There is a skill set that every pro player has. Without having these specific skills, they couldn’t reach the top. You see, the difference between a good player and a bad player is not his aim, game sense, etc. It is more than that. It is his approach and attitude towards gaming that are stopping him to achieve greatness in this genre.
I’ve been closely watching pro players and monitoring their success. We can all say practice and blah blah. While it is true, there are a lot of people who put thousands of hours into practice and they are not even close in terms of achievements. So what is the difference?
Skills Every Gamer Should Have
1. Learning Skills
I would argue that good learning skills are the base for every good player. Good players always learn from every opportunity they can, from learning and studying your opponents in your 40 minutes competitive match to analyzing your gameplay mistakes and learning from them.
Learning from your or someone else’s mistakes is key when trying to be a good gamer. This requires high levels of focus and concentration to be effective, and it is every pro player’s bread and butter.
For example, let’s say you are playing CS:GO on Dust II on the T side. You push short on mid to A, and you die from double doors. You realize that they have an AWP (sniper) player on middle, and you play around with it for your advantage (push him aggressively from double doors, go to the other bomb site, etc.). This is just one example of this learning-heavy genre.
2. Self Reflection
Self-reflection is a skill that goes hand in hand with learning skills. Being able to self-reflect effectively and understand what went well and what went bad is critical. For example, it is easy to blame the game’s RNG (random number generator, or simply put, your luck in the game) on your loss. But the real strength is to realize that you should have played around that bad game’s RNG.
Without being fully aware of yourself and your mistakes, you will end on autopilot while gaming. As a result, you won’t be able to learn effectively from in-game experience.
For example, let’s say you are playing Warzone and dying to the gas (the zone). Of course, you can blame that zone, and it’s RNG. But being able to self-reflect and genuinely understand that maybe it did have RNG wasn’t optimal for you, but it was your job to rotate and play around it.
3. Communication Skills
This is a no-brainer in the team-based of competitive games and communication games. Without proper communication skills, you will be at a disadvantage. The ability to communicate effectively with your team is essential.
Listening to your teammate’s strategy, explaining your plans to the team, or even just playing with your team in a friendlier tone. All of these will eventually cause your game to be more fun and will increase your chances of winning.
4. Focus And Concentration
Focus and concentration is a skill that ties to learning skills. Without proper focus and concentration, you won’t be able to be aware of your mistakes and learn from them entirely. Furthermore, without adequate concentration, you won’t be able to develop that sharp game sense (How To Develop Pro Game Sense: Fastest Method) that we all so desperately desire.
Focusing on your game and paying attention to the details is very important. For example, minimap awareness, resources, opponent’s positions, etc. Without the proper focus, you won’t be able to pay enough attention, and your gameplay will suffer.
Check out How To Improve Your Focus While Gaming.
5. Patience and Perseverance
I’ve seen so many times my teammates die because of poor patience, whether it is not being able to hold an angle and wait for enemies patiently to shooting at enemies way too soon and exposing your position.
Patience is a skill that not many people talk about. The ability to tolerate delay and wait for a good opportunity is underrated. Make sure you are patient and not playing impulsively. You will get rewarded immensely.
6. Teamwork
As I said with communications skills, gaming is a team-based game. You only account for 20% of your team (team of five). Not being able to play with the other 80% efficiently and effectively will straight up put you at a disadvantage.
My way or the highway approach won’t get you far in team-based games. Teamwork is essential and is highly rewarded as well. Executing a good plan effectively with your teammates will lead to significant success.
That’s why people are so thrilled about playing with a full team. The teamwork is there, and they have a higher chance of winning than a team full of randoms.
7. Emotional Intelligence
Another vital skill which can highly impact your performance. The ability to understand your emotions and control them is critical when gaming on high levels. You can let tilt, anger, frustration or even stress impact your performance.
This is a place where even the best gamers fall. I said it before and I will say it again. Gaming has been proven that it is a cognitive sport [src]. If you can’t control your emotions
8. Critical Thinking
The ability to think rationally and analyze information that is given to you during gameplay should not be taken for granted. You get a ton of information just on your HUD. Your teammate’s position, your ammo count, zone position, and much more just by taking a glance at your HUD.
The ability to analyze that information to determine what is the next best move is critical (no pun intended).
9. Problem-Solving Skills
Problem-solving skill is another fundamental skill that will tremendously improve your gaming experience. Playing competitive games is often very challenging, and you will get into many situations that, maybe even unconsciously, it is your priority to get a solution. And fast.
For example, the zone pushes you, and you have to run. Where are you going to run to? You run out of ammo. How do you plan your route? There are many challenges during gaming and having problem-solving skills comes at a clutch.
What Makes A Great Gamer
A Good gamer is a gamer with the right traits and a good skillset. For example, a good gamer is a gamer with good learning and communication skills, has a high focus and concentration, and is a team player. Having a good aim level does not instantly make you a good gamer.
Many would argue that a great gamer is a gamer with a god game sense and aim. But they think backward. They have gotten to the point where you can say they have a god game sense and aim because they have the necessary traits for success in gaming.
You see, you can’t obtain high levels of game sense without good learning skills, self-reflection, good focus, etc. Because they had the proper traits and skillset, they could advance in the ranks.
Of course, for example, you might see a top 1% player with little to no emotional intelligence. And he is getting tilted often. But I can 100% say that he probably has many of the necessary skills to carry him, even with low levels of emotional intelligence.
Dedication
This is the second rule: practice and dedication. To be the best. You have to train like the best. It means that you have to aim train every day. You have to analyze your gameplay and watch professional players constantly. It means you must practice your mechanics and keep yourself sharp at all times.
Without dedication and commitment, you won’t get far.
Final Words
The essential skills that every gamer should have are good learning skills, good communication and teamwork skills, and the ability to stay focused and concentrated at all times. While there are many more vital skills, these are the basis for every good gamer.
