Some Background on me

I have been playing competitive shooters for about 4 years now and have been all over the ladder in multiple games.

Overwatch Master 3600* (started silver 1900) (*) will make sense as you read

Valorant Immortal 100rr (started gold 2)

I am someone who has struggled with my own mental in video games through my journey and I wanted to share my experiences and try to help whoever reads this accomplish their goals.

I’ve been just about every type of player that you can think of, I’ve been the asshole, I’ve been the guy who instantly gives up, I’ve been the fragger, I’ve been the support, I’ve been the insanely toxic person who calls people names, I’ve been the guy who always blames his teammates, and I’ve been the guy who is insanely positive all the time.

On occasion, I am STILL all of those people, but reducing the influence of those urges will make you a better player.

Ranked Anxiety

Ranked anxiety is one of the most common issues in a player’s mental, and it’s also one of the most important to fix.

Ranked anxiety is where you do not play ranked matches in fear of losing your current rank and/or only playing when you have friends to do it with

Fixing this issue is difficult, but the way you get over it is just playing more games. You might derank, you might not, it doesn’t really matter. It’s all about getting in the mindset to improve and to not worry about something that is just an internet color or number

In both overwatch and valorant, there were periods where I only played with a friend who was smurfing and let me tell you, it fucking sucked. I was not at the rank where I needed to be, and I had zero confidence in my own ability to improve.

One day I decided that I had had enough, I solo queued 9 games and lost every single one which put me down to diamond 2. From there I played either by myself or on occasion with a friend who was around my skill level. In the next season, I quickly climbed up to diamond 3 and from there I played 100% solo queue until I reached Immortal, and then from there, I was able to play with my former smurfing friend on his main account which made me happier than I could put into words. The satisfaction and confidence that came from grinding solo queue is nothing I would ever take back.

Soon after I hit my peak in Valorant I realized that I didn’t like the game as much as I originally did, so I decided to make my way back into overwatch with a newfound confidence that I could hit the highest rank in the game without anyone’s help.

Attitude while playing Ranked

While playing a team-based game it is very easy to blame your “shitty teammates” for a loss, but it’s probably the worst thing you can do if you’re trying to get better at a game, and for your mental while playing a game. It happens to everyone, and it definitely still happens to me, but the important part is that once you cool down you need to be able to understand where YOU fucked up and how YOU could have won.

Some games really are unwinnable, it’s just the nature of solo queue, but realistically those games are so far and few between that it’s not ever EVER going to be the thing that is holding you back from whatever your goal is.

What you need to understand while playing ranked is that you are playing a very dumbed-down version of the game that you see the pros play, even in the highest of elos. Insane strats aren’t usually going to work in solo queue, and some stupid things will work due to a lack of coordination in both your team and the enemy team. The most effective way to climb is not only to improve YOUR gameplay but to also improve your communication with your team. In solo queue being friendly and giving simple comms are the most important things you can do. Most people you play with will want to coordinate but oftentimes don’t know how, so some direction from you will go a long way. Do not misunderstand what I am saying, DO NOT micromanage your team, give simple comms in overwatch like bubble timings, ult usage, and simple strat ideas. Good Comms in Valorant would be, where you are smoking, where enemies are, ability usage, and calling pushes. There’s a lot more you can do, but that’s the general idea.

If people do not listen to you, do not get mad, just keep communicating and doing your thing knowing that’s you’re giving them the information to succeed.

Having Fun

If you do not enjoy the process of improving, you will not get better. If you just hop off after one loss because you’re afraid that you’re going to lose again, you WILL NOT improve, and most importantly if you are not having fun doing the thing you are doing you will not improve.

It doesn’t have to be your entire life, it doesn’t have to take up all of your time, but you need to actually enjoy it, because if you don’t then who and what are you really doing it for?

At the end of the day, you need to understand that you’re just playing a video game. Unless you’re trying to go pro you need to understand that you’re spending all this time in your life seeking the more shiny internet color, and you need to be ok with that.