The Play of Champions: Toward a Theory of Skill in eSport

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Skill
• theory
• concept
• computer game
• eSports
• clash Royale
• counter-Strike
• league of Legends
• defense of the Ancients 2
• starcraft 2
• ontology
• epistemology
• sociality

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express his gratitude to the anonymous Sports, Ethics & Philosophy: Journal of the British Philosophy of Sport Association reviewers who offered constructive and illuminating feedback, and to Malte Borges, Jeppe Bukh Madsen, Joachim Clemmen Bisgaard, and Aurelia Nina Chatelain, who helped shape earlier versions of this article with their comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ludography

Breakout (1976, Atari)

Clash Royale (2016, Supercell)

Counter-Strike (2000- Valve Corporation)

Defense of the Ancients 2 (2013, Valve Corporation)

Deux Ex (2000, Eidos Interactive)

Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment, 2014).

League of Legends (2009, Riot Games)

Magic: The Gathering (1993-, Wizards of the Cost 1993-)

Pikmin (2001, Nintendo)

StarCraft 2 (2010, Blizzard Entertainment)

Pictures

All pictures have been used with no intent of copyright infringement. All pictures have been cropped from publicly streamed events from YouTube or AfreecaTV and Wikipedia. Use refrained from monetizing.