Core Skill Sets

What are core skills in eSports?

eSports is gaining popularity at all levels of education as it easily cultivates and grows core skills that are transferable to further studies and employment.

Some of those core skills are:

• Decision Making
• Multi-tasking
• Problem Solving
• Critical Thinking
• Communication
• Team Collaboration
• Numeracy and Literacy

Self-management

No matter what industry or role you are in, self-management is a critical workplace skill.

What is self-management?

Self-management is our ability to adapt and manage our behaviours and thoughts in a productive way. If someone has strong self-management skills, then they will be able to adapt positively in different situations. For instance, if you are a coach of a player who loses their cool and gets angry when they lose a game you need to help them manage these emotions and not lose focus.

From a wider context, self-management is crucial to the success of an organisation. For example, imagine if people could not adapt when a technical issue arose during an eSports event. The whole event could be jeopardised. Organisations need team players who can stay on task and adapt to changing situations.

Some examples of self-management skills

• Time management
• Decision making
• Reliability
• Stress management
• Self-motivation
• Being organised
• Accountability
• Initiative

To be elite or an expert in any discipline, you will need to have honed your self-management skills. This skill development is also important for eSports. However, you have to reflect, plan and make time for the development of these skills.

Watch: What is Time boxing? (3:24 minutes)

To get your strategy started, watch this short explanation about timeboxing and apply time boxing to your Portfolio Checkpoint research, summarising, referencing and creating a self-management strategy plan.

Transferable skills 

Transferable skills are core skills that have a variety of uses in a variety of roles or industries. Examples include critical thinking, adaptability, leadership, teamwork and more. These skills could have been learned at school, at home or through the screen of your computer! Take being in a strategy game – adaptability will be used every time you scout an opponent's board or judge what they might be doing next. The player needs to adapt their game plan to come out on top and take the dub otherwise it could end up costing you the match. 

 A great example of a game that revolves around adaptability is Teamfight Tactics (TFT).

You constantly need to change your game plan based around what others have done in the game. It is a fight to the death to have the strongest late game board that will outclass or simply counter your opponent's boards.  

Hard skills vs. Soft skills 

The main difference between soft and hard skills is how they are obtained and applied.

Soft skills are commonly referred to as people skills, these are skills that are developed throughout your life – some examples being communication and teamwork. Even as a child you learned how to communicate and work with others and as you got older, you got more and more experience of it.

Hard skills, however, are learned through education or hands-on experience. These abilities are more easily measured and have more specific uses – such as proof-reading, or they could be things such as coding or technical skills. Soft and hard skills are very valuable for careers in eSports and any industry.  

eSports Coach roles and skill sets 

A coach's role in its simplest form is to be a lever of improvement. eSports coaches are there to get the most out of the players and to teach them concepts and strategies. Being a good coach often requires strong soft skills as the way they interact with players will positively impact the way players listen and take on feedback.

Anyone know the feeling of being motivated to clean your room, but your parent comes and says, “Why is your room such a mess!?” Suddenly, your motivation has vanished, and you feel resentment for what you now need to complete. Well, this is exactly what a coach does not want to happen and shows the importance of soft skills.

Coaches will directly teach you hard skills related to your game – such as wave management or how to set up a flank using the soft skills they have developed throughout their life and career, showing the importance of these skills for coaches. 

Training and coaching in eSports work a little differently than in sports. For example, in tennis, you may have a training session that is purely focused on working on your serve, or your backhand. However, in eSports, the main form of training is by having scrims with other teams and then VOD (Video On Demand) reviewing these scrims by going over them in depth.  

eSports Player roles and skill sets 

Depending on the game and the players on a team, players have different roles and bring different things to the table. There may be an in-game leader who helps drive the game forward, or a player who focuses on how to get around the map and make the most of positioning. While some players may excel in a specific environment, it is important to note that another may falter. This shows the importance of players having the core skills to maximise their potential within a team. One of the most important skills a player can have is self-awareness. This is because when players are aware of their abilities, whether in-game or out-of-game, they can use that to their advantage. 

Communication is key to success in eSports. Communication is more than just talking to your teammates within the game, it's also about understanding how to deal with any difficulties you may face in the future and how to overcome them. This enables trust and creates a positive environment – both inside and outside of the game which will drive your team to being sustainably competitive.   

Stress is part of everyday life. It is not always negative. However, it is essential to develop stress management techniques as part of your core skill set, especially in eSports's exciting but sometimes high-pressured world.

Mindfulness 

Mindfulness can easily be part of you perceive and deal with life. Being present is vital.

Take one minute to yourself and pay attention to what is going on around you, focus on your breathing and how you are feeling. How does this make you feel?  

Watch: Why mindfulness is a superpower (2:43 minutes)

When watching this video, think about how mindfulness could help you when tilting in-game, or when communicating with others in a stressful situation:

Being mindful has huge implications for how you manage your day-to-day life. Even something such as living in the moment can help you create lifelong memories or accept and be mindful of what you can and cannot do, will help you not overload yourself with work and share the load – all things that will help you navigate life.  

Guided meditation or breathing exercises

Meditation and breathing have been used for thousands of years to calm and centre people and to relieve anxiety and stress. There are many types of meditation, most of which can be done in groups in almost any setting and with very little equipment. You can find many guided meditations on YouTube or download a meditation app.

Listen: Guided Meditation for Gamers (6:41 minutes)

Try and take 7 minutes out of your day and try this guided meditation made especially for gamers.

The ability to keep doing a task despite the difficulty demonstrates perseverance. As an eSports player you will have to train yourself in tough situations. You can also expect your determination and capacity for failure will be tested all the time. You can either decide to forfeit, surrender and leave by stopping the challenging training, or you could bring your A-game and always try your best to learn from failure for future scenarios.

Never give up is not a cliche: DRX’s Deft Cinderella story

Speaking of perseverance to success, not many know it better than legendary League of Legends player Deft. After a 10 year long career, Deft finally managed to get his hands on the most prized possession for professional League of Legends players – the World Championship trophy known as the Summoner’s Cup. Deft began his career in 2013 and made it to the world championship seven different times, in five different teams. However, it was not until the 2022 World Championship that this goal would become reality, lifting the trophy with his team DRX while being huge underdogs the whole way through their journey – having to beat last year's World Champions EDG, LCK Champions GENG and the dominant T1 who quickly became tournament favourites, on their way to winning the Summoner’s Cup - perhaps the greatest run in League of Legends history.

Watch: DRX Deft Career Highs and Lows- 3:32 minutes

To better show how hard Deft worked towards this goal, the following video shows the highs and lows of his career. As you watch, think about how often he was tested and counted out, always falling short at the World Championship, yet here he is – hoping his 7th time is the charm.

Watch: DRX Deft finally wins - (2:28-3:28 minutes)

In this translated interview right after DRX won, take note of what Deft says in his interview and explain how you believe he showed perseverance.