Abstract
eSports is a rapidly growing phenomenon in competitive gaming. Expertise is an interesting topic to study in relation to eSports, as eSports athletes are considered among the most highly-skilled players of their particular games. Examining expertise not only advances the understanding of what skills compose professional play but enables a deeper study of learning in games; before learning processes are studied, it is important to detail what learning these processes should produce. This study examines expertise through the application of thematic analysis to a series of interviews with professional players of the eSports game, Overwatch. The goal of this study is to identify which skills are perceived to be important to professional-level play by professional players. Two overarching themes were identified, game sense and mechanics. A number of sub-themes were identified as important, including survival, anticipation / prediction, communication, thoughtfulness, aim, ability usage, movement and positioning, and team-based mechanical synergies.
Highlights
An expert is a person with above average ability, talent, or knowledge (Kirschner & Williams, 2013)
Thematic analysis resulted in the following themes and subthemes: 1. Game Sense: Survival, Anticipation / Prediction, Communication, Thoughtfulness 2
Game Sense – Subthemes: Survival, Anticipation / Prediction, Communication, Thoughtfulness. Game sense as it relates to video games is a term that is not defined in the academic literature, but frequently used in competitive video game culture. ioStux (2017), a German Overwatch coach and YouTube streamer, defines game sense as an awareness of the current game state
Summary
An expert is a person with above average ability, talent, or knowledge (Kirschner & Williams, 2013). Substantially less focus has been given to the study of expertise in games and research on expertise in esports is still in its infancy. As researchers study the composition of expertise within a particular esport, they gain an understanding of the aspects which need to be mastered in order to be considered an expert. Once understood, these aspects enable the study of the processes required to develop that expertise, and allow for cross-game and crossdomain study of the aspects and processes to better situate esports and players within the greater body of expertise research
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