Surprising stress study results carried on professional LoL players
Research results on stress when it comes to pro players. What strategies do they have to deal with it?
Stress is omnipresent and it also affects professionals. Especially when they are fighting for a promotion or the final of the World Cup and they are losing. An example would be Perkz, who luckily got a helping hand, but at one point he was doing really badly.
However, it is not only about such serious events. It can be felt equally in ordinary class competitions, and even at the international level. It all depends on experience and the person. A study by the German Institute for Sport Psychology and Physical Education, University of Leipzig, reveals some interesting facts about how to deal with stress and how the best of the best in League of Legends experience it.
Research group
The authors of the study – Oliver Leis *, Franziska Lautenbach, Phil DJ Birch, Anne-Marie Elbe targeted a group of 12 League of Legends professionals who were thoroughly analyzed for stress management. Here are the results:
- Professional League of Legends players experience a variety of stressors such as team issues, performance expectations, audience, and social media.
- The perceived stress responses were most pronounced before and after the tournament.
- While players reported that perceived stress responses appeared to be suppressed during matches, their post-game responses were related to their outcome.
- Players found that they most often communicate with teammates or coaches and use a problem-focused strategy to deal with stressors such as performance expectations.
The test participants were 12 men aged 19 to 28. Each of them had one of the three highest ranks in League of Legends at that time. Each of the respondents had 6 to 11 years of playing experience. Participants spent 28 to 91 hours a week playing LoL. Eight respondents came from Germany and one each from the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, and Great Britain. The requirement was that the professional should play in the second or first German league and competition was his main source of income.
Players were recruited and sampled purposefully (Patton, 2002) through contacting esports clubs and via personal email. The study complied with the Declaration of Helsinki and APA ethical guidelines. After interviewees signed informed consent, interviews were performed during the competitive season and approximately three days after a competitive match. To gain a true and non-judgmental account of players’ subjective experience of stress, participants were told that the aim of the study was to investigate subjective experiences of competing in esports. Each participant was interviewed by author OL in a location of their choice, either face-to-face or via TeamSpeak (software for audio communication).
Introduction
Some may wonder why this research was carried out and what exactly it is needed for. It turns out that apart from the form of the player and his skills, there is also the psyche. Even the best player in the world can be paralyzed by stress, and this will affect his form and the result of the match. It may even come to a situation where he will give up his career completely just because of not coping with this natural feeling. Therefore, the development of this field also requires focusing on psychology in this direction, in order to prevent such situations. It cannot be done without research.
A recent study on 316 esports players (13% professional players) identified technical issues and antisocial behavior as stressors, whereas mental toughness was associated with the selection of more problem and emotion focused strategies, and less avoidance coping strategies (Poulus et al., 2020). While a recent review on psychophysiological stress in esports reported mixed results on stress responses in competitive settings (Leis & Lautenbach, 2020), Mendoza et al. (2021) showed higher cortisol levels, cognitive anxiety and perceived match importance in expert esports players than non-expert players. Both studies highlight the need for in-depth, high quality studies examining stress in esports.
Interestingly, it’s hard to focus only on one game here. It all depends on the type of production the professional is playing. For example, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players require a higher level of perceptual-motor function, and League of Legends players emphasize knowledge of characters, items, and other mechanics. This means that there can be differences in stressors, responses to stress, and how they deal with them.
Results
The real nicknames of the players have been replaced so that they cannot be recognized. Additionally, each utterance in German has been translated into English. The results were placed by researchers into three different categories based on their own reflections to test selective perception and ‘highlight’ blind spots. Then the categories were thoroughly discussed and analyzed. Additionally, they were checked for compliance with the existing literature on stress and coping.
Stressors
Players described experiencing stressors regarding competition in five main areas. These included performance expectations, internal evaluation, team issues, audience and social media, and environmental constraints.
Performance expectations
Each player felt that performance expectations were required in a competitive environment. One of the pros by the name of Michael said about the experience this way:
I wanted to be the best there. I wanted to be by far the best. I wanted to dominate. That was what I demanded from myself.
In addition to high expectations of themselves, players also described other requirements:
- Willingness to play flawlessly
- Winning the final
- Winning for a teammate
On top of that, there was also pressure to stay focused. Three players mentioned that they were putting pressure on each other to maintain concentration during matches. Daniel described the phenomenon as follows:
During the game you have to be fully concentrated all the time. You cannot lose concentration for a second. It doesn’t have to be bad, but something can happen the second you’re not concentrating and that can cause you to lose the game.
