the top, hack free. Stay away from hacks and play it the right way.
9. Customize Settings For Performance
This is an extension from #6. Games can be very graphically demanding and might require you to have a high-performance
computer
in order to enjoy its an immersive gameplay. However, it’s ok if you
don’t have a beefy computer. All you have to do is lower the graphic
settings to ensure you have smoother gameplay during intense clashes.
Don’t worry of what others might think of the ugly graphics, pro-gamers
do it all the time. They need fewer "beautiful" features because they’re
not there for that. To them, the correct actions are what matters.
Taking the load off the machines means less distractions anyways, and
better performance.
10. Be Nice To Everyone
As competitive as it can get in the gaming arena, everyone’s there to
play. Even if it is there to win, everyone is still looking for a good
game. Don’t ruin the mood with senseless verbal brutality, particularly
if you are new to the game.
Being nice to strangers can get you far, find you a fellow player to
brave the tough training sessions ahead and some of them can teach you a
thing or two about how to master the game faster and better. Don’t have
friends to take into a game? Make some from it.
If you’re playing on a local server, you might have the chance to make
new (real life) friends too, because not all people on the Internet are
bad and shady – just tread with care when it comes to sharing personal
information online. May the best player win!
