This post is about the differences between pro gamers and gamers. Professional gamers stand out with five skills. To make it to the top, you will need to master all of them. What are the crucial differences between a casual and a professional gamer?
Unlike casual gamers, pro gamers must use all their skills and senses to make decisions that affect themselves and their team. Due to unique competitive gaming situations, pro gamers develop and train additional senses rarely used in casual gaming.
This time we are not talking about the crucial mechanics as in the post:
FPS mechanics are the solid foundation for your success. But you can only make it to the top if you train the following skills (or senses) and constantly improve them.
Note: This article was written in English. Translations into other languages may not provide the same linguistic quality. We apologize for grammatical and semantic errors.
1. Timing for Reviving, Healing, or Fighting
Pro gamers know when to strike or be on the defensive. They can time their actions with the game’s timeline, which is usually a split second faster than those who are not pro gamers. If your teammate has gone down on his knees, then you have three options: Flee, Fight or Revive.
Outstanding players can estimate how risky a revive is. If the teammate is knocked, then a Pro Gamer feels if the opportunity for a revive is there or if the fight has to be taken first. Many factors play into this intuitive feeling.
- Where is the zone? Can the teammate be revived at all?
- Was the other player already knocked out before and therefore bleed out faster?
- How close are the opponents? Grenade range?
- Do you prefer to heal yourself first and then your teammate or vice versa?
They may also have to take measures (smoke grenades) to make reviving possible. They immediately recognize whether it is not more sensible to eliminate the threat first. If they take care of the enemy first, then they always have an eye on the team members’ life meter at the same time. Casual gamers quickly lose the overview in such a fiery situation.
2. Sense for Line of Sight (LoS)
Pro Gamers understand how long someone will take to reach them based on what’s in front of them and whether they’ll try and go around an obstacle. Pro players can sense where enemies are coming from before it happens, while others might see danger too late. Where casual gamers see an open field, a pro gamer knows from his map knowledge that there are ridges, dips, and small obstacles (fences, wrecks, walls, etc.) everywhere, all of which provide perfect cover. Casual gamers don’t expect anyone to work their way from cover to cover across an open field. A pro gamer knows exactly where the enemies are and how to move to be minimally visible before even crossing an open field.
3. Prediction of Enemy Movement
Pro gamers know that opponents will change directions sometimes when they can’t find a route around an obstacle or if they’re feeling pressured by you in some way. A pro will understand where the enemy might go and what they can do to fight back.
It’s a combination of what a pro gamer sees, for example, an opponent running to the left and what the game situation dictates. In a Battle Royale game, the movement of the zone is a factor that influences the running paths of an opponent.
In a shooter like CS:GO or Valorant, the turn time or the time until the bomb or spike’s detonation decides in which frame an opponent can still move. Of course, this becomes arbitrarily complex when multiple opponents pose a threat.
4. Aggressive Decisions Under Pressure
Pro gamers can make quick decisions when multiple enemies attack them or when the situation is changing quickly. Humans train processes to be able to call them up in extreme situations like a reflex without thinking.
Pro gamers have trained almost every game situation x times. And even if the specific game situation has never been there, the gamer has created a corresponding plan in his head in milliseconds and acts accordingly. There is always a concept within the possible game parameters, making the thinking process much more efficient.
This is an essential difference between casual and pro gamers.
While a casual gamer thinks about it, tries to include all factors in a plan, the pro gamer is already moving. Pro gamers use their superiority in decision-making and subsequent precise execution to make aggressive moves that catch opponents off guard. It can be a matter of a few hundred milliseconds at the highest level of esports that determine whether or not an aggressive decision catches the opponent off guard.
5. Calmness through Training and Experience
Pro gamers have a good understanding of game mechanics that let them know how long it’ll take to reload a gun, how many bullets they have left, whether they’ll die if they go around an obstacle or not, etc. Often you see highlight videos on Youtube of your favorite game, where so-called IQ-moves are shown. Much of this is only possible through a lot of training and experience.
Pro gamers always put themselves in the most extreme situations during training to be prepared for anything during competitive games. The training of stressful situations positively affects the medium term’s pulse and thus brings a significant serenity.
For casual gamers, the pulse increases in extreme situations. As a result, rational thinking is negatively influenced by feelings of stress. Wrong and hasty decisions are made, or they are executed imprecisely.
It isn’t easy to assess these qualities in various games because they’re developed differently, requiring different skills. For example, something as basic as attacking a player will differ from one game to another because of how the game is set up. It’s not just about the player’s choice of weapon or how fast they can click on the button, but also what happens after they attack someone.
The process starts much earlier for a pro gamer.
First, an opponent is seen. Then the entire situation is assessed. How is the opponent dressed, how armed, and what armor is he wearing? Is the opponent alone, or is it a team? Is everyone together, or is someone flanking?
Once that is clarified, then the opponent is targeted. Is the trigger pulled? A pro gamer always considers the current state of the game when making decisions? There are situations where it makes more sense to chase the opponent or wait until he gets involved in another fight.
At the right moment, the fire is opened. Now it’s a matter of. Aggressively rush in or rather wait and fight from a distance? What is the opponent doing now? Pro gamers have a keen sense of where opponents might be after a certain amount of time. They always have an imaginary map in their heads, so to speak, where teammates and opponents are located.
Suddenly the situation turns, and the pro gamer comes to the defense. Several opponents attack his position. Casual gamers would now get nervous and make mistakes. A Pro Gamer senses the Line of Sight (LoS) at all times, i.e., whether he can be seen by the opponent at the moment or not.
With the necessary composure and the knowledge of where the opponents might appear, he can keep an eye on all relevant angles and hide as well as possible. With this information, he can throw utilities like grenades in the right direction in time or reposition himself.
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How to Train These Skills?
As in classic sports, some players are blessed with unique genetic talent, and others can acquire a certain level with a lot of training. Still, others will never be able to learn the skills mentioned above. You’ll know if you have a knack for FPS games when you manage to anticipate your opponents’ movements. Or when you put yourself in extreme game situations (e.g., hotdrops) and realize that you are calmly taking the fights.
What does it take to become a pro? It’s a lot of factors that contribute to the success of a pro gamer. We mentioned some aspects in the post:
Any one of them could be considered the most important, but let’s add another three:
1. Professionality in Gameplay
With professional training and dedication, players can learn to control their emotions and make quick decisions under pressure. The willingness to learn from others is also enormously important. There is always someone better than you in detail.
2. Discipline for Training and Lasting Success
Like any sport or athletic endeavor, there is a certain amount of self-discipline involved in becoming a pro gamer. Many factors have to be considered when starting as an aspiring pro gamer.
3. Enjoyment in Playing
One of the main reasons a person chooses to become a pro gamer is because he’s passionate about playing video games.
If you are interested in how long it takes to get to a professional level in esport, we send you here to the post:
Conclusion
We have shown you the five most important FPS games skills you need to master to evolve from a casual gamer to a pro gamer. Depending on the game, there may be one or two more skills that make the difference between an average gamer and a pro gamer.
The journey to esport is not an easy one, but no one said it was, did they?
With the right attitude, lots of training, and a bag of other factors that we’ll tell you about in other posts, you can go this route. Time is playing for you because the esport landscape is growing all the time.
If you have a question about the post or pro gaming in general, write us: contact@raiseyourskillz.com.
GL & HF! Flashback out.
