Gaming: How To Give Yourself A Competitive Advantage

2 min


red xbox one game controller

Online gaming can be fun, but if you’re losing every time you step into the digital arena, then the novelty will soon wear off. Alas, with thousands of people playing, anyone who just shows up is likely to get trounced. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to give yourself a competitive advantage and increase your chances of coming out on top. In this post, we’ll outline some tried-and-tested methods for improving your gaming performance.

Create the Right Environment

How you play will be influenced, in part, by where you play. Your environment will influence your focus, concentration, and range of motion, all of which can make a small but critical difference to your gameplay. At the bare minimum, you’ll need a clean and clear space — chaotic spaces tend to clutter our minds, making it more difficult to hit a flow state. From there, the sky’s the limit. Investing in a great gaming setup will focus your mind and be more comfortable, allowing you to play for hours without sinking into physical pain. No one regrets buying a cushy gaming chair!

Do Your Research

Most gamers dive straight into their chosen game, and hope they’ll just figure things out as they go along. But there’s value in taking the time to really understand a game, either before you begin playing or while you’re still in the early stages of your gaming journey. You’ll find a wealth of information and resources online that can help to give you a solid foundation of the basics, and all you have to do is read or watch them. A gamer looking to play roulette or poker, both relatively complex games, will play better if they’ve had casino games explained to them. While you could also argue that reading or watching an in-depth tutorial is outright essential for challenging games such as Dwarf Fortress.

Mix Up Your Opponents

Playing online games with your friends can be fun, but try to avoid making them the only people you play against. If you do, then you may get too used to their playing style. This can be effective for winning the games you play against your friends, but it’ll limit you when you come to take on other gamers. Mixing up your opponents will allow you to diversify your strategies and all-around improve. Just be mindful of playing against gamers who play at a level several above your own; they’ll likely bamboozle you so much that you’re unsure of what’s going on. The best strategy is to play against opponents who are slightly better than you.

Identify Your Weak Points

You’ll have weak points in your game, and that’s fine. All gamers have them! It’s not the presence of gaming weaknesses that’s the issue. It’s knowing what they are that counts. Spending a bit of time reviewing your performance will help you identify what you’re doing well, what you’re doing poorly, and what you’re not doing at all. It’ll give you something to work on moving forward. Indeed, tightening up your weaknesses is probably the easiest and fastest way to level up your gaming performance.

Pure Practice

It’s an obvious one, but we have to include ‘practice’; after all, it’s far and away the best strategy for improving your gaming performance. There is simply no substitute; the more you play, the better you’ll become. The only caveat we’d add is that it’s important to have focused play. If you can engage in gameplay fully focused for more than most people, then you’ll end up coming out on top. It’s all about digging deep and putting the hours in!


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Nick Guli

Nick Guli is a writer at Explosion.com. He loves movies, TV shows and video games. Nick brings you the latest news, reviews and features. From blockbusters to indie darlings, he’s got his take on the trends, fan theories and industry news. His writing and coverage is the perfect place for entertainment fans and gamers to stay up to date on what’s new and what’s next.
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