How Skill is Currently Developed for the Average Gamer
Let's start by looking at how skill is currently developed for the average gamer. The journey typically begins in childhood, where gamers learn the basics of navigating a digital world and develop the physical ability to manipulate a controller or keyboard and mouse to produce desired in-game results.
Gaming is primarily treated as a pastime and source of entertainment. There is little deliberate practice of specific skills. For instance, a new player might take four times longer than needed to mine for resources and build a house in Minecraft.
Over time, as familiarity with moving around in a digital world and performing actions grows, there is a shift in the types of games that appeal to gamers. For many, the focus moves from platformers and games without time or performance constraints to online multiplayer games, many of which are competitive in nature. This shift happens naturally as kids develop their social skills and gaming becomes a more social activity.
Mechanical skill and game knowledge suddenly become significantly more important. Rapidly performing actions in-game and making the right decisions often determines whether the game is won or lost. Players often find themselves in pools with significantly more experienced and skilled players, making success seem almost impossible at times. Yet, for those who persist, success gradually becomes more attainable, reinforcing the notion of playing to improve.
Players repeatedly engage in the core game loop, watch streams and YouTube videos to learn more about game knowledge and basic tactics. After around 1000 hours of play, a player might feel fairly skilled and able to hold their own within their current matchmaking tier.
It's important to remember that to reach this point, players must endure countless losses, toxicity, and other challenges, all of which they must power through on their own.
Comparing Skill Development to Traditional Sports
If we compare this to skill development in traditional sports, which have benefited from decades of improvement, we see a very different approach. Our gaming example would be akin to players not attending any practice but instead showing up individually or in small groups to play at the park, tasked with figuring everything out on their own. Sometimes they would play against much stronger players, and other times they would easily defeat their opposition. There would be no training, no coach for guidance, no backyard practice, and no encouragement of deliberate practice. Yet, over time, their ability and understanding of the sport would improve until they reach a comfortable skill level, affording them some success.
This type of talent development would not be acceptable in traditional sports, even though there would be exceptions—individuals who naturally push themselves and go the extra mile, ending up head and shoulders above the rest. In gaming, these are our modern-day esports professionals.
Just as we have found better ways to build skill and proficiency across multiple sports, we now have the opportunity in esports. So, what changes are needed to speed up the skill development process in games and esports?
Reducing the Time to Skill Mastery in Esports
If it currently takes 1000 hours of gaming to reach a certain benchmark level of skill, what can we introduce to reduce that to, say, 750 hours?
Eliminating Pointless Play Hours
Effective Playtime: Ensure that hours spent playing are used as well as possible. Players should recognize why they are playing and stop when their playtime is not meeting expectations. Good rules of thumb include not playing past midnight and avoiding extended periods of play beyond three hours due to physical and mental fatigue.
Introduce Deliberate Practice
Focused Training: Core gaming mechanics like movement, aim, or other skills analogous to dribbling or cardio in traditional sports should be deliberately trained through focused repetitions.
Promote Intentional Play
Goal-Oriented Sessions: Encourage players to be conscious about why they are playing. If playing for fun, play towards having fun. If playing to improve, focus on improvement. Success should be judged by whether the player improved, not by the number of wins.
Provide Guidance and Access to Game Knowledge
Educational Content: Encourage players to consume content that enhances their game knowledge. Understanding tactics like right-hand peeking in shooters or input buffering in MOBAs or fighting games is crucial.
Build Effective Habits and Routines
Healthy Gaming Practices: Emphasize the importance of mental and physical health, fulfilling other life duties before gaming, and warming up before the first game of the day. These habits are likely to produce more success in the game.
With these practices in place, we at the ECA firmly believe that players would achieve higher skill levels and enjoy each hour of play more compared to someone spending 1000 hours just playing through the core game loop repeatedly.
Making These Changes Happen
Now the question is, how can we implement these changes? Is producing YouTube videos enough, or do we need the power of a coach to make these changes happen? We at the ECA know where we stand, but what are your thoughts?
