Basic Psychological-Need Satisfaction and Thwarting: A Study with Brazilian Professional Players of League of Legends

Recently, the skill to play games has led to the professionalization of the activity in the form of “eSports” (electronic sports). Despite the popularity of eSports, little is known about its professional players from a psychological perspective. Given the importance of the coach-created environment...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2022-02, Vol.14 (3), p.1701
Main Authors: Lopes Angelo, Daniela, Villas Boas Junior, Marcelo, Freitas Corrêa, Mariana de, Hernandez Souza, Vânia, Paula Moura, Larissa de, Oliveira, Rosemeire de, Reyes Bossio, Mario, Ferreira Brandão, Maria Regina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Athletes
Climate
Climate prediction
Coaches & managers
Computer & video games
Electronic games
Empowerment
Esports
Goal theory
Hypotheses
Motivation
Players
Psychological factors
Regulation
Sports
Success
Sustainability
Teams
Tournaments & championships
Training
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Summary:Recently, the skill to play games has led to the professionalization of the activity in the form of “eSports” (electronic sports). Despite the popularity of eSports, little is known about its professional players from a psychological perspective. Given the importance of the coach-created environment in the athletes’ motivational processes, this study aimed to investigate the key psychological dimensions of the coach-created climate in 75 Brazilian professional players of League of Legends (LoL) considering the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Achievement Goal Theory (AGT). Fourteen hypotheses were tested, of which seven were confirmed. The empowering climate was a predictor of basic psychological-needs satisfaction and indirectly influenced autonomous motivation. The need satisfaction had a significant impact on both autonomous motivation and on lack of motivation, which, in turn, explained 56% of the variance in well-being and the intention to keep playing eSports. The disempowering climate was a predictor of psychological-needs thwarting but had no significant impact on autonomous motivation or lack of motivation. The results obtained support SDT and AGT in the context of eSports and were similar to those conducted with athletes from traditional sports, indicating that the empowering-and-disempowering-coaching-climates conceptualization applies not only to traditional sports athletes but also to professional eSports players.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14031701