Two professionals, on the other hand, mentioned that the only pressure they experienced was from themselves.
Internal evaluation
It’s not only the pressure from fans and coaches that is stressful. Research has found that how players perceive their form, opponents’ skills and performance has a negative impact on the competitive experience in esports. Thomas discussed his fear of the consequences of a losing game and his feelings after it. Christopher described it as follows:
The pressure on myself was of course much higher after losing the first game.
Another stressor was also fighting against a stronger opponent or perceiving him as stronger. Michael, on the other hand, treated it as a challenge:
Every time you practice, we saw them and it’s like we have to do better to beat them. It was a challenge and we overcame it.
Team issues
The respondents also reported problems related to the team, which may seem common in this type of game. The stressors are to be here:
- No trust in colleagues,
- Internal criticism,
- Assessment of results by teammates,
- Worrying about the form of individual players.
Robert comments on this as follows:
The pressure was insane, because I had to always perform and it felt like I had to perform much more than everyone else, because I was on a bad team and I would have to lift the team up. Almost single handle this, so it was a really hard pressure.
Christopher also touched on the pressure he felt when his teammates were not doing very well:
When I notice it’s not going well at all on bot lane, then of course, I know that there’s a greater pressure on me as a mid laner, because then I have to put myself in the carry position a bit and try to get more out of it somehow. And I know that I have to play better than would otherwise be necessary. That you really have to give everything now.
The topic of the negative environment inside the team was discussed. Michael said leaving it was the best thing that ever happened to him and he thanked God for it. Marek also has a sad experience with the former team, he said that the atmosphere was toxic and that one of the practices was pointing fingers at others.
Audience and Social Media
It is not hard to guess that the fans also have a lot of pressure and expectations. These are often stressors, especially if the game is lost. Steven admitted that he couldn’t de-stress because he had to give interviews after the match and John felt enormous pressure from the audience ahead of the match. Both, however, described this as positive, and Robert thought that it was thanks to it that he achieved better results.
The moment you realize there are so many people watching you, you know it’s real. It puts more pressure on you, but it put the pressure on me, it wasn’t like a pressure that makes you not perform, but it was a pressure that made me perform. That made me give my best, so it motivated me – insanely.
Being a favorite is also stressful. Professionals admit that if you are a much-liked team, the pressure is enormous. Everyone pays attention to you and follows your progress. This is what David said on this subject:
I think that was probably the tournament where I had the most pressure to win. Because in other tournaments I have been in, there have always been more than one favorite. But this one, we were literally the only good team at the tournament. We were the only official team. The rest of the teams were just random friends. Yeah. Everyone didn’t care if we won. But everyone would immediately notice if we lost.
Reading comments on social media is also stressful. Jhon admitted that after reading them he felt bad about the mistakes he made in the game. However, when it comes to pressure, it was seen as a motivating factor. Robert confirmed that it was thanks to them that he wanted to play the best he could, to show others that he was not “overrated”.
Environmental Constraints
The environment in which the players spent their time was also a stressor. Steven noticed that jetlag made him feel stressed with offline competitions. Additionally, one player stated that he was stressed by not having enough training, and two professionals reported that they were stressed by an unprofessional approach such as the lack of a coach or manager. Robert described it as follows:
This season I was on my own completely, no one took care of me, no one was helping me out, no one was there to hold me when I needed to, no one was supporting me. It was just basically that I was on my own. We had no coach, we had no manager, we had to do everything ourselves. I had to do everything myself.
Perceived Stress Responses
There are many ways you can handle stress. Some become speechless, others feel tired, have jumped heart rates, sweat, or even give up on meals. In contrast, study participants reported excitement, anxiety, nervousness, fatigue, and/or physiological excitement before the competition. Players have found that such reactions are most pronounced before matches, and then diminish over the course of the game. Steven describes it this way:
During game play you automatically slow down. Heart rate doesn’t go much further, that’s not possibly any more. Heart rate is the highest before the game and then somehow in the game it goes down again.
Other reactions reported by professionals, such as hunger, helplessness, light in the tunnel, also work in a similar way. Thomas admitted that he was hungry between the games, but only focused on it while it lasted and the feeling faded away. Jhon:
So in the game it’s like that, mostly for me, I’m nervous just before the game and then, when the game starts, two or three minutes when you’re in the game, then it all goes away. Then I’m not nervous at all anymore, then I just play the game.
