The age of the negative gamer stereotype is over. Now nestled firmly in pop culture, we have Fortnite references in Avengers movies, Henry Cavill freely admits he’d rather be raiding in WoW than going to a club, Terry Crews livestreams putting together a PC, and any pair of shoes with a Pac-Man maze or Tetris blocks is geek chic.
The stereotypes were hard to perish. But now that boss fight is over, the gaming community is a little freer to explore genuine health concerns of our favoured hobby.
In the streaming and esports spaces, this is a big priority. As the money on all sides of esports increases, players and organisations leverage more resources to get whatever edge they can find. The trend towards physiotherapists, sports psychologists, and nutrition experts points to what’s become the latest competitive advantage: a healthier lifestyle.
We spoke to two of Australia’s prominent esports stars about how they look after their physical and mental health while performing at their peak. In all cases, one thing stands out — the measures taken for health are often the same measures you’d take to give yourself an advantage in the game.
Tasman ‘Waz’ Stoker has been taking on the world’s best in Mortal Kombat for years. Unlike team esports, Mortal Kombat is 1v1, meaning all the pressure lies on your shoulders alone — and Waz has found a magic bullet to ease the pressure.
“I think the rest of the scene is sleeping on meditation,” he says. “Every day before a tournament, I’ll meditate. If you watch the streams, you can even see me meditating between rounds. In an important match against a big international player, I’ve found meditation brings my nerves almost down to zero.”
On top of that, Waz has found that regular physical activity helps not only his gaming, but his streaming. In addition to regular intense exercise most days, between rounds he finds it’s helpful to get up and stretch a bit.
Armed with the Headspace app and a fitness plan, Waz has been able to take on powerhouse names in the Mortal Kombat scene before coronavirus shut down world travel. But keeping fit has also been key to his streaming schedule.
“When you’re streaming, there are often long hours where you don’t really get a break,” he said. “If it weren’t for exercise, I think I would have burned out a long time ago. It’s so important to keep a balance of doing life stuff as well. If you end up playing too much of the game, you’ll find you end up not liking it as much anyway.”
Australian pro Rocket League player Ben ‘Cavemanben’ Bliss concurs, and has breathing and mindfulness techniques he uses to calm himself for big matches.
“It helps with slowing down the heart rate,” he told us. “Within 12 seconds you can go from high adrenaline to quite mellow. You need to stay cool and composed in Rocket League. You need to make calm, rational decisions followed by complex mechanical inputs.”
Even something simple like a pass can be quite a complex action in Rocket League, making it quite a mental game despite its easy-to-understand appearance.
It can be mentally draining, and it’s also important to minimise the harmful effects of long sedentary periods with narrow, finite motor movements.
Lots of players get carpal tunnel syndrome – a natural hazard of repetitive motions with the hands – so Cavemanben does some stretching and applies an ice pack after long gaming sessions.
Although esports has exploded in the last decade, staying healthy to be at the top of one’s game was common even back in 1999. Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendell, about to become the top player in multiple FPS games at the time, had a secret weapon: Tennis. After daily time with a different kind of server, he advocated both its physical and neurological benefits.
Wendell was at the pinnacle of shooting games, and maintained picture-perfect health throughout. He sang the praises of exercise because he felt great, but he also talked about maintaining healthy “neuroreceptors,” which he credited with increasing his reaction speeds. On its own, that should be enough to convince anyone that physical health isn’t separated from esports ability.
That was the secret to Fatal1ty becoming the Quake III Arena champion, and later Painkiller, AvP2, and Doom 3, which ultimately led to sponsorship deals that carried the Fatal1ty name onto the parts inside our PC cases.
The Korean esports world is known for perhaps the harshest training conditions, with Starcraft players practising for 10, 12, sometimes even more hours in a day. But it wasn’t sustainable, and the entire scene faced that harsh reality when Lee ‘Flash’ Young Ho, formerly the world’s best Starcraft player, had to undergo surgery due to wrist pain.
The dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome is more of a general “office” injury than a “gaming” injury, and anyone using the mouse is advised to refrain from putting any weight on their wrist — it’s preferable to rest the elbow on an armrest while keeping the wrist off of the desk. Mouse-related injuries often manifest themselves as shoulder or neck pain as well.
Ironically, most computer chairs marketed as “gaming chairs” are not a great fit for long hours of gaming (or anything else). They lack the lumbar support ventilation to keep you comfortable. Office chairs with better lumbar support, flexible tilt options, and mesh material for airflow are ideal for your back long-term.
This is important for thinking about your posture as well. When arriving at Team Liquid, Jonathan ‘Elige’ Jablonowski was advised that in addition to doing four workouts per week, he’d need to fix his sitting posture and position his eyes about two thirds up the monitor. He also often uses a standing desk.
Combine that with standing up regularly to stretch or move around to get your blood flow pumping, and you’ve got a recipe for longevity in esports. In fact, Elige was the first pro player at Liquid to use a standing desk.
Waz feels the same. “I just keep an eye on posture and fix it where necessary, and I’ve found it actually helps my performance in the game as well. When I’m playing slouched, I’m less focused, it’s not as intense. Whereas when you’re sitting properly, it’s easier to focus.”
When travelling for tournaments internationally, the setup is always different — meaning Waz’s habits need to not only be healthy, but flexible.
“The same goes for working out,” says Waz. “I go to the gym pretty consistently, five days a week. Initially I didn’t really see the value of it, but a year and a half into it, I feel like physical health is one of the bigger factors that can improve your game a lot. You play sharper, it takes longer to be fatigued, and I personally feel like I play a lot better now than I did before I started working out.”
“The main thing I’d emphasise is balance,” says Cavemanben. “Making sure that you’re not burning yourself out. I’ve got Rocket League, my social life, uni, and exercise.“
If the notion of long-term health and an extended career isn’t enough to convince budding esports stars to pay attention to posture, mindfulness, and exercise, then perhaps the competitive advantage will be. The global pandemic may have shut down the flashy tournament arenas, but esports viewership was up all throughout 2020 and with ever-increasing prize pools, competitors will be looking for any advantage they can get. This one just happens to be the right move for longevity as well.
Queensland Health have more information on what sitting for long periods and overuse of screens can do to your body and some simple ways to end your unhealthy relationships with them. To find out more, check out their website or search ‘dump the junk’.
