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Testing e-sport athletes : A study on competitive gaming

Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Aim The main purpose of this study was to compose and test the validity of a cognitive test battery to determine e-sport athletes’ strengths and weaknesses. The second purpose was to investigate their physical fitness. Hypothesis 1: The elite players will perform better in a number of cognitive and fine motor tasks compared to recreational gamers. Hypothesis 2: The elite players’ aerobic capacity cannot be very low (<2,5 VO2 L/min for 20-29 year olds) according to Andersson since that would affect their e-sport performance negatively. Hypothesis 3: A great number of the elite players will not be able to match the demands (>198 seconds) for a healthy back in the Biering-Sørensen test. Method 25 male test subjects were divided into three groups, elite players (E) [10], recreational players (R) [10] and non-players (N) [5]. The elite group consisted of two professional e-sport teams á five persons, one Counter Strike: Global Offensive-team (CS) and one League of Legends-team (LOL), ranging between 17 and 25 years of age (mean age 21,5). R ranged between 21 and 29 years of age (mean 24,9) had all played fighting games, MOBA, online-FPS, online-3PS or RTS games minimum once a week in a 6 month period or more but never competed in them. N ranged between 25 and 32 (mean 28, 4) years of age and had at a maximum tried these kinds of games but never used them for recreational purposes. E, R and N performed a test battery for reaction speed, strategy, perception, situation awareness, keyboard stamina, hand-eye coordination, spatial orientation and anticipatory skill. E was also tested for physical fitness through Ekblom-Bak submaximal cycle ergometer test and back strength with Biering-Sørensens (BS) test. Results E estimated VO2max was 3,83 L/min (SD = 0,38) and E’s mean result from BS back test was 133 s (SD = 54). The elite players did not perform significantly better in any of the cognitive or fine motor task than the recreational players. Conclusion The elite player’s results from the BS test confirms hypothesis 3 and indicates unhealthy backs. The only significant difference within the cognitive tests between E and R is to the E groups disadvantage; surprisingly they showed inferior results in the anticipatory skill test. Their aerobic capacity confirms hypothesis 2, the elite players VO2max was not very low, placing the E group in the upper half of the average in their age group. Furthermore, the test battery cannot be used for talent scouting but could possibly be used to determine cognitive weaknesses.
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W187133597
Cites: 32
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Related to: 10