As for the atmosphere after the game, it depends on its result. If players win, usually they feel joyful, exhausted, and generally well. Losing makes people angry, disappointed, and sad. Mark described two situations, win and lose:
And I remember that was one of the happiest moments. I think I was really happy. I took off my headphones and was like “yes” (shouting). I remember feeling so overwhelmed by emotions, because I was so happy to win that game.
And after the game ended, I felt so embarrassed. I don’t know why, I felt really embarrassed. I have never been so humiliated in the game you know. They made fun of us. That was the feeling we had.
Coping strategies
Everyone has a different way of coping with stressful situations. The researchers divided the activities of professional League of Legends players into six categories.
Social Network
A bad atmosphere in the team can be stressful, but if the players get along, they can deal with it together. In fact, according to Robert, this is actually the case:
Funnily enough, with pressure the team environment helps the most. Because if you have a good team environment, then the pressure doesn’t even get you, you don’t even feel it. Cause you joke around, do stuff together, you’re friends and you don’t even notice the outs. You live in your bubble and you don’t care about the pressure from outside, or the comments or anything. If you don’t have that, it starts getting in when you hear the criticism. Basically, the team environment works for pressure.
The respondents admitted that they talked to coaches, teammates, girlfriends, friends and family. Trust in coaches, spending time with friends and mutual support also helps in fighting stress.
Attention Regulation
Eight players have mentioned using strategy, such as focusing your concentration on the game. Michael said that was all that mattered during performances. Robert, on the other hand, focused on the next game or on himself.
At first I was focusing at lot on the team and winning, playing correctly with the team, but then, when I lost motivation I had to start focusing on myself and basically, even though my teammates underperformed I had to figure out myself how to play in that situation, not give up, and always try to win rather than just playing and looking good.
Self-regulation
The professionals surveyed also use a variety of self-regulatory tactics. They mentioned sleep, meditation, talking to each other, cold showers, and partying, among others. All this is to relieve pressure and stress. For example, before the game, Jhon plays with a ball, walks around the room, and takes a cold shower. Two players admitted that they visualized the game before, as Michael illustrates:
I was thinking about how to play the map correctly and I was visualizing the processes you need to perform in the game, and when I was on stage it was like autopilot. I knew what I had to do and it all worked out.
Three respondents emphasized that physical effort helps them fight frustration or pressure. Mark stated that this is “one of the best ways to deal with stress.”
Increased Effort
Players also reported increasing efforts to manage stress. Jhon mentioned how professionals usually handle these situations during matches.
I felt this pressure to perform just before the game and just after the game started: I felt all this. But then after two or three minutes, it was gone and I was able to focus completely on the game and then I didn’t think about what was going on, about how many people were watching, what pressure I’m under, but I am just thinking in that moment OK, I am playing as good as I can now. In LoL it is like that: you try to do your best in the third, in the fourth, in the fifth minute and you are not thinking about what pressure you’re under. You don’t think about that until after.
Other strategies for coping with stress and pressure, such as analyzing games and losses, also helped participants. After the criticism, Michael analyzed his mistakes and wondered what he should do better, and Thomas “practiced like crazy”.
Consumption Strategies
Professionals also use drinks and other stimulants to regulate stress. Two subjects discussed drinking coffee or energy drinks to combat fatigue. Robert noted that nutrition is an important aspect:
I don’t eat sugar all day. I stay away from it. I drink a lot of water. I found that if you basically drink a lot more water, for example, when I drink one liter of water a day or when I drink 3 liters a day I have higher performance. It’s like my focus is higher, my reaction timers are smaller or faster.
Two players reported eating fruit between games. This helps them to meet the requirements and allows them to focus. Two of the subjects also admitted smoking or drinking alcohol when the results were negative. Steven describes it this way:
Normally it’s really like that after every tournament, where you don’t get the result you want, you go out and celebrate, it’s always called resetting memory. So you drink. You have a relatively unhealthy relationship with alcohol. That’s just one of the ways of dealing with it.
Conclusion
As we can see, being a pro is not that easy and fun. Especially if you have a huge achievement on your account and you are the favorite. Negative opinions on the Internet and a toxic relationship with the team also do not help. However, players have their own ways of dealing with stress, such as drinking coffee, exercising, or contacting loved ones.
The subject of the psyche is important and should not be overlooked on social media. Depression affects more and more people and is sometimes ignored. The entire study can be read in English on this page.