How Skill is Currently Developed for the Average Gamer
Let's start by looking at how skill is currently developed for the average gamer. The journey typically begins in childhood, where gamers learn the basics of navigating a digital world and develop the physical ability to manipulate a controller or keyboard and mouse to produce desired in-game results.
Gaming is primarily treated as a pastime and source of entertainment. There is little deliberate practice of specific skills. For instance, a new player might take four times longer than needed to mine for resources and build a house in Minecraft.
Over time, as familiarity with moving around in a digital world and performing actions grows, there is a shift in the types of games that appeal to gamers. For many, the focus moves from platformers and games without time or performance constraints to online multiplayer games, many of which are competitive in nature. This shift happens naturally as kids develop their social skills and gaming becomes a more social activity.
Mechanical skill and game knowledge suddenly become significantly more important. Rapidly performing actions in-game and making the right decisions often determines whether the game is won or lost. Players often find themselves in pools with significantly more experienced and skilled players, making success seem almost impossible at times. Yet, for those who persist, success gradually becomes more attainable, reinforcing the notion of playing to improve.
Players repeatedly engage in the core game loop, watch streams and YouTube videos to learn more about game knowledge and basic tactics. After around 1000 hours of play, a player might feel fairly skilled and able to hold their own within their current matchmaking tier.
It's important to remember that to reach this point, players must endure countless losses, toxicity, and other challenges, all of which they must power through on their own.
Comparing Skill Development to Traditional Sports
If we compare this to skill development in traditional sports, which have benefited from decades of improvement, we see a very different approach. Our gaming example would be akin to players not attending any practice but instead showing up individually or in small groups to play at the park, tasked with figuring everything out on their own. Sometimes they would play against much stronger players, and other times they would easily defeat their opposition. There would be no training, no coach for guidance, no backyard practice, and no encouragement of deliberate practice. Yet, over time, their ability and understanding of the sport would improve until they reach a comfortable skill level, affording them some success.
This type of talent development would not be acceptable in traditional sports, even though there would be exceptions—individuals who naturally push themselves and go the extra mile, ending up head and shoulders above the rest. In gaming, these are our modern-day esports professionals.
Just as we have found better ways to build skill and proficiency across multiple sports, we now have the opportunity in esports. So, what changes are needed to speed up the skill development process in games and esports?
Reducing the Time to Skill Mastery in Esports
If it currently takes 1000 hours of gaming to reach a certain benchmark level of skill, what can we introduce to reduce that to, say, 750 hours?
Eliminating Pointless Play Hours
Effective Playtime: Ensure that hours spent playing are used as well as possible. Players should recognize why they are playing and stop when their playtime is not meeting expectations. Good rules of thumb include not playing past midnight and avoiding extended periods of play beyond three hours due to physical and mental fatigue.
Introduce Deliberate Practice
Focused Training: Core gaming mechanics like movement, aim, or other skills analogous to dribbling or cardio in traditional sports should be deliberately trained through focused repetitions.
Promote Intentional Play
Goal-Oriented Sessions: Encourage players to be conscious about why they are playing. If playing for fun, play towards having fun. If playing to improve, focus on improvement. Success should be judged by whether the player improved, not by the number of wins.
Provide Guidance and Access to Game Knowledge
Educational Content: Encourage players to consume content that enhances their game knowledge. Understanding tactics like right-hand peeking in shooters or input buffering in MOBAs or fighting games is crucial.
Build Effective Habits and Routines
Healthy Gaming Practices: Emphasize the importance of mental and physical health, fulfilling other life duties before gaming, and warming up before the first game of the day. These habits are likely to produce more success in the game.
With these practices in place, we at the ECA firmly believe that players would achieve higher skill levels and enjoy each hour of play more compared to someone spending 1000 hours just playing through the core game loop repeatedly.
Making These Changes Happen
Now the question is, how can we implement these changes? Is producing YouTube videos enough, or do we need the power of a coach to make these changes happen? We at the ECA know where we stand, but what are your thoughts?