1 Psychology

Many newcomers to League of Legends face challenges that stem from their emotions. Strong emotions make it difficult to concentrate on the game, learn new things, evaluate results, and correct mistakes. High-level players are better able to deal with such problems. This means that it is possible and necessary to learn how to handle your emotions.

In this chapter, we will examine the learning process, identify obstacles to it, and explore techniques for managing emotions.

1.1 Learning process

League of Legends is a challenging esports discipline. There are several reasons for that:

• It is a team game where participants must interact effectively.
• The cost of mistakes is very high because of the snowball effect.
• Each player has a limited influence on the game.
• The teams change in every game.
• There is no guarantee that the player will get his champion.
• There is no guarantee that the player will get his role.

This book addresses ranked games only. All points mentioned above pertain to them.

League of Legends is a fast, chaotic, and mechanically demanding game. Furthermore, the human brain cannot solve this game. In the same way, it is impossible to solve chess. In League of Legends, the problem is the vast amount of information that falls on players every second.

It takes months for a beginner to learn the basics of League of Legends. During this time, he becomes familiar with essential mechanics. However, many aspects of the game are still out of his scope.

High-level players continue to learn. They are deepening their knowledge and understanding of various aspects of the game. It is impossible to develop and improve one’s rank without ongoing learning.

The learning process is crucial for players of all levels. Let us explore it in detail.

1.1.1 Deliberate practice

In the early 1990s, Swedish psychologist Anders Ericsson studied the learning process. He conducted an experiment involving music academy students. The scientist divided them into three groups:

1. Potential world-class stars.
2. Promising musicians.
3. Mediocre musicians.

Each participant shared insights about his educational process and leisure activities. Based on this information, the scientist evaluated the quantity and quality of the aspiring musician’s studies.

Anders Ericsson reached the following conclusions. Musicians in the first group had practiced for about 10000 hours by the age of 20. Students in the second group had spent approximately 7500 hours practicing during the same period, while those in the third group had only practiced for about 5000 hours. The scientist concluded that regular practice is essential for developing skills.

Anders Ericsson made one more conclusion. It is crucial not only the quantity of practice, but also its quality. He introduced the special term to emphasize this idea:

Deliberate practice has several distinctive features. First, it requires a high level of attention and concentration. The student sets specific goals and works towards achieving them. At the same time, he strives to eliminate any automatic or thoughtless actions.

Second, deliberate practice aims to expand the learner’s current capabilities. He chooses specific exercises based on this purpose. Often, this focuses not on strengths, but rather on addressing mistakes and weaknesses.

Third, deliberate practice requires feedback. The learner must receive immediate feedback on his performance. A trainer, teacher, or coach provides this support. Feedback points out mistakes and ways to correct them.

Fourth, the learner focuses on details during deliberate practice. He halts his unconscious attempts to perform certain actions automatically. Instead, the learner visualizes a flawless performance in every detail and works towards achieving it.

Deliberate practice is inherently unpleasant. It requires focus, continuous effort, and involves the discomfort of admitting mistakes. Frequently, the learner must repeat the same exercises many times until he achieves his goal.

Deliberate practice is not feasible in certain fields. Three essential requirements must be met for a field to develop expert skills:

1. The presence of a repeatable context with stable patterns.
2. The opportunity for long-term practice.
3. Prompt and clear feedback.

League of Legends meets all these criteria.

1.1.2 Pattern recognition

Anders Ericsson’s research explains how experts in various fields acquire skills. However, a critical question arises: what exactly are they learning? Let us explore the essence of their skills.

In the late 1990s, Fernand Gobe and Peter Lane developed the cognitive architecture CHREST (Chunk Hierarchies and REtrieval STructures). This model illustrates human cognitive processes. It explains how individuals perceive, process, and remember information.

Two mechanisms are essential to the model:

1. Chunking is the process of combining elements with low information content into larger units called chunks.
2. Pattern recognition is the process of identifying, classifying, and interpreting sensory information (visual, auditory, etc.) to understand it.

Let us begin with the first mechanism — chunking. For example, consider the phone number 84956352167. Without breaking it down into chunks, you would have to remember each digit individually: 8, 4, 9, 5, 6, 3, 5, 2, 1, 6, 7. This task is quite tricky.

You can divide the number into meaningful groups of digits to make the task easier. To do this, it is essential to understand the structure of phone numbers. The number in our example follows the specific scheme:

• 8 — country code
• 495 — city code
• 6352167 — subscriber number.

We have three blocks: 8, 495, and 6352167. They are much easier to remember than the original long number 84956352167.

