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Expertise in Professional Overwatch Play

Expertise in Professional Overwatch Play

Joey R. Fanfarelli
Copyright: © 2018 |Volume: 10 |Issue: 1 |Pages: 22
ISSN: 1942-3888|EISSN: 1942-3896|EISBN13: 9781522544067|DOI: 10.4018/IJGCMS.2018010101
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MLA

Fanfarelli, Joey R. "Expertise in Professional Overwatch Play." IJGCMS vol.10, no.1 2018: pp.1-22. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJGCMS.2018010101

APA

Fanfarelli, J. R. (2018). Expertise in Professional Overwatch Play. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS), 10(1), 1-22. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJGCMS.2018010101

Chicago

Fanfarelli, Joey R. "Expertise in Professional Overwatch Play," International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS) 10, no.1: 1-22. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJGCMS.2018010101

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Abstract

eSports is a rapidly growing phenomenon in competitive gaming. Expertise is an interesting topic to study in relation to eSports, as eSports athletes are considered among the most highly-skilled players of their particular games. Examining expertise not only advances the understanding of what skills compose professional play but enables a deeper study of learning in games; before learning processes are studied, it is important to detail what learning these processes should produce. This study examines expertise through the application of thematic analysis to a series of interviews with professional players of the eSports game, Overwatch. The goal of this study is to identify which skills are perceived to be important to professional-level play by professional players. Two overarching themes were identified, game sense and mechanics. A number of sub-themes were identified as important, including survival, anticipation / prediction, communication, thoughtfulness, aim, ability usage, movement and positioning, and team-based mechanical synergies.