Psychological Predictors of Success in the Gaming Activities of Esports Players in “DOTA 2”

The purpose of this article is to empirically study the psychological predictors of success in the gaming activities of “DOTA 2” esports athletes. The study involved 186 participants: 100 “ordinary” users and 86 esports players of the game “DOTA 2”, aged from 16 to 38 years (with a mean age of 20,5 years); comprising 12 women and 174 men. The following diagnostic tools were used: an author's questionnaire “DOTA 2 Player Profile”, Raven's Progressive Matrices; the Emotional Intelligence Test (EmIn) by D. V. Lyusin; the Big Five Inventory (BFI-2-S) (adapted by S. A. Shchebetenko et al.); the Team Roles Test (R. M. Belbin, translated by Hippo Publishing); and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) (R. Lazarus and S. Folkman, adapted by T. L. Kryukova). The following methods of statistical data analysis were applied: the Student's t-test for independent samples, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis. The study revealed that “DOTA 2” esports players demonstrate a higher level of emotional intelligence and emotion regulation skills compared to “ordinary” users of the game, who more commonly employ avoidance coping strategies and seek social support. The gaming rating of “DOTA 2” esports athletes is interconnected with a combination of introversion, low emotional intelligence, and high intellectual development, as well as the ability to introduce new ideas and a tendency to cope with stress without social support. Success in gaming activities is determined by psychological predictors such as intelligence level, introversion, and the team role of “Controller”.