In the high stakes world of professional gaming, tournaments with million dollar prize pools continue ballooning as eSports penetrate mainstream culture. And while reflexes and strategy separate the wheat from chaff in the server, a key advantage lives outside direct competition – the relentless quest for self-improvement through learning.
Just as the most elite FPS players fine-tune sensitivity down to single digits of precision for that extra 1% edge, knowledge accrued from books, courses and coaches can set up overall success. Mastering advanced tactics expands playbook creativity for impactful decision making. Deeper theoretical comprehension unlocks innovation.
But with infinitely complex games, ever-evolving metas in genres like MMORPGs and MOBAs, brutal 60+ hour grind weeks, and more – how do ambitious gamers choose which skills to sharpen beyond the raw technical? How to allocate precious time studying away from the rig to maximize ROI?
Fortunately, services like Blinkist and Shortform that condense top titles into digestible guides provide fuel for growth during brief gaps waiting in lobbies and queue pops. Let‘s dive into criteria for identifying truly game-changing books amidst the grind.
In online gaming, anyone can claim authority selling courses or publishing advice. But who actually has the experience and credentials that command respect?
Here are key questions to filter material:
Background Check – What Rank is this Sensei?
- Do they actively compete at a professional or top amateur level currently themselves?
- Or did they retire years ago still clinging to outdated evolutions of the play environment?
- Have they led and developed multiple championship-caliber teams or solo carried lower ranks before needing better teammates for the highest elo brackets?
Like checking achievement unlocks and tournament standings, vetting mentors‘ background offers an initial sniff test before investing in their advice.
Does it Unlock New Strategies or Just Recycle Common Knowledge?
- Are concrete, specific tactics and ideas presented explaining how to implement them?
- Or mostly vague rah-rah motivation about maintaining a positive attitude and visualizing victory?
High level insight should clearly convey actionable strategic advantage you can instantly integrate into competitive gameplay. Not platitudes that any casual Twitch stream fan parrots daily.
Relevance to My Current Grinding Goals
- Does the knowledge address glaring gaps holding my rank or win rate back?
- Are technical skills taught that my main champion crucially relies on?
- Will I gain insider macro perspective that reduces in-game guesswork?
Truly useful learning targets our immediate map, hero pool and positions rather than general curiosity. It directly tackles obstacles obstructing the next milestone rank promotion.
Okay, equipped with filtering criteria for spotting primo gamer growth resources – let’s overview condensed learning services before comparing head-to-head.
Blinkist, founded in Berlin in 2012, offers bite-sized summaries of top non-fiction books – key ideas crammed into 15 minute “blinks” for easy snacking. Like energy bars you quickly scarf down in champ select to nourish your brain.
Their catalog spans business, productivity, personal growth and more – but light on tactical gaming content. More brain junk food than training nutrition.
Whereas Shortform, launched in 2019 in Washington D.C., structures digests as focused learning sprints. Retention and comprehension reign supreme. Less about breezing through a breadth of titles – more methodically grinding out their essence.
This distinction makes Shortform better fit for gamers chasing elo. Let’s break down how.
Content Quality – Theory to Execution
Blinkist summaries often breeze surface level over ideas at a cracking pace. Jumping scattershot between bullet points rather than fluid strategic revelations.
Shortform aims deeper – not just quoting key principles but explaining how to execute them yourself. Their book guides embed memory prompts, quiz questions, analogies and devices recognizing gamerprefer direct demonstrated application over purely theoretical description.
For instance, breaking down levels into smaller milestones, celebrating micro-wins, rewarding effort not just outcomes – concepts sport psychologists preach to maintain motivation and mitigate tilt. Shortform adds tangible specifics bringing the advice to life.
Library Comparison – Surface Breadth vs Focused Depth
With over 4500 titles, Blinkist undoubtedly provides insane jack of all trades breadth – from poetry to blockchain to habit alchemy and Zen. Truly an eye-opening intellectual buffet.
But for obsessively goal-oriented gamers chasing elite competitive play, Shortform’s tighter catalogue depth proves more practical. Around 3000 works curated for comprehension – masterfully distilling seminal texts on focus, strategic thinking, learning acceleration and progress tracking.
These high leverage skills separate good talent with poor work ethic from great talent relentlessly sharpening their edge in VOD review and 1v1 drill sessions with coaches.
In iconic feats like SumaiL’s $6,000,000 TI5 ECHO SLAM at age 16, early adoption of high level concepts manifested in peak execution when it mattered most. Shortform’s titles transparently convey the key mental models underpinning such young phenom development stories.
Comprehension Features – Quest Design for Knowledge Retention
While Blinkist definitely wins for bite-sized micro learning binging, Shortform’s proprietary memory reinforcement tactics greatly boost actually retaining ideas long term:
- Spaced repetition of key concepts
- Chunking frameworks into memorable schemas
- Mnemonic devices associating concepts to gaming imagery
- Quizzes validating recall and identifying weak spots needing further grind
These learning science-backed methods help noobs and vets alike intimately incorporate non-fiction perspectives into their play.
Pricing – ROI on Resource Investments
Both Blinkist and Shortform offer free trials before reasonable subscription plans unlock full access:
- Blinkist Premium – $60 yearly for unlimited blinks
- Shortform Premium – $50 annual covering their entire catalogue of mini gamer strategy guides
For cost-efficient access to condensed competitive wisdom priming continuous improvement, Shortform brings slightly more value per dollar invested given their tighter niche serving serious players.
Final Thoughts – The Winning Combo
Rather than viewing self-education as an either-or choice between lengthy deep dives into singular titles versus quick superficial skims across many, integrating both drives optimal improvement arc progression for elite gamers.
Blinkist’s volume and brevity makes it quicker to pinpoint promising concepts from bestselling authors. Shortform’s comprehension and memory focus then empowers genuinelly skill-building mastery of chosen few game-changing frameworks.
This balanced combo allows efficiently identifying then deeply integrating the most impactful principles into your playstyle from the ever-growing gaming strategy metagame.
The journey to the top of the ranked ladder is lifelong. Consistent small optimizations compound into massive advantage over time. Masterful self-education through services like Blinkist and Shortform will prove definitive difference-makers in clutching victory.
So get grinding and glhf!