I Trained in eSports for 1 month.

I started to play Rainbow Six Siege for at least one hour every day. This is what I discovered.

Context -

Basically, I have loved Siege since it came out, but I always hit this skill ceiling every season that has made the game not fun for me. I had to come to terms with myself that without a proper direction of improvement, I was not going to get too much better.When I realized this, I didn't play the game a lot. At the same time I realized this, I became extremely focused on TaeKwonDo sparring competitions.

It's kind of funny, when I started competing seriously, Siege was released. However, while I took TaeKwonDo competition seriously, I wasn't only focused on it. I liked me some Siege too! Once I started focusing on competitions, that's when I played less of Siege.

I stopped TaeKwonDo for personal reason with the owner. I decided I did not want to represent them in the martial arts space. However, without TaeKwonDo, I all of the sudden became very interested in eSports. Then, one month ago, I started taking Rainbow Six Siege very serious. I now have a goal of joining a team and winning an Xbox tournament.

So, what exactly have I learned and improved on in Siege?

I started by meaningfully doing things in the game. I wasn't just playing to arbitrarily win Ranked matches, I was playing to learn everything I can. I did things like play operators I wanted to get good at, not necessarily ones that would help the team. :)

Vertical gameplay is something that I find really fun and challenging, so I started trying to pull it off every single attack round. Since I started, I have refined my skills and strategies and find it easier to fight in vertical gunfights, as well as keep my senses up in the area around me while trying to play vertical.

Intel Ops and callouts are something that I am good at. I find great satisfaction when I make a callout and someone makes progress because of me. Anchoring is also my preferred playstyle on defense. I have been really working on my intel game, and it has improved a lot. I am starting to understand enemy psychology a bit. My biggest improvement so far in this area has been my use of intel. I now find myself acting on intel rather than acknowledging it and sort of acting on it.

My aim is by far the most improved thing. Warming up happens every time I start Rainbow Six, and it has payed off. I'm not at a god-level of aim yet, but I can defiantly hit flicks, one taps, and general shots that I couldn't hit before. Because of this, I'm nervous in way less of my gunfights too.

The biggest thing I have learned.

Even though these improvements are nice, I learned that having an insane goal of winning a Rainbow Six Siege tournament has made the game way more fun for me. Now, I am not playing to just play or hope that I get better, I am playing with a purpose. Now, the Ranked games are not the goal anymore. All my wins and loses in Ranked don't matter to me anymore. All I want to do with this game is get better at it and win a tournament. Every time I lose a game or die, I don't see it as a lose. I see it as an opportunity to learn and improve, getting closer to my end goal.

Thanks for reading!

I originally wrote this on LinkedIn.