Tag Archives: mentalitas pemain esport

Perceiving Athlete’s Struggle from the viewpoint of Esports’ Psychology

“Convenient, isn’t it, getting paid for merely playing games,” that sentence is quite often heard from general public, when they see professional gamer as a profession. What I mean by professional gamers here are those whom are get paid to play games in competitive events. So, the phrase “professional gamers” here does not refer to game streamers or game YouTubers who do not work as esports athletes.

General public, or even gamers themselves often misunderstand working as a professional gamer as easy and fun. Truthfully, this profession is equal to the other professions, they possess their own difficulties and challenges.

Hybrid once brought up on how difficult it is to be the best esports athlete, along with all the sacrifices made by the athletes. The stress level of being an esports athlete is quite high, keeping in mind that they have to fight against many things; their own selves, the rival’s team, and negative comments from haters.

A few while ago, we witnessed how BOOM.ID’s struggle at Bucharest Minor ended beyond expectations. BOOM.ID was considered to give up prematurely while the chance to win was still exist during the battle against TeamTeam. This received the attention of international Dota community and written as “most bizarre ending in Dota 2 History” by joinDOTA, a Dota 2 community page that is recognized by international Dota audience.

This immediately became a sensation over the internet. People shower negative comments with all their might towards one of Indonesia’s Dota 2 team; that is said as a team with the highest commitment. However, does BOOM.ID deserve all the bad comments from the haters and people from the internet just because of that one unfortunate moment?

 

Observing Esports Athlete’s struggle from the viewpoint of Sports Psychology

Yohannes Paraloan Siagian while attending JD.ID pers conference High School League. Source: Line Today
Yohannes Paraloan Siagian while attending JD.ID pers conference High School League. Source: Line Today

Trying to see it from another viewpoint, I was curious to see this case from the psychology’s side. Even though esports psychology is a crucial and difficult thing, unfortunately people underestimate it. Most of the people get straight to the conclusion that a pro player “should have” a great mentality. The truth is, every person’s mentality is different; years of training does not make someone’s mentality become unbreakable.

To answer the question, Hybrid interviewed Yohannes Paraloan Siagian S.Psi. Joey, as his closest people call him, is famous in esports because of his title as the Headmaster of SMA 1 PSKD, the first school in Indonesia which implemented an esports coaching program. Joey told us that he’s a practitioner in sports psychology for almost 20 years. He is experienced on coaching and training athletes and teenagers, some of his apprentices represented Indonesia on national team level.

Witnessing what happened to BOOM.ID on their first game versus TeamTeam, Joey said that the fact is the problem was not merely caused by BOOM.ID solely. According to his observation, both of the teams made the same mistakes. The thing is, BOOM.ID was seen as the one with more mistakes since they were the losing team because of the circumstances. The cause? Joey said that was caused by the players who did not realize about their condition, they were not focused on playing until the game was indeed finished.

Source: The New York Times
Source: The New York Times

According to Joey, that happened because of various factors; some of them are discipline and focus. To explain that, Joey borrowed the analogical term “play to the buzzer” from basketball. This term is used to state a mentality that forces players to focus on their game until the last quarter’s buzz rings without having to think about the result. So, from his opinion, happened because their mentality is not well-trained, either in BOOM.ID or TeamTeam.

So what about the psychology and mentality’s side? Joey explained further that every athlete’s psychological or mental condition, including esports athlete, has their own limits and durability. Like their physique, mental condition needs rest so it could heal to its best state. Generally, someone’s mental can be exhausted, or commonly said as Mental Fatigue. Mental fatigue happened to athletes if they are stressed out, but their strength and stamina are not able to endure everything.

Quoting a psychologists’ writing, named Karen Nimmo from medium.com, there are several indicators when mental fatigue happens to an athlete. According to her opinion, an athlete who is suffering from mental fatigue will make more mistakes, unable to focus, over-think on every aspect that caused anxiety, stiff movement so their performance quality decreased, losing motivation, also bad thoughts appear and they make the athlete scared of doing what they are very proficient at.

Source: KnowTechie
Source: KnowTechie

A competition as majestic as Bucharest Minor is a competition with a huge mental pressure. There are several factors that caused it to happen that way, such as the huge stage, spotlight from international Dota enthusiasts, tough rivals, also the responsibility of carrying their own nations. Facing this competition, it is obvious that an esports athlete must possess a tough mental strength and durability; so mental fatigue will not attack and they could perform well during the competition.

