Caption: There’s no substitute for putting in the practice
Striving to be better is a great quality to have, particularly if you can extend it into your free time too. Plenty of people would always pin gaming as their number one hobby, but becoming the number one at gaming? Now that’s a different story. Gaming is such a popular pastime as it’s just so diverse, there’s a title that almost everybody in the world could enjoy. Whilst one person might be quite content to fritter away half an hour looking after a virtual farm, another gamer might prefer diving headfirst into an action-packed shoot-em-up. Becoming the best gamer in the world is far too difficult a goal, but becoming better at the games you really love is totally achievable. Here’s how.
Learn the Lingo
Learning the jargon behind whichever game you play is essential if you want to make it higher up the levels. For example, in the world of iGaming, the phrase RTP slots has a very simple meaning, despite many people believing it refers to the volatility of an online slot machine. The answer is actually far simpler, it stands for the return to player ratio. Similarly, many people don’t know all of the abbreviations for shoot-em-up games like Call of Duty, did you know that ADS stood for Aiming Down Sites? Or that GA stands for Gentleman’s Agreement? There are abbreviations and unusual terms in all different kinds of games and making sure that you’re aware of them will help you to better understand the game.
Practice Makes Perfect
There’s no substitute for putting the work in and that goes for hobbies too. People who do gymnastics, or play football as a hobby will spend more than just the time in competitions working on their skills. They’ll attend training, look after their diet and unleash their best on competition day. If you really want to kick your gaming up a gear then making sure you’re getting in plenty of practice is essential. Esports gamers tend to practice for around eight hours each day, which is what gives them that competitive edge. Although most people don’t have eight hours to devote to their hobby, carving out half an hour each evening to practice in will give you guaranteed results.
Work Out Those Reflexes
Depending on the style of gaming you prefer, you might find that some of your skills need a little more work than others. Those who enjoy fast-paced games that rely on you reacting quickly might see their skills plateau after a stint of practice. If this is the case for you then consider focusing on individual skills that will help you to improve. In this style of gaming you’d need great reflexes to improve, so training your reflexes individually might help you make those percentage point increases. There are lots of different reaction and reflex tests online that with a little bit of practice you’ll start to see results with. Build this individual skills training into your weekly regime and before long you’ll surely see your performance improve on your favourite games.
Upgrade Your Kit
Caption: Not everybody can afford a brand new gaming rig, but you can upgrade what you have to make big changes for less money
If all of the above are sounding a little bit too much like hard work then there’s always the slightly cheeky way of improving. A kit improvement can make a big difference to performance as long as you know your stuff. Just like the football analogy, a footballer who was trying to perform their best in a woolly jumper and jeans would have their results massively improved by switching to a streamlined kit. In the same way, if you’re trying to play a high-spec game on an ancient PC then you’re unwittingly handicapping yourself. Spend a little time learning about the type of monitor you might need for gaming, or the benefits of using an ergonomic mouse and you might surprise yourself. Not everyone can afford an off-the-shelf gaming PC, but making tweaks to what you already have could dramatically improve its performance and therefore yours too.
