How does it feel to be on stage with thousands of people in the crowd, either cheering for or against you? Most people think mostly of all the technical aspects of gaming, means KidArctica in her feature article at SK-Gaming. With the help of the top WarCraft III player 4K.Grubby and two sports psychologists, this article goes in-depth about the pressure gamers can experience.
Everybody must have done something under pressure in your life. Whether it was a sports event, a school exam or taking the drivers test you know that it is really tough to handle the pressure. Imagine this scenario; you are playing the most important tournament in your life, thousands of spectators are there either cheering for or against you. You can be seen on television where expert commentators discuss every move you do, on forums all over the community people have posted their beliefs on how and if you are to succeed in the tournament. How to handle that pressure?
KidArctica at the WC3- and CS-based site » SK-Gaming.com has interviewed 
4K.Grubby about this, and has also been in contact with two sports phsychologists.
Grubby about the "Lose-Lose Situation"
Compared to real sports, there is the exact same pressure on the players. To have what it takes does not only concern the technical issue of how high APM you have, how good strategies you have come up with - it is also the mental aspect which is almost as important when playing in the big leagues.
As the underdog - the challenger - in a tournament where nobody is expecting you to win, you can pretty much focus on simply the game without any huge pressure on you. But what happens when you are all of the sudden the considered best player in every tournament you take part in? This turns into a lose-lose situation. "If he or she wins, it is not considered exceptional, just expected. A loss, on the other hand, means failure." writes KidArctica.
[s]event_wcg[/s]Grubby, the World Cyber Games 2004 WarCraft III champion is a player who definitely can agree to this. "When I read that people already expect me to win, I have to be very careful not to believe in it. I have to keep telling myself that a win is not easily assumed like that." says Grubby. He also say that after each tournament win the satisfaction will get and instead just another achievement in his merit list.
Love the game and do the right training
Speaking with JoAnn Dahlkoetter and Simon Timson, both sports psychologists, KidArctica brings up a lot of ther issues regarding the mental aspect of playing computer games. They state that is is important to train the right way. One of the points they bring up is to "Vary your workouts" where they say that renewing your enthusiasm by doing something else like some other game or inline skating, swimming or something else is really important. "You'll get a tremendous psychological boost and probably not lose any of your fitness level." writes Dahlkoetter. It is also very important to love the game, have the desire to achieve something, hard work through discipline and the ability to handle adversity.
Doing the right training, or do Hexatron Dream Team need another kind
of training program? The sport psychologists in this feature would most
likely think the latter.
Playing the big leagues
If you do not agree with this feature article, it is most likely that you are on a totally different level of gaming. Remember that in Korea where most big leagues are at, things are at much a higer stake. Think of the statement Boxer said after his win against JulyZerg - he sat down and trained with discipline and played 70 matches in one day. This feature brings up a lot of interesting facts, tips and thoughts from KidArctica herself, the top WC3 player Grubby and the expertise of the two sports psychologists.
Links
SK-Gaming.com - a feature article about the psychological aspects of eSports