ABSTRACT

This article advances a tentative theory of skill in relation to eSports. This conjectural theory of skill rests on hypothesizes informed by assumptions from watching 100+ hours of eSport events on Twitch, YouTube, and AfreecaTV and is supported by discussions, reflections and evaluations with eSport players. The case material of this article includes the games Clash Royale (CR), StarCraft 2 (SC2), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and online battle arenas (mobas) such as League of Legends (LOL) and Defense of the Ancient 2 (DOTA2). This inferred theory of skill is conjoined and composed of seven strands, which provide a framework for explaining how to understand skill in eSport. These seven strands are presented under the headings: (1) knowledge about game objects, (2) insights into game systems, (3) understanding metagaming, (4), yomi: ‘reading’ the opponent, (5) ability to execute, (6) emotional discipline, and finally (7) team coherency (depending upon whether the skill is associated with a one-versus-one or team-versus-team game). In conclusion, the proposed theory of skill will expose its explanatory power and reach by providing an example of how it can both be implemented to create profiles of players’ skill, and how these profiles in turn can serve as guides to help players improve their skill levels in eSport.

摘要

本文提出了与电子竞技相关的暂定技能理论。这种关于技能的推测性理论基于在 Twitch、YouTube 和 AfreecaTV 上观看超过 100 小时的电子竞技赛事的假设所得出的假设，并得到与电子竞技玩家的讨论、反思和评估的支持。本文案例素材包括《皇室战争》 （CR）、《星际争霸2》（SC2）、《反恐精英：全球攻势》 （CS:GO）、英雄联盟（LOL）、防御等在线竞技场（mobas）远古之2（DOTA2）。这种推断的技能理论由七股组成，为解释如何理解电子竞技中的技能提供了一个框架。这七个方面的标题如下：（1）关于游戏对象的知识，（2）对游戏系统的洞察力，（3）理解元游戏，（4）yomi：“阅读”对手，（5）执行能力， (6) 情绪纪律，最后 (7) 团队一致性（取决于技能是否与一对一或团队对团队游戏相关）。总之，所提出的技能理论将通过提供一个示例来展示其解释力和影响力，说明如何实施该理论来创建玩家技能配置文件，以及这些配置文件又如何作为帮助玩家提高技能的指南电子竞技中的水平。