The more we play, and we play a lot, the better we get. This truism applies over most games, but it’s not a magic route to supremacy. For most players, playing as we do normally will eventually cause us to plateau, creating the belief that we’ve hit our performance peaks.
This isn’t necessarily the truth, however, as pushing past these plateaus to new heights can be possible with the right approach. Finding further improvement isn’t just about the time you put it, it’s about how you train. Take some examples from common forms of competitive gaming, we want to examine how players might accomplish this, to reach potential heights they never thought possible.
Setting an Environment
Before beginning in earnest, players first need to understand that not all training environments are made equal. This applies both in a physical sense and in terms of the digital area in which you train. Professional football players don’t practice in an open local park, and this same idea should apply to you.
For a more illustrative example of this in the software space, consider how professional online poker players engage. They start, as anyone else does, with modern casinos like those at https://www.onlinecasinos.co.uk/. This includes collecting bonuses, and carefully choosing the best casino to suit their desires. From this, they turn to tables and games that reflect their needs. Often this is a calm and collected environment if they’re working on specific skills, and this is an idea that video game players need to internalize.
In a physical sense, this idea can mean removing obstacles that stand in the way of a focussed mind. A clear desk, noise-canceling headphones, and in a light-controlled room can all be good choices in this regard. While eventually, you might want to reintroduce obstacles to strengthen your focus, beginning from a quiet place is always a good start.
Understanding the Meta
Before going into specific skills, you need to understand which skills will be applicable, and which could be wasted effort. For an example of this, consider the quick-scope tactic as popularised by COD as mention on https://dotesports.com/. While a powerful tool for the right player, mastering this could prove useless if you don’t use the applicable weapons. Check forums for meta-game details on what skills high-level players in your position use, and be sure to focus on these instead.
Running the Course
Once you know what to do, it’s time to drill the skills into you until they’re second nature. A good starting place in this regard is offline gameplay or training rooms. These are especially helpful for the more technical moves which require a lot of work before going live. You can’t realistically expect to get a handle on complex maneuvers with an active and aggressive opponent, so simpler and static targets are usually a good starting place.
A great example of this within fighting games are complex moves like infinite or touch of death combos. Typically requiring enormously high levels of muscle memory and coordination, pulling these off even the first time can take hours or days of practice.
Whatever skill you practice, time will be your best bet for consolidating it into memory. As this article at https://pressbuttonwin.com/ mentions, the more comfortable you get, the less cognitive resources an act will take. What used to require perfect concentration will eventually become second-nature, and this will free greater mental resources for other components of the developing game.
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An important thing to note about training is that the human mind can be more receptive if training is spread out over a longer period. A single four-hour training session will often not produce the same results as four one-hour training sessions over consecutive days, and this needs to be understood. The mind takes time to adapt, and can rarely be forced into picking up complex skills quickly.
Keeping Cool
Once you know what you have to do, and you’ve practiced the skills you need, the final step is staying cool when putting them into practice. This can be the most frustrating step, as an active environment can overwhelm us at first. The best remedy is staying cool, and being constantly vigilant for the opportunities you studied for. At first, this could come at the cost of other parts of your game, but this is fine. Eventually, like other skills, your brain will automatically begin to spot opportunities without effort, again allowing you to relax your concentration, and bring back in other aspects of your play.
With these components in mind, all you need is time, and the ability to reflect on your mistakes. For this reason, we’d recommend using screen recording software like those at https://www.gamersnexus.net/ to catch your replays. It’s easier to notice your mistakes when you’re not in the heat of the moment, and replays are perfect for this. Stay active, keep building your skill base, and soon you could be that guy your friends no longer want to play against because you’re too good.
