Tips on how to avoid the dreaded tunnel vision

Hey people
So I am trying to be productive and helpful here , so I want to make a discussion for everyone to participate in and throw in their two cents about how to avoid being in a tunnel vision.

We all have these matches where some of our teammates or even ourselves are so focused on one thing at a time that we become completely oblivious to our surroundings , we let our healers die, we don’t heal our teammate which is right behind us , we charge in like idiots and die in an instant and than we’re dumbfounded about where the hell is our team when we couldn’t even notice that 4 people died already.

This happens usually in the lower ranks, but I am guessing that there are stuff like that on the higher levels as well.

So, to avoid being in a tunnel vision let’s give out helpful tips that will hopefully improve the ranked experience for all.

  1. USE AN HEADSET - this amazes me all of the time but being able to hear foot steps around if you are vigilant enough can and will save your life or your teammate’s life.
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Again if you have tunnel vision you won’t even notice footstep

  • Don’t focus only on crosshair area and look around whole monitor/tv
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I disagree on that one because even when we team fight I can hear footsteps behind me, an enemy tracer blinked behind us and tried to flank probably to pulse our Ana and because I’ve heard that I turned around and killed her, but I guess this varies from person to person and of course it matters what headset you’re using.

Pay more attention?

There really isnt much you can do

Some heroes have more tunnel vision, such has Widow or Snipers in general

Like you mentioned, sound is a good way to start with.

Another thing would be to train your reaction skills, or even maybe those “can you tell the difference” images.

You should try to be aware of the changes that are around you, even if its minuscule, you might notice someone trying to hide:

An example would be Junkrat´s Trap

(^ i literally just made that up, i dont have a lot of tunnel vision tbh, but i believe those could help)

Another thing i do personally is to constantly check the Killfeed and the Tap menu, so i can get info on who is alive and who is dead

Narrate your games as you’re playing. Seriously. Even if you don’t/can’t use voice chat, talk to yourself and say what you’re seeing.

“Their Lucio is wall riding above the point, I saw their McCree going to right side, maybe flank. Enemy Rein is charging. He pinned our Mercy. Widow just got a headshot on our Lucio. Our Genji just popped off with a 3k nanoblade. Hammond is spinning around the payload.”

etc etc. This makes you actively pay attention to wtf is happening around you and much less likely to develop tunnel vision.

After doing this for a while you begin to have a running commentary in your head of what’s happening. It becomes second nature.

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This also works, it also makes you better at doing calls for your teammates

Uh, solved the same way most problems are.

Learn to identify when you’re getting tunnel vision… and stop.

Many ppl in tunnel vision forget about objective, so it’s good idea to keep track status of match.

and develop a method that works for you to combat the tunnel vision in the first place as having a habit of tunnel vision isn’t something you can go ‘lol, I’m not doing that anymore’ and fix it.

What? Yes it is.

Anyone looking for tips on how to avoid tunnel vision knows what it is, so if they’re going into a match concious about it they can identify it.

This is the same has telling an alcoholic to stop drinking

Or someone addicted to stop using drugs

Its not that simple

No it isn’t, that’s just insulting.

Yes, yes it is.

Maybe for you. But not everyone is capable of doing so in the heat of a game. I know it took me a while to stop doing it in older games even though I knew I was prone to tunnel vision.

The best method is learning to prevent it in the first place for a larger majority of people.

I chew my nails when I’m nervous/tense. I KNOW I do this. Usually I don’t think about it until its too late because it’s such an ingrained habit and I’ve never found a method to prevent myself from doing it in the first place.

Unconcious actions (ie, tunnel vision) are incredibly difficult for humans to stop doing it whether or not they’re aware they do it in the first place.

How its insulting?

Im just using addiction has an example, you cant tell someone to stop and expect them to do it

Its pretty much the same for someone who has an habit, you cant change it that easily

You’d think at this moment you’d have an epiphany of some sort

That addiction is more severe?

Yeah i know

Whats your point anyway?

Having tunnel vision is not something you can fix right away

And what’s the best way to replace a habit?

It’s replacing that habit with something more productive. The answer isn’t just ‘stopping’.

Addiction might not be the best example, but it does work as an extreme example. I didn’t quit smoking just by stopping. I replaced the habit of smoking with something more productive.

Neither of you are capable of making a point here; you’re making empty sentences that don’t mean anything so I can’t respond to them.

Please provide an argument.

This is a simple and sound solution that does and will work effectively as engaging in tunnel vision is a concious action, you do choose to engage in the fight and continue in it after all.

So in identifying the actions you’re making conciously you can again, identify and eliminate the problem.

Thus this mindset becomes habit and you adhere to it naturally.

This is why this comment is so incredibly wrong. They aren’t sub-sets of eachother.

Nice thread! It’s good to have a break from “REVERT MERCY, BUFF SOMBRA” all day.

The main problem with tunnel vision guys, is that they have in their mind what “their job” is, and rarely deviate from it, then blame their team when everything falls apart. What I do, is see what I can do to help the team in places where they’re struggling.

For example: if our Zen keeps dying, I ask myself why he’s dying, then I notice a Sombra is camping him and we have no stun, so I switch to Mccree and stand near him. Little things like that can make all the difference in enabling your teammates. My precense alone is enough to make Sombra think twice before decloaking, which can help Zen heal everyone and/or pop off.

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Learning mindsets like these are also a very effective means of eliminating tunnel vision.

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