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Online games are more popular than ever, and with them becoming increasingly realistic and intricate, approaching them with a strategy can help you win more often and have more fun.
Having a few tricks up your sleeve when playing any game is advantageous, but when playing competitive games or those involving a stake, it’s essential.
It helps you make the wisest decisions in a variety of situations, enabling you to outsmart opponents and maximize your chances of success. In this article, we explore strategies for some popular online games and offer tips and tricks you can use to your advantage.
Strategies for all online games
When jumping into the world of online gaming, whether in a solo venture or a battle royale environment, it’s always helpful to have a good strategy in mind.
Here’s a breakdown of some useful strategic principles that apply to all online games:
Understanding game mechanics
Game mechanics are the rules that govern a player’s actions within the particular gaming world, similar to how the laws of physics determine what actions are possible in the real world. Chess, for example, comes with a set of rules that enable certain movements on the board while restricting others, allowing for near-endless combinations of actions, but none that breach the rules of the game. You can only develop a strategy once you’re completely clear on what’s actually possible and allowed within the game you’re playing.
Planning strategically
Once you fully understand how a game works, you can begin to develop strategies that improve your chances of winning. Strategic planning involves setting both short-term and long-term goals, while also being able to adapt according to the game’s evolving dynamics. In chess, the game can be broken down into three crucial phases, which are the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. A realistic short-term goal might be to control the center of the board during your opening, which sets up favorable positions for the middlegame.
Learning from mistakes and losses
To continuously refine strategies, learning from previous mistakes and defeats is crucial. Continuing our chess example, post-game analysis is essential for improving as a player and developing more effective approaches. Every mistake is a learning opportunity in chess, as every loss can be traced back to an original error. As a bonus tip, studying chess is actually an excellent way to develop strategic thinking in general, and it has been used in this capacity for thousands of years.
Strategies for popular online games
Here’s a closer look at some effective strategies for popular online games:
Online Blackjack
Blackjack is a game involving skill and randomness, so having a strategy in place can improve the statistical odds of success. Things such as knowing when to double down, split, stick and take a card are just the basics. Beyond this, there are charts you can learn from that tell you the most mathematically favorable actions to take in a given scenario. For example, standing on a hard 17 is generally recommended, as there’s a high likelihood of you going bust if you take a card and the hand is already relatively competitive.
Battle Royale Games
This game type has surged in popularity over recent years, with titles like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) taking center stage. For these games, there are several elements that make up a good strategy, including landing in a good spot, looting quickly and being constantly aware of the safe zone. For example, when choosing a landing spot, consider the trajectory of the aircraft and which spots contain the most loot. Players typically head for the map’s prominent locations, which are often centrally positioned on the map or contain lots of items to pick up.
Open-world Survival
Open-world survival games, like DayZ, present interesting challenges that combine survival mechanics with player interactions in large, often hostile environments. Strategies in these games involve prioritizing your player’s basic needs, like food, water and shelter, above all else. In DayZ, for example, staying near the coast where you spawn until your character is sufficiently healthy and prepared is a good strategy. Approaching other players with caution is also a good idea, as many will trick you in an attempt to steal your loot. At the same time, there is strength in numbers in such games, so communication skills also come in handy.
