For many gamers, playing competitively is simply a hobby. You might spend a few evenings each week playing your favourite games with friends, climbing the rankings and trying to improve your skills. But what if you want to take the next step and compete in an Esports tournament?
The good news is that you don’t necessarily need to be a professional gamer, have an established reputation or belong to a major organisation to get started. There are plenty of routes into competitive gaming, although reaching the highest level requires dedication, discipline and plenty of practice.
If you’re a regular gamer, then you may have bet on Esports in the past or at the very least taken some sort of interest. But if you’re starting to consider competing in tournaments yourself, we’ve got some advice on how to make that dream a reality.
Choose Your Game
The first step is deciding which game you want to compete in. While you might enjoy several different titles, concentrating on one game will give you a much better opportunity to develop your skills.
Popular competitive games include titles such as Counter-Strike 2, League of Legends, Dota 2, VALORANT, Fortnite, EA Sports FC and Rocket League. Each has its own competitive scene, tournament structure and skill requirements.
Ideally, choose a game you already enjoy playing. You will be spending a considerable amount of time practising, so there is little point choosing a title simply because it has a large prize pool.
Improve Your Skills
Being good at a game casually is very different from being competitive.
Once you’ve chosen your game, start studying it properly. Learn the maps, mechanics, strategies and popular tactics used by better players. Watch professional matches and streams to understand how top competitors approach situations that you regularly encounter.
You should also analyse your own performances. Recording matches can help you identify mistakes that you may not notice while playing.
Most importantly, practise consistently. You don’t necessarily need to play for eight hours every day, but regular, focused practice is likely to be much more productive than occasionally playing for an entire weekend.
Start With Online Competitions
You don’t have to jump straight into a major international tournament.
One of the easiest ways for a regular gamer to get involved in Esports is through online competitions. Websites and gaming communities regularly host tournaments for players of different abilities.
These events can provide valuable competitive experience without requiring you to travel. Some are completely free to enter, while others may have a small entry fee.
Online tournaments can also introduce you to other players who are looking to compete seriously. This can be particularly useful if you eventually want to form a team.
Find A Team
If your chosen game is team-based, finding the right teammates is an important part of progressing.
You can meet potential teammates through gaming communities, Discord servers, social media and online tournaments. Look for players who have similar ambitions and, importantly, are reliable and easy to work with.
Mechanical ability is only one part of being a successful team. Communication, teamwork and the ability to remain calm under pressure can be just as important.
Once you have a team, enter smaller competitions together and work on developing your strategies and communication.
Look For Local Events
Online competitions aren’t the only option. Gaming events, conventions, universities, gaming venues and Esports organisations can all provide opportunities to compete in person.
Local tournaments can be a great introduction to competitive gaming because they allow you to experience the atmosphere of a live event without immediately having to compete against the world’s best players.
Keep an eye on gaming communities and tournament organisers for events in your area.
Understand The Tournament Structure
Before entering a competition, make sure you understand how it works.
Some tournaments are open to anyone, while others require players to qualify. There may also be restrictions based on age, location, ranking or previous competitive achievements.
Larger competitions can have multiple stages, with open qualifiers leading into regional competitions and eventually a major tournament.
Understanding the pathway is important because you may not be able to enter the biggest event directly. Instead, you might have to work your way through qualifying rounds.
Build A Competitive Reputation
As you participate in more tournaments, you can start building a competitive reputation.
Keep track of your results and consider creating profiles on relevant tournament platforms. If you’re consistently performing well, other players and teams may begin to take notice.
A strong reputation can eventually lead to opportunities with more established teams, although this generally comes after a significant amount of competitive experience.
Take The Commitment Seriously
Moving from casual gaming to Esports requires a change in mindset.
You need to be willing to practise deliberately, learn from defeats and accept criticism. Losing is inevitable, even for the best players in the world.
It is also important to maintain a healthy balance. Competitive gaming can involve long practice sessions, so taking regular breaks, getting enough sleep and looking after yourself can help you perform better in the long run.
Don’t Focus Only On Winning
When you’re starting out, winning shouldn’t necessarily be your only objective.
Your first tournament might end after one or two matches. That doesn’t mean the experience was unsuccessful.
Every competition gives you an opportunity to learn how you perform under pressure, identify weaknesses and experience what competitive gaming is actually like.
The more tournaments you enter, the more comfortable you are likely to become with the competitive environment.
The Path From Gamer To Competitor
There isn’t one guaranteed route into Esports. For most players, it is a gradual process.
You start by choosing a game, improve your skills, enter smaller online competitions, find like-minded players and gradually work towards more challenging tournaments.
You might never become a professional Esports player, but competing in tournaments can still add a completely new dimension to gaming. And for those who are willing to put in the work, that first small online competition could potentially be the beginning of a much bigger competitive journey.
Donaldo Squirewardz has opinions about player profiles and interviews. Informed ones, backed by real experience — but opinions nonetheless, and they doesn't try to disguise them as neutral observation. They thinks a lot of what gets written about Player Profiles and Interviews, Esports Highlights and News, Expert Opinions is either too cautious to be useful or too confident to be credible, and they's work tends to sit deliberately in the space between those two failure modes.