Ending the conversation, I asked: how important it is to have a mental coach in an esports team? “V-E-R-Y!” Joey answered enthusiastically. He said that this aspect should be included in esports coaching program, because just like sports, esports is not all about a good physical condition, but also mental. “Any team that abandons the mental aspects is just like building a house with ignoring several walls then get confused of why it collapsed,” said Joey.

 

A Senior Athlete’s Story about Mental Pressure in a Competition

Koala (Left) with Rex Regum Qeon team while winning the first season of Kaskus Battle Ground. Source: Mineski.net
Koala (Left) with Rex Regum Qeon team while winning the first season of Kaskus Battle Ground. Source: Mineski.net

It is unfair if we do not know the experience from an actual esports athlete. Answering this I asked one of the legendary Dota 2 esports athletes for opinion. The player that I interviewed for this article is a senior player that was enlisted in Rex Regum Qeon team on his last career, Farand ‘Koala’ Kowara. Koala had been involved in Dota 2 since a long time ago, around 2006, and he is a veteran who had faced the harsh DotA competition with XcN team, when Dota 2 had not been released yet. He also won MGC 2008 in China while he was still a member of Fnatic.

Since 2017, Koala retired and chose to step back from the Dota 2 competitive events. The reason for his retirement is to give younger players a chance to show what they have got. Retiring does not make Koala stop keeping an eye on Dota 2 competitive events.

I asked his opinion about what happened at the match between BOOM.ID versus TeamTeam in Bucharest Minor 2019 as well. Koala also admitted that the situation where they were at was such a stressful one. It is not a wonder that the teams were panicking so that situation appeared.

Source: Dunia Games
Source: Dunia Games

Starting from that case, I continued the conversation on how the pressure actually was being an esports athlete. “If they have reached the professional level the responses would be different, they are forced to win, there are rights and obligations, not to mention that they would receive harsh words if they lose, but back again at their own mental strength, it is possible that they could not handle it so they feel pressured but there are those who could so they are fine with it,” added Koala.

He also agreed that the pressure on the stage was very different, it is not equal to an MMR game in Dota 2. “Back to the BOOM moment, if it was an MMR I’m sure they are aware of the situation. But that was different, they were on the stage, the pressure was clearly different. It happened to the others as well, not only BOOM,” stated Koala.

Source: Dota 2 Blog
Source: Dota 2 Blog

Speaking of pressure in a match, Koala also told that he was not a stranger to the said condition. “It often happened, almost every big qualifier or competition final, the mental pressure like that was present,” Koala said. He continued that how much pressure in a team depends on how much they care about people’s expectation, also how much does the team want to win. The more the player or team care about those internal and external factors, it is possible that the pressure will be bigger.

So, how to face such a stressful condition like this? Every individual has their own way and strategy, also depends on their own mental strength and stamina. Koala told us that he had a quite simple option. “Just play and have fun, don’t think about the result, play and do your best,” he said, ending the conversation with Hybrid.

If we reflect on how Indonesian esports team often failed on international events, I think it is already time to bring an athlete psychologist. Regarding that, Joey also explained that it does not have to be a special mental coach who is a graduate from the Psychology major. In his opinion, a technical and mental coach is alright, as long as they understand and willing to learn about psychology and athlete’s mentality in a match.

However, if we observe the ability or teamwork of Indonesia’s athletes, they can be said as bad; sometimes it could be said that they are better than international players. It is proven by some of the Indonesian players’ skills which are respected by international esports figures, for example, Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand from CS: GO or Kenny “Xepher” Deo from Dota 2.

In the end, mental training and the understanding of esports psychology that is implemented as hard as playing skill training will also make Indonesian player to successfully roar their name in the world level. Even though, this thing depends on each of the players’ ability to absorb those various trainings.


The original article is in Indonesian, translated by Kristin Siagian

Melihat Perjuangan Atlet dari Sudut Pandang Psikologi Esports

“Wah enak ya cuma main game doang bisa dapat uang” kalimat tersebut cukup sering dikatakan oleh orang awam, ketika melihat profesi gamers profesional. Maksud saya gamers profesional di sini adalah mereka yang bermain game dibayar untuk bertanding di ajang kompetitif. Jadi kata gamers profesional di sini tidak termasuk game streamer atau pun youtuber game yang tidak berprofesi sebagai atlet esports.

