Arousal/Stress Effects of “Overwatch” eSports Game Competition in Collegiate Gamers

Kraemer, WJ, Caldwell, LK, Post, EM, Beeler, MK, Emerson, A, Volek, JS, Maresh, CM, Fogt, JS, Fogt, N, Häkkinen, K, Newton, RU, Lopez, P, Sanchez, BN, and Onate, JA. Arousal/stress effects of “Overwatch” eSports game competition in collegiate gamers. J Strength Cond Res 36(10): 2671–2675, 2022—To date, no physical response data are available for one of the most popular eSport games, Overwatch. The purpose of this investigation was to describe the stress signaling associated with competitive Overwatch play and to understand how acute hormonal responses may affect performance. Thirty-two male college-aged gamers (age: 21.3 ± 2.7 years; estimated time played per week: 18 ± 15 hours) completed the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to a 6-player team to compete in a tournament-style match. Salivary measures of cortisol and testosterone were collected immediately before (PRE) and after (POST) the first-round game, with the heart rate recorded continuously during the match. The mean characteristics were calculated for each variable and comparisons made by the skill level. Significance was defined as p ≤ 0.05. There were no differences in measures of salivary cortisol. A differential response pattern was observed by the skill level for testosterone. The low skill group displayed a significant increase in testosterone with game play (mean ± SD, testosterone PRE: 418.3 ± 89.5 pmol·L−1, POST: 527.6 ± 132.4 pmol·L−1, p
Source: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research