Researchers at the universities of Chichester and Winchester have conducted pioneering research into the stressors that esports athletes face when competing in major contests, and how they cope with it. The team includes Gaming the Mind’s Dr Atheeshaan Arumuham.

Stress factors

The team found a total of 51 different stress factors experienced by high-ranking pro gamers.

Major internal stressors (stress from within) included communication issues and criticism from teammates, and lack of confidence.

Notable external stressors (stressors from outside) included trash-talk from the opposing team, harsh comments from social media, and the difficulty of keeping to event schedules.

Coping strategies

The esports athletes interviewed reported a range of coping strategies for stress. This included strategies that didn’t address the problem, but helped regulate emotional response, such as listening to music, or counting to 10, to keep focus away from stressful elements like cameras,

With communication issues, athletes used both problem-focused coping strategies (e.g. discussing issues in a calm manner), and avoidance coping strategies (not listening to teammates). But such avoidance may lead to long-term negative impacts on performance and wellbeing.

Avoidance strategies seemed to be used too much during competitive play, while problem-solving and emotion-regulating strategies weren’t used enough. Because of this the research team feels esports athletes may benefit from psychological skills training, to encourage effective coping strategies to regulate emotions, such as breathing techniques.

Communication issues were a running theme, and many participants noted performance feedback was given aggressively, or teammates were unable to take criticism. The research team thus felt communication training may be beneficial within esports teams.

Comments from the researchers

Gaming the Mind’s Dr Arumuham said: “Esport athletes face specific demands that vary from those faced by traditional sports athletes. For example, the need to use skilled fine motor coordination while facing a high cognitive workload that includes attention, information-processing and visuospatial skills and the lack of an ‘off season’ means there are unique stressors for esport athletes which are linked to mental ill-health.”

Read more about the research here.