How to Get Better at Gaming
Actually improving your gaming skill isn’t as easy as many guides might make it seem. How to get better at gaming is a project that takes a lot of work. Professional gamers spend at least 10 hours every day grinding, so you will have to do the same to improve. Something most guides neglect to tell you is how you should actually spend those hours.
Spending half your day playing video games won’t really do much to make you better unless you play with a purpose. If you spend enough time doing anything you’ll naturally develop some skill, but there are better ways to improve. While you’ll certainly need to dedicate plenty of hours if you’re committed to going from good to great, here are some ways to really make that time count.
Beat Games Multiple Times
It can be easy to move on from a game after running through the main story once, but you could gain a lot by completing it two, three, or four times. Obviously this only works with a game you enjoy playing, otherwise you’ll be miserable and build no new skills.
Some games, like Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4, have built-in hardcore modes that offer new challenges and create unique playing experiences. Even if you’ve beaten Fallout before, you may gain something by playing it differently.
Or you can take a game like Dark Souls, which is brutally difficult but only has one setting, and try out different character builds to see how it impacts your runs. Maybe you’ve beaten every Dark Souls game five times each as a longsword-wielding knight, but attempting to play as a sorcerer instead will give you a unique experience and you’ll be more skilled as a result.
Try this in as many games as possible. Some games are strictly one dimensional and don’t offer different difficulties or character variations, but really dive into the ones that do.
Complete 100% of a Game
In addition to beating the main plot of a game as many times as you can, take a handful of games and complete everything the game has to offer. An easy way to track this is through achievements or trophies. If you’ve earned 100% of awards, you’ve probably mastered the game.
Similarly to playing a game multiple times, this strategy forces you to employ and master game mechanics you might not be familiar with, thus making you a better gamer. Many games feature achievements that you wouldn’t come across playing naturally, so you’ll need to step out of your comfort zone and build new skills to earn them.
A particularly grueling example is the “My Kung Fu is Stronger” achievement in Mortal Kombat. To unlock it you have to spend 24 hours and earn 100 victories playing as each of the games 27 fighters. While this is ridiculously hard, attempting to earn it would force you to essentially master every character and learn their strengths and weaknesses, making you a significantly better Mortal Kombat player along the way.
Make Games Harder – On Purpose
Even outside of difficulty settings, all games have internal mechanisms that make them easier or harder. For example. Fortnite has weapon tiers that identify which guns are stronger than others. Grey guns are the weakest, and fully automatic guns are stronger than single fire. Try using a grey pistol – an objectively terrible weapon – and see if you can rack up kills.
Since you’re using a weaker, non-automatic weapon, you’ll be forced to improve your accuracy and building to make every shot count and take less damage. By intentionally handicapping yourself, you give yourself no choice but to get better at the game. After a few hours with your pistol, you’ll rip through opponents if you get your hands on a gold assault rifle.
This approach is similar to weight training in professional sports, so the logic applies beyond video games. Major league baseball players take practice swings with heavy “donuts” on their bats so when they get to the plate they’ll be able to swing a little more quickly. Put a virtual donut on your avatar for the same effect.
Study Up
Even when you’re not playing you can spend time getting better. While personal experience is always the best, you can learn a lot from watching or reading other players. YouTube and Twitch are overflowing with gameplay footage of skilled gamers who explain their tactics and provide tips, and there are hundreds of written guides for just about every popular game.
For more, see: How to Make Money on Twitch.
It may not seem ideal to essentially assign yourself homework for video games. At least with the other tactics you’re still playing and having fun yourself, right? But a little bit can go a long way, and it’s more likely than not that someone else has a slightly different perspective on a particular game than you.
