Leveling Up: Using the Tracer Method to Address Training Needs for Esports Players

Abstract

This paper describes a new method, the Tracer Method, that maps multiple types of decision-making activities to visual search behaviors to improve the acquisition of expertise. The method combines Critical Decision Method (CDM) with eye tracking to identify expert strategies for performance in interface-based tasks. The Tracer Method uses a network analysis of eye movement data, contingent on the critical decisions, to produce new information that neither method alone can generate. Twenty-five experienced Over-watch players were eye-tracked while playing a competitive game, followed by a CDM interview. Three types of decisions: sensemaking, uncertainty management, and coordination resulted in different eye-movement network diagrams of transitional probabilities. These different strategies can inform Esport team training. Although we demonstrate the usefulness of the Tracer Method in an Esports context, the method could apply in other human factors domains.