Masyarakat awam, atau mungkin bahkan gamer itu sendiri, sering salah kaprah mengira bekerja sebagai gamer profesional itu mudah serta menyenangkan. Padahal profesi ini seperti profesi lainnya, memiliki kesulitan dan tantangannya tersendiri. 

Hybrid sempat membahas bagaimana beratnya menjadi atlet esports yang terbaik, berikut dengan berbagai pengorbanan yang harus dilakukan oleh para atlet. Tingkat stres menjadi seorang atlet esports terbilang cukup tinggi, mengingat mereka harus bangkit melawan banyak hal; diri sendiri, tim musuh yang dihadapi, dan gempuran nyinyiran para haters.

Beberapa waktu yang lalu kita juga melihat bagaimana perjuangan BOOM.ID di Bucharest Minor berakhir di luar ekspektasi. BOOM.ID dianggap menyerah terlalu dini ketika harapan dalam pertandingan melawan TeamTeam sebenarnya masih ada. Hal ini segera mendapat perhatian dari komunitas dota internasional dan ditulis sebagai “most bizarre ending in Dota 2 History” oleh joinDOTA, salah satu laman situs komunitas Dota 2 yang diakui khalayak Dota internasional.

Ini segera menjadi santapan hangat bagi para netizen. Mereka langsung saja sekuat tenaga memberikan komentar negatif kepada salah satu tim Dota 2 Indonesia ini, yang bisa dibilang sebagai tim dengan komitmen paling tinggi. Namun apakah BOOM.ID berhak atas semua omongan buruk para haters dan juga netizen hanya karena satu momen buruk tersebut?

Menilik Kerasnya Perjuangan Atlet esports Dari Sudut Pandang Psikologi Olahraga

Sumber: today.line.me
Yohannes Paraloan Siagian saat menghadiri konferensi pers JD.ID High School League. Sumber: Line Today

Mencoba melihat dari sudut pandang lain, saya penasaran ingin melihat kasus ini dari sudut pandang psikologi. Walau psikologi esports adalah hal yang krusial dan tidak mudah, namun sayang kerap dianggap remeh. Kebanyakan orang biasanya langsung sampai pada kesimpulan bahwa seorang pro player “harusnya” punya mental yang mantap. Nyatanya, mentalitas setiap orang berbeda-beda, latihan keras bertahun-tahun tak lantas membuat mental seorang manusia jadi unbreakable.

Untuk menjawab hal tersebut Hybrid mewawancarai Yohannes Paraloan Siagian S.Psi. Sosok yang akrab disapa Joey ini terkenal di dunia esports karena jabatannya sebagai Kepala Sekolah SMA 1 PSKD, sekolah pertama di Indonesia yang memiliki program pembinaan esports. Joey bercerita bahwa dirinya sudah hampir 20 tahun menjadi praktisi di bidang psikologi olahraga. Ia punya pengalaman membina dan melatih atlet serta remaja, bahkan beberapa yang ia latih pernah mewakili Indonesia di tingkat tim nasional.

Melihat apa yang terjadi pada BOOM.ID dalam game pertama melawan TeamTeam, Joey mengatakan bahwa nyatanya kesalahan tersebut sebenarnya bukan soal BOOM.ID saja. Menurut pengamatannya pada keadaan itu, kedua tim sebenarnya melakukan kesalahan yang sama. Hanya saja BOOM.ID ketika itu kelihat lebih salah, karena mereka yang kalah gara gara keadaan tersebut. Penyebabnya? Menurut Joey hal tersebut dikarenakan mereka yang tidak sadar dengan keadaan, tidak fokus main sampai permainan benar-benar selesai.

Sumber: nytimes.com
Sumber: The New York TImes

Menurutnya keadaan tersebut bisa terjadi karena beberapa faktor, salah satunya adalah soal disiplin dan fokus. Untuk menjelaskan hal tersebut, Joey lalu meminjam analogi dari olahraga bola basket yang punya istilah “play to the buzzer”. Istilah ini digunakan untuk menyebut mentalitas permainan yang memaksa pemain untuk tetap fokus bermain, sampai bel babak terakhir berbunyi, tanpa perlu memikirkan hasil. Jadi, menurutnya, kasus tersebut bisa terjadi karena mentalitas itu kurang terlatih, baik di dalam tim BOOM.ID ataupun TeamTeam itu sendiri.

