I Suck At Video Games

It’s 2022, and gaming has never been more popular than it is today.

Globally, gaming is becoming a bigger and bigger influence on our daily lives, hobbies, and social circles.

And there’s one area of gaming that’s booming in particular, Esports

The small internet cafe venues are being exchanged for big stages, and the small crowd of 10 curious gamers in the back is being swapped out for thousands and thousands of fans

It’s no question that this global pressure of competition is influencing the games we all love and play today

Players get better

Games get harder

Players find better ways to practice and learn

And while alot of players strive to become the best at whatever game it is that they’re playing, it’s easy to start questioning your own skills

And let me explain why that actually isn’t such a bad thing

Acknowledge That You Suck

The first step to get better in games today, or anything in life really, is to acknowledge that you suck.

By acknowleding that you suck at games, you can start to improve on the things that makes you ask such questions in the first place.

So good job to you for saying this out loud. We can now move on to the next step, which is equally important in your quest to become a better gamer

Identifying Reasons Why You Suck

Why do you say “I suck at games”? Is it because you have a bad KDA? Does a particular player consistently beat you heads up every time? Or maybe you just had a bad day, and this in turn makes you question your own skills?

To identify the reason, there’s a few questions you can ask yourself:

“What type of game do I play?” Think FPS, RTS, arena, MOBA

“What makes this game difficult?” Is it aimbased, do you have to make fast decisions?

“What sets me apart from the best players in the game?” Watch twitch or youtube. Just observe the good players for a little while. Try to identify what they do well

Great.

Working Through The Reasons

Now that you’ve identified and found some practical reasons, you can begin to work on those

For the first question you need to understand how the genre works. Whatever the genre is, you need to understand the win condition.

The win condition is a particular concept within a game that lets you take home the win. A game can have several win conditions.

The win condition should be your number 1 priority at all times. This is also why focus is so important.

A win condition in League of Legends could be:

You have a champion with a long CC (3 seconds) ability on your team.

1 specific win condition for your team in this game is to catch their carry and shut him down for 3 seconds. This allows your team to catch up on him and get a big lead.

Knowing and understanding this win condition lets you play around it. It’s a simple concept that doesn’t take much effort, it just requires you to focus on this 1 thing.

Now, it may not be easy as this, but there’s more win conditions during the game, and they might change around alot. It’s your job to identify the win conditions. Perhaps by knowing the weaknesses of certain champions, and exploiting those.

Next question

“What makes this game difficult?”

The answer to this question could be many. Maybe its reactionbased and favors whoever has the better reactionspeed, or maybe it’s a teamgame, where you need to work together with your teammates to accomplish the win.

Games usually have alot of dynamics that make it difficult, and noone masters all of them unless they’re some 1 in a billion prodigy.

Just because you suck at 1 thing in the game, doesn’t mean you cant make up for it in another way.

This is important to remember before you question yourself again. As a person you bring many different qualities into a game, and it’s rarely only about 1 specific mechanic.

Maybe its your positive attitude that lifts up the team spirit and increases your chances of winning

Maybe it’s your communication that’s precise and to the point, enabling your teammates to do well

Or maybe it’s just your ability to notice small details in the way an enemy is playing, and exploit those

The last question is this

“What sets me apart from the best players in the game?”

If you can answer this question again and again, then you can adapt and improve quickly. You need to watch good players in tournaments if possible, and you need to play against players who are slightly better than you whenever you can.

Getting Better

You’ve identified the win conditions in your game. This could mean that you’ve gotten wiser or more experience in the game.

You’ve identified your strengths and weaknesses. It’s time to remember those whenever you enter a new game so you can utilize that to the best of your ability. Try not to haunt yourself with too much negative self-talk such as “I suck at games”, instead focus on having an attitude that lets you improve and see positives.

You’re watching good players regularly and focusing on trying to understand what it is that sets them apart.

Is it their ability to work together in a team, their aim skills, decision-making, communication or something else?

GL, and most importantly, HF!