When you play competitive games like League of Legends or Overwatch, you can climb the ranks early on as your basic mechanics and instincts improve. But at some point, even though you're fully immersed, your rank stalls. Sometimes it even drops. Immersion is supposed to make you better, so why doesn't it? Is this a matter of talent? How can you raise your rank?
From a certain point on, playing with nothing but immersion isn't enough. You need advice from someone better than you, or tips from people who know more. On YouTube there are plenty of videos where pro gamers give feedback on people's play. In an Overwatch video I used to watch, the pros could tell a player's tier at a glance just from watching them play. In other words, there are weaknesses that I can't see but a pro can. That's why what you need is correction through feedback, not mere immersion. And that process comes with discomfort, because you have to play differently from the way you're used to, and it feels unfamiliar. This is exactly what I mean by deliberate practice.
If you want the details, I recommend Peak (published in Korea as The Rediscovery of 10,000 Hours), written by Anders Ericsson, the person who coined the concept of deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is defined as follows:
- Practice aimed at improving performance
- Creating separate tasks that shore up your weaknesses. Observing your practice to get feedback on what to fix
- It's hard work while you're doing it, so it isn't very enjoyable
- (optional) The practice must be designed by a coach
In truth, the definition of deliberate practice is sometimes inconsistent. That's also why number 4 is optional. Practice without number 4 is either called purposeful practice, or sometimes it just gets classified as deliberate practice anyway.
Realistically, though, it's hard for us to have a coach for every kind of practice, and even doing 1 through 3 properly is difficult, so here I'll count anything that includes 1 through 3 as deliberate practice.
When we practice something, we tend to unconsciously do only what we're already good at. That's because it tends to feel less effortful. Practicing what we're good at is comfortable and enjoyable, so we drift toward it. In short, we keep doing what we've always done.
Deliberate practice, on the other hand, goes after the parts that feel uncomfortable. It targets what lies outside the comfort zone. Since it means identifying and shoring up your weaknesses, you could see it as strengthening the Chain Systems. The abilities required in games, careers, sports, and so on are never just one thing; they demand many abilities at once. And if even one of them falls to a failing grade, it eventually causes problems. From this angle, periodically figuring out where your weak points are and shoring them up helps you move ahead.