Lalu bagaimana dari sisi psikologi dan mentalitas? Joey menjelaskan lebih lanjut bahwa keadaan psikologis atau mental dari setiap atlet, termasuk atlet esports, memiliki batasan tenaga serta daya tahan. Seperti fisik, kekuatan mental juga butuh istirahat agar bisa kembali prima. Jadi secara umum mental juga dapat mengalami kelelahan atau disebut juga sebagai Mental Fatigue. Keadaan mental fatigue bisa terjadi pada atlet jika mereka mengalami tekanan yang sangat tinggi, namun kekuatan serta stamina mental mereka sudah tak sanggup menahan segalah hal tersebut.

Mengutip tulisan psikolog bernama Karen Nimmo dari medium.com, ada beberapa indikator ketika mental fatigue terjadi pada atlet. Menurutnya dalam keadaan mental fatigue, atlet akan lebih sering melakukan kesalahan, sulit untuk fokus, overthinking terhadap segala hal yang menciptakan keresahan, pergerakan kaku sehingga performa menurun, kehilangan motivasi, serta munculnya pikiran buruk yang membuat atlet takut salah bahkan dalam melakukan hal yang ia sangat mahir.

Sumber: knowtechie.com
Sumber: KnowTechie

Kompetisi sebesar Bucharest Minor merupakan kompetisi dengan tekanan mental yang sangat tinggi. Ada beberapa faktor penyebab kompetisi ini memberi tekanan mental tinggi, seperti panggung besar, sorotan khalayak Dota internasional, lawan kelas berat, serta tanggungan beban membawa nama baik negara sendiri. Menghadapi kompetisi ini, jelas seorang atlet esports harus memiliki kekuatan mental yang besar serta stamina mental yang tinggi; agar tidak mengalami mental fatigue dan bisa mengeluarkan performa konsisten sepanjang kompetisi.

Menutup obrolan, saya menanyakan soal pentingnya kehadiran pelatih mental di dalam sebuah tim esports? “S-A-N-G-A-T!!” Jawab Joey semangat. Ia mengatakan bahwa aspek tersebut harus ada di dalam program pelatihan esports, karena esports layaknya olahraga, bukan hanya soal fisik tapi juga mental yang prima. “Tim apapun yang mengabaikan aspek mental ibarat membangun rumah dengan mengabaikan beberapa tembok kemudian bingung kenapa rumah tersebut bisa roboh” ucap Joey.

Cerita Atlet Esports Senior Soal Tekanan Mental di Dalam Sebuah Kompetisi

Sumber: mineski.net
Koala (Pojok kiri) bersama tim Rex Regum Qeon saat memenangkan Kaskus Battle Ground musim pertama. Sumber: Mineski.net

Tak adil rasanya jika kita tidak melihat dari sisi pengalaman sang atlet esports itu sendiri. Menjawab hal ini saya menanyakan pendapat salah satu atlet esports Dota 2 legendaris. Pemain yang jadi narasumber untuk artikel ini adalah seorang pemain senior yang terakhir kali bermain di dalam tim Rex Regum Qeon, yaitu Farand ‘Koala’ Kowara. Koala berkarir di dunia esports Dota 2 sejak dari lama, sekitar tahun 2006, dan ia sudah menghadapi kerasnya jagat kompetisi DotA bersama tim XcN, ketika bahkan Dota 2 belum rilis. Dulu ia juga bahkan sempat memenangkan MGC 2008 di Tiongkok saat masih bergabung di Fnatic.

Sejak tahun 2017 lalu, Koala sudah gantung keyboard dan memilih untuk undur diri dari jagat kompetitif Dota 2. Alasan ia gantung keyboard adalah untuk memberi kesempatan kepada pemain-pemain muda agar dapat menunjukkan bakatnya. Namun pensiun bukan berarti Koala sepenuhnya mundur dan tidak mengamati situasi dalam jagat kompetitif Dota.

