You are putting in the work. You’ve read my aim training guide. You are developing a pro game sense. You are on the right track. But, you notice that the more you play, the worse you get. And that is a huge bummer. You are really trying to get better. You are doing everything right. Why is this happening?
Mental
The reason you are getting worse the more you play, is in your head. It is probably mental and you might be burned out on your game. You might be playing too much and your body and brain need a break. You might be tilted. You might be too cocky. Let’s go one by one.
You Might Be Burned Out
You probably notice, that after taking a break, you come back better than ever. You are sharper, your decision-making is better. Your aim is on point. Everything is just better. It motivates you even more, so you keep practicing, keep training. But it is too much for you. Of course, I am talking unconsciously. You want to play the game, of course. But unconsciously, you are burned out and can’t be bothered with playing anymore.
How to fix this? Well, it’s easy. Just play less. Don’t play too many competitive games in a row. Take breaks. They are necessary for your improvement and mood. If you are doing bad in-game, exit. Do something else for a while. Don’t get tilted. It really hurts your performance.
You Are Too Confident
This is me in a nutshell. I am training for 15 minutes and I think I am TenZ. But seriously, after practicing and putting in the work. You notice results. You like it. Your confidence grows, but you are getting too cocky. You underestimate your opponents, you make stupid mistakes, etc. This happens way too often, and it often happens unconsciously, so it is harder to pin point. Make sure to notice the nature of your mistakes. Are you just too confident?
How to fix this? Analyze the reason for your deaths. Take a hard look at your mistakes. Are they happening because you are too aggressive, are you underestimating your opponents?
You Are Not Focused
You might not be focused. This can be due to family issues, money stuff, or anything that is not related specifically to the game, that causes anxiety. It makes your mind wander, and you play worse, as a result. It can be just because you don’t know how to force yourself to focus on the game.
How to fix this? Start by reading on How To Improve Your Focus While Gaming. It goes over the science of focus, and how to strengthen it. It may solve your problems and improve your gameplay.
You Are Too Harsh On Yourself
Bad days happen. Sometimes a bad week can happen. We are humans and this is natural. Sometimes we are up, sometimes we are down. That’s okay. Learn to accept it and realize that you can’t top frag every game. You can’t carry your team every game. Realize it’s not a sprint. It is a marathon. Take a look at the big picture. You are improving. You can’t have a 100% win rate or 100% good games. It’s totally human.
How to fix this? You can’t change the outcome. You can only change your attitude toward that outcome. Realize it is totally normal to perform better or worse on some days. You should look at your average. That’s what’s important.
SBMM / EOMM
SBMM stands for skill-based match making. EOMM stands for engagement-optimized matchmaking. Basically, these are systems that are designed to match you with players at your skill level. Sounds great on paper, but horrible in practice. I will not get into why these systems are bad, but, a blog post is on the way.
Anyways, imagine playing Warzone and totally crushing the lobby. You get 20 kills and you are proud of yourself. You are the elite of the lobby. Therefore, the game says, oh okay, he is a pro player. Let’s match him with sweats, tryhards, TTV, tktok, you get the idea. And you get totally smashed. This is SBMM in a nutshell. It is so extreme, that after a good game, you will get a bad one. So if you are playing a game with an SBMM or EOMM system, you might be just getting better opponents. You are not worse after all. You are just facing a greater challenge.
Conclusion
So, why the more you play, the worse you get?
- You Might Be Burned Out – Take a break, let yourself rest.
- You Are Too Confident – You play too aggressively after a few good matches.
- You Are Not Focused – When you are not focused, you play worse and tend to make more mistakes.
- You Are Too Harsh On Yourself – Bad days happen. It’s okay.
- You Are Facing Greater Opponents – You are getting better!.
Photo by Fredrick Tendong on Unsplash
