Body

Body: The ability of a gamer to press buttons, or otherwise act and react in a game.

Mechanics

Let’s focus on the mechanics of playing games. What do we mean when we say “mechanics?” Mechanics can be described as a player’s ability to move and interact within a game. For example, in fighting games, you are often required to perform several precise inputs to win. Mechanics are present in every video game ever, even in slower, turn-based games like Hearthstone. Mechanics can come in a variety of forms, so make sure you familiarize yourself with how your chosen game works and feels.

Actions in video games are subject to your hand-eye coordination, or your brain’s ability to receive information through your eyes and act on that information using your hands. Hand-eye coordination is a crucial element of the body since it helps build a gamer’s physical repertoire. When a gamer has a set list of moves that can be performed, they become like tools in a tool chest. With time, a gamer will learn to recognize which situations require certain tools to succeed. The physical ability to use these tools in a quick manner is known as “reactions.”

Reactions are key in gaming, since there’s no guarantee you get to act first. You have to be good at playing reactively as much as proactively in order to use your abilities to their fullest extent. Mastering the mechanics of your tools takes time and practice, but knowing you can perfectly do something under duress is crucial in competitive gaming. When gamers keep their composure and execute, they give themselves a better advantage than they would otherwise have.

Mastering mechanics and building reactions doesn’t happen overnight, though. Let’s take a look, now, at the process of mastering something.

Mastering Mastery

When you’re just starting to learn a game, the most important thing you can do early on is to learn how to physically move and perform actions. A majority of the first ten hours you spend in a game should focus on familiarizing yourself with the basic mechanics of that game. Once you learn how to move and do other things at the same time, then you can start trying to familiarize yourself with tougher mechanics.

You can only truly say you have “mastered” a mechanic of a game when you can perfectly execute that mechanic many times in a row. Regardless of how you learn about harder mechanics, whether by trying and failing it yourself or by seeing your favorite player do it, it is crucial that you keep practicing until you don’t have to think about the action.

This theory of mastering things is known as the Four Steps of Learning, shown here:

Let’s go through the steps together:

1. Unconscious Incompetence: You’re bad at something and you don’t even know it. You have no idea you’re doing something incorrectly, or that you could be doing something better. By default, everyone starts here with almost everything they learn.

2. Conscious Incompetence: You start to realize, “Hey, I’m bad at this.” Maybe that “this” is a difficult combo that you see someone else perform, or maybe it’s a trick or technique that someone uses against you. Whatever the case may be, you are aware of it, but you still can’t execute it or deal with it, so you start practicing.

3. Conscious Competence: You start to execute whatever you were struggling with. You find the help you need, whether from someone working with you one-on-one, or by finding a tutorial online, or even by copying other players until you get the gist of it. You still have to focus when it comes time to execute the action, but you can more-or-less get the job done. You keep practicing until you can do it perfectly several times in a row, until eventually you reach…

4. Unconscious Competence: You are truly a master at that skill. Where before you were unaware of the skill and how to execute it, you are now so familiar with it that you don’t even have to think much about doing it. You could do it in your sleep or while on the phone, you’re so sure of yourself. And you should be! You put in practice, and this is your reward!

Health and Safety Protocols

It’s crucial that you take care of your body if you plan on being a competitive gamer. Sure, it might sound weird, but you need to make sure your body is operating at peak efficiency if you want the best results. Taking steps to make sure you’re gaming safely and healthily can be rewarding in both how you feel and how you perform. Let’s take a look at some general tips together:

• Make sure you warm up your hands before you start gaming. Whether you mess around in a custom game or practice range, or play casual games, you want to make sure your hands are ready to play as much as you are.

• When gaming, try and keep your back straight as much as you can. You might lean towards or away from your screen and that’s fine, so long as you can catch yourself and recenter. You don’t want to sit too far away from whatever screen you’re using, particularly if it’s small, but try not to get much closer than two feet away.

• If you’re using a controller or a gamepad used for PC or Console gaming, hold it around the center of your stomach while extending your arms slightly outwards. We do this so that our body’s circulation can function normally without interruption. If you are too tense with your stance and your elbows are bent, your circulation will be cut off somewhat, so your body will have to work harder to get blood where it needs to go. For gaming, this means that your arms will get tired quicker, or else will be cold, and you might find it hard to focus after a while due to fatigue.

• When playing, try to keep your arms spread out and your neck straight, as having a crooked neck for too long can potentially cause discomfort, fatigue, and even pain.

• Generally, you should only play games non-stop for a maximum of 2 hours at a time, followed by a half hour, no-technology break. If you play for too long, you can get screen fatigue, where your eyes and brain start hurting, and you’ll be doing more damage if you keep playing. As a general rule, you shouldn’t force yourself to play games if you’re tired or in pain. Make sure you drink plenty of water (sugary drinks like Gatorade don’t count; you need good, old-fashioned H2O) and take an occasional snack break.