How To Survive An Online Gaming Tournament
Online video game tournaments are a fun way to spend the weekend. Even if the weather stops you from going outside or you’re not feeling well, you can still interact with your friends by playing in virtual tournaments. There are single elimination tournaments, double elimination tournaments, and round-robin tournaments available in a range of gaming genres, including blackjack and battle royale games like Fortnite.
Because a lot is at stake when hosting or participating in video game tournaments, whether it’s cash prizes or bragging rights, you want to ensure you’re prepared in more ways than one. Of course, understanding the game you’re playing is crucial in surviving an online gaming tournament, but you also want to make sure you’re set up for success. Here are a few ways you can do this.
#1: Build A Tech Bag
No gamer wants to lose internet connection mid-game. You risk losing your progress, and the tournament will continue without you. If you find your Wi-Fi connection finicky (especially when multiple people in your household are using it), consider using a portable Wi-Fi hotspot. If your Wi-Fi goes down, you’ll have a backup plan, and that’s crucial since gaming tournaments can last for several hours. You also want to make sure you have proper gaming headphones so you can interact with your competitors and all of the necessary charging cables to charge your phone or laptop so that they don’t die mid-game.
Because there are many tech products that are essential to playing online games, you should put together a tech survival bag that sits next to your computer or gaming console. It’s not any different than building a survival kit in case of an emergency like a natural disaster. According to ExpressVPN’s article on making an emergency survival kit, the bag should include a range of tech products like charging cables, portable power banks, and universal adapters. If your devices suddenly die during the tournament or your Wi-Fi connection starts lagging, these are all emergencies in the gaming world, and you’ll want a quick fix nearby.
#2: Hydration Station
As we said, online gaming tournaments can last for hours. For example, a professional LoL tournament typically lasts for 7-8 hours. That’s a long time to be looking at a screen, which can have adverse effects on our health. According to Web MD’s article on eyes and screen use, staring into a computer, smartphone, or any type of screen for a long time can dry out your eyes and cause irritation.
One of the ways to avoid this from happening is to stay hydrated, so you should put a hydration station next to wherever you’re playing in the tournament. Because you should aim to drink eight to ten glasses of water a day, buying a liter water bottle will ensure you’re hitting your water intake and you don’t have to keep getting up mid-game to get another glass.
#3: Cheat Codes
There’s a negative connotation with the word ‘cheat’. However, because game developers are the ones developing cheat codes, you shouldn’t feel bad about using them. For instance, Radio Times describes in an article about the Konami code that Kazuhisa Hashimoto created the cheat code for Gradius while working on the game for the NES. If you weren’t supposed to use cheat codes, game developers wouldn’t have made them, right? There may come a point in a tournament where you reach a level that you’re not familiar with, and in this case, having a notebook filled with cheat codes and other tricks that will help you move forward in the tournament will go a long way.
Online gaming tournaments are a great way to spend time with your friends, even if you’re not with them physically. But because there is a lot at stake when playing these games, you want to ensure you’re set up for success. This includes building a tech survival bag in case something goes wrong and having hydration stations close to you.
