Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) that has become popular in Southeast Asia since its release in 2016. It has gotten so prolific that is has become one of the games chosen for the first medal event eSports competition at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Gaming has been shown to improve skills that go beyond the scope of the computer or mobile phone. Being conscious of builds and damage output improves mental math skills. A study from the University of Toronto found that people who regularly play video games, particularly action titles like ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Assassin’s Creed’, perform better in sensorimotor tasks and improve hand-eye coordination, than people who do not play video games. Playing games can also be considered as a practice in persistence.
Here are other lessons you can learn when playing Mobile Legends: Bang Bang!
Teamwork
Everyone in the team has a role to play. Some will shine during the early game. Some will need to wait until mid- to late-game. Some will need to play support. Have you seen how Aura’s Rafflesia used Diggie to declare dominance over their battle with Execration?
And then there are times when you get teamed up with people you don’t know. Just like in life, sometimes we need to deal with people we don’t know or even people we don’t like. To succeed, we need to work and band together. A fragmented team strategy will make winning much more tedious and will only result in members getting annoyed and resorting to blaming each other. Having the highest KDA does not automatically mean that the team achieves victory.
No one can take care of the entire enemy team and simultaneously take care of the minions attacking your base. Much like in life, sometimes you need to regroup. Other times, you need to restrategize. At all times, you need to be aware of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. You don’t send Estes to solo the turtle after all.
Decisiveness
Playing Mobile Legends can be stressful because you have to pay attention to a lot of things that are going on. The same can be said about life in general. You have to adapt to the situations and scenarios that life gives you. Most of the times, you are put in a position where you have to think on your toes and decide immediately.
Because new information is constantly being displayed during the game, players are forced to adapt quickly or die. In one study, players who were immersed in fast-paced games were 25% faster in reacting to questions about an image they had just seen compared to non-players.
In the game, much like in life, there is no one strategy to counter all strategies. Strategies, plans and tactics all need to change to accommodate discovered opportunities and threats. An ambush in-game will either make you call for help or make a strategic retreat. The principle of “practice makes perfect” applies here. By strengthening your mind, you will soon get used to making quick decisions to solve problems.
Epic comeback
Even when things did not go well at the start, you can still flip things around and win. Observe the situation and look for opportunities you can maximize to get you closer to victory. In life, it is all about mentality. Self-awareness and an unshakable stability of willpower will grant you what is often called “grace under pressure.” This is a mental set-up you need to recover from mistakes and stumbles in life.
I remember this one game. All our towers have already been destroyed by the enemy team. My team and I have all retreated to our base to take care of our two remaining turrets. We were outgunned by their sheer damage output. I looked at the enemy team’s positioning. Four members of the enemy team were focusing on our base’s middle entrance, while their high-DPS Kimmy was soloing our base’s top tower.
I decided to switch my gears to go pure DPS. I figured I had to perfectly time when I should show up to face Kimmy. The enemy’s Kimmy will be waiting for mobs to accompany her to the tower so that the mobs can tank our turret’s damage. The mobs will make her less wary and more confident of approaching the tower. The other players from the enemy team were still engaged in a 4vs4 combat at the middle entrance of our base.
The mobs are now attacking the top turret; Kimmy has crept out of the bushes to join the mobs. It was then that I went one-on-one with Kimmy where I was able to outgun her thanks to my AoE skills making short work of the enemy mobs leaving her to deal with the combined damage output from me and the tower.
With a few remaining seconds from my ultimate skill, I went straight to the middle entrance of our base from the outside and then my teammates and I were able to pin the remaining enemies in a pincer attack. A few seconds later, the enemy team players all died, giving us free rein to head straight and wreak havoc to their undefended base.
What other lessons have you learned from playing online games and how have you applied them in your life or career? Please comment below.