Growing up, my family was not big on games. Sure, we had checkers and other basics but no one was a chess player. Chess itself is a fascinating game and it's rather analogous to what I am aspiring towards in this blog. It is the intellectual's entertainment, played casually or competitively. There's a kind of pride, an air of loftiness when one asks, “Want to play a game of chess?” So, for me, going from checkers to chess was like being a hillbilly who got taken to Paris.
What does this have to do with video gaming?
For the past four months I have gotten into Riot's League of Legends. In a big way. Unique to any other game I had played before, it possessed a level of gameplay that was intensely intricate and exciting. But it was also one of the most daunting challenges I had faced in my gaming career. For those of you who don't know, League of Legends (or LoL as I will refer to it from here on out) is a free to play RTS/RPG hybrid that is based strongly on a player versus player component in the form of team battles. This is where my lack of chess experience came to hinder me.
Imagine chess as the roots of a gaming tree. This tree represents all games in the strategy genre. Now, from the massive roots we travel along to the video game branches which include RTS (real-time strategy such as StarCraft), TBS (turn-based strategy like Civilization), and TBT (turn-based tactics such as Fire Emblem though it is also of the RPG genre). Despite all the trappings, these games still share much in common with their progenitor. For now, being that I am discussing LoL specifically, let's look at the similarities and differences between chess and an RTS style game:
Similarities:
*Played on a grid, or map (often these are heavily grid based in games)
*Contains different units with specific abilities
*A game consists of different phases (opening, middlegame, endgame)
Differences:
*Time may or may not be a factor
*Chess usually only consists of 2 players (though there are variants) whereas an RTS can have multiple modes: single player (often called a campaign), multiplayer or massively multiplayer.
*RTS games often contain the additional elements of an economy and resources.
*RTS games are often themed, taking chess' black versus white to narrative levels which commonly are that of war or competition.
With chess not being a game played by my family, by proxy I would not be exposed to RTS games till much later. Back to LoL—while it contains most of the RTS elements, its major difference is that the player only has one major unit (the champion) and their own abilities (as the Summoner). Team composition is a crucial component, especially at higher level, where even though the player has control over one unit the team can synergize with their allies' units. Also, though champions can be grouped into certain categories based on their abilities and play styles, there are still over 60 unique champions to play. Far more variations than one would experience in a chess game. Still, missing the chess fundamentals of strategy, multitasking, and game phases left me at a severe disadvantage when beginning to play.
Chess and any strategy game such as LoL requires a certain type of mentality to be any good at it. I would define it as a layered thinking, one that works on several levels simultaneously that encompasses projective thought and reactive response. Personally, this is an extremely awarding mindset: stimulating beyond compare. It favors a quick mind and emphasizes the importance of the “right moment”, that is when to act versus when to stay your hand. I had experienced this in other video games of course, in a platformer if you jump at the wrong time as a bridge is swaying between a chasm you will plummet to your death, but never in such a concentrated dose.
This mentality is the main reason I see chess, RTS games, and LoL as pivotal to my training. If I can attain that mindset I'll be able to dissect most competitive play into heavily analyzed levels, plan ahead numerous steps. Whether I can apply it to the other genres of games remains to be seen but regardless, I think chess fundamentals are a universal entity in the gaming world.
