Your body says how good you are in Dota.

I came up with an idea in another thread that we could talk about human body as an indicator of how good you are in video games.
I know it might be an obvious example, but I thought of Dendi from Na'Vi. When he was a kid, he was dancing and he has learned to play a piano. Playing that instrument requires perfect coordination and reflex (same comes to dancing). That must be an important factor when you think about how gaming works. It looks like perfect gamers are those who are good in sports.

For casual gaming it doesn't matter that much, but we can probably agree that someone with frequent muscle cramps won't rather get 6k MMR.

What are other possible body/mental failures that can affect gaming? I am also thinking about esotropia and panic disorder.

P.S. What do you think about gamer's intelligence? Someone with very high IQ would be better in decision making in those crucial moments than a player with average IQ? Gathering information a little bit faster and link them with enormous speed is that meaningful?

Well, I don't have mental or physical failures, and I think I'm pretty smart, I'm not good at dota though :p

I think that any musical hobby can improve your brain stuff during the game as well as improve your precision and accuracy :p


Source: Fiddlist for 12 years

I think there's some truth to the idea that early training in various activities can help you with related ones later in life - children learn on a very deep level. Personally I played a lot of chess with my grandfather when I was young, and that's probably seeped into my decision making/strategy brain. However, there's nothing to say you can't learn to be good at something by sheer weight of useful practice. They reckon the average time to master an activity is 10,000 hours.

Obviously pure physical fitness doesn't help that much with computer games, bar having good co-ordination in your fingers and fast reflexes - obviously you need positive fitness/sleep to feel good and alert. Other activities can help here, but playing the game is very strong. Only activities which push the same task harder/faster can help here (e.g. micromanagement training programs).

Brain-wise, a higher IQ doesn't necessarily corelate with better or faster decision making - a lot of that is task training and keeping the right mindset (relaxed but focused). A good memory does help with knowing your damage amounts, heroes powers, item costs, etc. DOTA is a very decision focused game, where a mixture of instinct and knowledge inform your choices, but you generally don't have much time to make them - hence good instincts are key moment to moment (tactical) while knowledge helps on a strategic level (we need to win soon or that Spectre will get too big).

Mindset and mental toughness (e.g. Newbee winning like 9 games in a day or something takes phenomanal powers of concentration) go a long way too - you only get better if your brain is receptive to repeated failure/learning loops, as well as success/winning feedback. For example I played one earlier and ended up with a Timbersaw (not my best hero) after tons of randoms and swaps. I laned against Dazzle and Troll Warlord and had a horrible time, barely surviving a few times before heading back to base early. Team lost the other lanes badly as they didn't know how to play their random heroes well. Lessons learned = Timbersaw's lack of armour is bad against that kind of physical damage, a Ring of Protection would have been better than a Stout Shield there, and that random heroes played badly < picked heroes.

My 2c.

More of a willpower thing and sense of competetiveness that allows one to thrice in dota, in my opinion. A lot of pro players are very scrawny, but they could beat me any day (and not just because I haven't played in 4 months :( )

Well all I can say is that my anticipation has managed to save me once or twice as Nyx Assassin from a Lina or Lion ult. But really having a high IQ can't exactly help a great a lot. Something my dad told me though is that talent only gets you a certain way. Dedication and practice is what really makes you good.

Studies show that playing an instrument improves your mathematical and coordination skills. If you play one of course it is quite possible that you will be better at DotA.

Talent is only 1%. Dedication is 99%.

That's complete rubbish!

*Xyrus has played Recorder, Clarinet, Paino, Drums, Electric Guitar, Bass and messed around with a harmonica for a while, he is also very good at maths*

...or maybe not? 8{3

On topic this time : When I was a kid, I used to play the piano. Not sure how much this helped me, but I have a lot more hand coordination, and I have a pretty readable handwriting.

I also used to play chess with my grandpa and uncles (just like Sando here, I bet I can take you 1 on 1 at chess :D ), and that's where my liking for strategy games has developed from (C&C Red Alert, SC : Brood War, Warcraft III).