A team of researchers has just found the techniques that help people acquire skill. While repeatedly doing certain habits make one better at things, a study by Brown University just found how people can develop their skills by studying how people play video games.
The team led by a computer scientist from Brown University analyze the data gathered from thousands of online matches of two video games, Science Daily reported. These games were Halo and StarCraft 2. Based on their study on Halo, the researchers found that the skill development in players vary based on the patters of their play. On the other hand, the StarCraft study revealed that the success of players relied on the unique and consistent rituals of the elite players.
Jeff Huang, computer science professor at Brown and the study's lead author said that the good thing about game data is that it is really naturalistic, and by conducting their study based on playing video games, they were able to observe pattern over a long period of time which is something that cannot be done in a lab.
The Halo study implies that playing the game often or regularly does not guarantee that a player will be the best player, BreakingNews.ie reported. Huang explained that it is not about playing several matches in a week, because it is about spacing out your activity a little bit and playing not so intensively.
However, they made it clear that breaks should not be too long as it will also affect a player's skill. Recommended breaks are only short breaks - like one to two days.
The second study which is focused on Star Craft has revealed that success is achieved by unique and consistent habits. The researchers explained that it is about getting the players' minds and bodies into routines that they will need later on when they are at the peak performance of their game.
