In every sport, every technical endeavour, there exists a legacy passed down from coach to player, from expert to novice; this legacy comes as form, training techniques, tips and tricks that would otherwise be obscure and difficult to grasp. This imparting of knowledge is fundamental to the process of mastering a sport.

When a novice first enters into his chosen arena, he is beset on all sides by his own ignorance; his form is sloppy and his technique flawed, he finds progress slow and unpredictable: but he does improve. Gradually he may, if he is unfortunate enough to lack coaching, develop his own style, and in almost all cases this style is flawed. It is not the personal and often subtle differences between players which indicate these flaws to the trained eye, but the lack of fundamental skills to which even the most modest of coaches would have been able to correct. Such core aspects of a game, ones which tend to exist in the more technical of sports, but which still occur in games like football or rugby, are so entrenched in its mastery that without them, even the most talented of players will fall awry.

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What then is the implication of this to the aspiring gamer? It is to concentrate on those who have already attained greatness, who have already acquired the skills: learn from their past mistakes, it is the quicker route. If you wish to accelerate the process of learning, of mastering a game, then it is absolutely necessary to learn: not from your mistakes, but from others success. If swift knowledge is your desire, learn the fundamentals from the best: how to hold your mouse, how to move your arm, where to stand; when to push and when to fall back. Most of this can be learned from demos, those wonderful recordings hold so much information that often passes the unnoticed. The rest from asking questions, or videos of LANs. However you acquire it, you must also put it into practise.

At first you will be slow and unwieldy, as often is the case when motions and thoughts are not habitual but forces; soon, however, you will have carved a path between your brain and your hands, one that requires no thought and which makes the good decision automatically. If you ask a top player what is going through his mind when he is playing, more often than not, if he is playing well, he will tell you "Nothing". This is precisely because they have already, quite often through trial and error, carved that pathway from the right decision to the right movement.

image: skeletonrf9Gaming is a complex sport, but it can be broken down, chopped up into simple patterns. The professional players have done this through a journey of time and practise, but you can do the same through reason and thought. They have learned from countless games, that when an opponent goes one way they should go the other, but you can learn from them and forgo such lengthy, inexact processes.

I'm sure to some, who have already studied demos diligently, this will seem more than obvious, but to others who have never seen the purpose in watching others I hope this brings some form of enlightenment.

This should be a hlistic approach. Whilst simple tricks and gimmicks, proning on a bush or leaning in a specific point, are useful and should certainly be copied, you should also try to identify common patterns in opponent’s behaviour, and the resulting reactions of the professional; you should try to identify why they did what they did, what stimulus made them react that way. As for aiming, while it is for the most part a practised skill, there is still much to be said for certain styles and their propensity to creating great aimers. Think of how many different ways there are to throw a javelin or clean and jerk a barbell, then think of how many you've seen used at the Olympics.