Saya pun menanyakan soal pendapatnya terhadap apa yang terjadi dalam pertandingan BOOM.ID melawan TeamTeam di Bucharest Minor 2019. Koala juga turut mengakui bahwa situasi yang mereka alami tersebut merupakan situasi penuh tekanan. Tak heran jika mereka secara tim keseluruhan mengalami panik sampai akhirnya menciptakan keadaan tersebut.

Sumber: duniagames.co.id
Sumber: Dunia Games

Berangkat dari kasus tersebut, saya melanjutkan perbincangan membicarakan soal bagaimana sebenarnya tekanan dari menjadi seorang atlet esports. Koala menceritakan pengalamannya sendiri sambil menceritakan cerita kawan-kawannya yang juga berjuang di jagat esports Dota 2.

Menurutnya soal tekanan itu tergantung dari masing-masing orang, seberapa serius mereka menekuni dunia esports. “Tetapi jika sudah mencapai tingkat profesional tangapannya pasti berbeda, mereka dituntut untuk menang, ada hak dan kewajiban, belum lagi kalau kalah dibacotin, tapi balik lagi ke kekuatan mental individunya sendiri, ada yang bisa aja nggak kuat lalu merasa tertekan ada yang cukup kuat jadi biasa aja.” Tambah Koala.

Ia juga mengamini bahwa tekanan pertandingan di atas panggung itu jauh berbeda, tentunya tidak sebanding jika dibandingkan dengan sebuah game MMR di Dota 2. “Balik lagi ke momen BOOM, kalau game MMR gue yakin mereka pasti bisa sadar dengan keadaan. Tapi ini beda, ini tanding di panggung, tekanannya sudah jelas beda. Hal itu nggak cuma dialami BOOM kok, semua tim juga kaya itu” jelas Koala.

Sumber: dota2.com
Sumber: Dota 2 Blog

Bicara soal tekanan di dalam pertandingan Koala pun menceritakan bahwa dirinya sendiri cukup sering mengalami hal tersebut. “Hal kaya gitu sering banget, hampir setiap kali qualifier besar atau final kompetisi pasti ada pressure mental kaya gitu” cerita Koala. Ia melanjutkan bahwa seberapa besar tekanan dalam tim, itu tergantung seberapa besar tim tersebut peduli dengan ekspektasi orang sekitar, serta seberapa besar keinginan suatu tim untuk menang. Semakin besar pemain atau tim tersebut peduli dengan faktor eksternal dan internal tersebut, bukan tidak mungkin tekanan yang dialami akan semakin tinggi.

Lalu bagaimana cara untuk menghadapi keadaan penuh tekanan seperti ini? Setiap individu tentu punya cara dan siasatnya tersendiri, juga tergantung dari kekuatan serta stamina mental seseorang. Koala cerita ia punya cara yang cukup sederhana. “Just play and have fun, gak usah mikirin hasil, main dan lakukan yang terbaik” jawab Koala menutup obrolan kepada Hybrid.

Jika melihat bagaimana tim esports Indonesia kerap gagal ketika main di panggung internasional, saya merasa memang sudah saatnya menghadirkan sosok psikolog atlet. Terkait hal itu Joey juga menjelaskan bahwa memang tak harus selalu ada coach khusus mental yang merupakan lulusan psikologi. Menurutnya coach rangkap teknis dengan mental pun tak apa, selama ia mengerti serta mau belajar soal psikologi dan mentalitas atlit di dalam sebuah pertandingan.

Bagaimanapun jika melihat kemampuan bermain atau kerjasama permainan atlet-atlet Indonesia, mereka semua tak bisa dikatakan buruk; malah kadang bisa jadi lebih bagus dari pemain internasional. Terbukti beberapa pemain Indonesia skill-nya diakui oleh khalayak esports internasional, Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand dari CS:GO atau Kenny “Xepher” Deo dari Dota 2 contohnya.

Akhirnya, pelatihan mental dan pemahaman psikologi esports yang dilakukan sama kerasnya dengan pelatihan skill bermain tentunya akan membuat lebih banyak lagi para pemain Indonesia yang sukses menggaungkan namanya di tingkat dunia. Meski memang, hal ini juga akan kembali lagi ke kecepatan masing-masing pemain dalam menyerap berbagai pelatihan tersebut.