The subscriber number is typically divided into three parts: 635-21-67. Each segment individually has no specific meaning. However, this division follows the idea of grouping: breaking a number into blocks to enhance memorability.

The second mechanism is patterns recognition. Let us use an example again. Refer to Figure 1-1.

You can easily recognize the traffic light in the image. It is red. If you see it while walking, you will instinctively want to stop.

The silhouette of a traffic light serves as a familiar pattern for every city resident. There is a template that matches this pattern. A template is a cognitive structure that represents how a person perceives his environment. This structure consists of interconnected chunks of information.

Every city dweller is familiar with traffic lights. It indicates that human memory contains a cognitive structure corresponding to the typical silhouette of such objects. This structure contains three variables or slots. They represent the state of one of the three lamps. The value of each slot is linked to a specific action: either to stand or to walk.

In general, templates shape human behavior by evoking memories, helping us predict events, and providing a general understanding of our surroundings. Complex templates include variables that can change. These variables enable people to absorb information that resembles their existing knowledge more quickly.

Here is the example. The child has seen only two-lamp traffic lights. Therefore, he will find it easier to understand how a three-lamp traffic light works. However, if the child has never seen a traffic light, it will take him longer to understand how it works.

According to the CHREST model, human learning involves constructing a network of templates. This network has a hierarchical structure. It links new knowledge to familiar templates stored in long-term memory.

The network of templates is formed from the perception of a broad range of stimuli. Essentially, it results from practice and feedback. These stimuli represent the specific subject field. When they affect the learner, the individual starts to recognize patterns. He compares the regularities with existing templates stored in long-term memory. If there is a complete or partial match, new information is absorbed much more quickly. If there is no match, repeated exposure to the stimulus is necessary. This process helps to consolidate templates in memory, making them available for retrieval when needed.

The CHREST model explains the problem-solving process in terms of pattern recognition. When an expert faces a problem, he draws on a network of templates stored in his long-term memory. He analyzes the problem’s conditions and looks for typical features that can act as stimuli for their recognition system. These stimuli help the expert locate relevant information in long-term memory. Once the expert identifies an appropriate template, the associated knowledge is then activated and stored in short-term memory.

When the expert locates the appropriate template, the relevant knowledge can offer a ready-made solution to the problem at hand. If that does not occur, the expert can recall a previously successful strategy used in a similar situation. Additionally, this related knowledge can help predict the likely outcomes of different actions. Using these predictions, the expert can formulate a solution for a new problem.

1.1.3 Player skills

We have learned how experts acquire knowledge and the essence of their expertise. Now, let us examine the skills of a League of Legends player through the CHREST model.

First, we need to understand what a typical pattern looks like in League of Legends. The game is based on the model of a battle between two armies. Each side has some active objects that operate simultaneously. Each object has a set of parameters, which together define its properties.

League of Legends operates as an information model rather than a material one. This means that the parameters of all objects within the game are represented by a set of numbers stored in the program’s memory. The game interface presents these parameters in two ways: either as raw numbers or as graphical elements. Consequently, the typical pattern in League of Legends consists of either a set of numbers, graphical elements, or a combination of both.

When an experienced player processes the flow of information about a model’s current state, he performs chunking. This way, he combines elements with low information content into larger, more meaningful units. This creates a hierarchical structure with varying levels of abstraction.

Let us look at an example. A player presses Tab to check the status of his opponent on the lane. He groups the opponent’s statistics into a single cognitive block. Next, the player reviews the information on all other enemy champions, creating a separate block for each champion with its corresponding stats. Then the player combines these individual blocks into a larger unit, which also serves as a cognitive block. This new unit provides an overview of the enemy team’s status. The player utilizes this information to answer general strategic questions, such as whether the enemy team is stronger or weaker than his team. Based on the answer, the player decides on his next action.

If we apply the template concept discussed earlier, a League of Legends player should have the following skills:

1. The ability to group (chunking) object parameters into blocks. The best players do this effectively, taking into account most of the model parameters they currently know.
2. Detecting patterns in the received blocks. A more advanced player knows more templates at various levels of abstraction. Therefore, he recognizes significantly more opportunities than a beginner.
3. Decision Making involves selecting the best action for a recognized pattern. A skilled player is not only familiar with more patterns but also has a wider range of options for each one. In other words, when a proficient player identifies an opportunity, he knows exactly how to capitalize on it.
4. Planning. The pattern can point out the opponent’s mistake. While it may not be possible to take advantage of this mistake immediately, there may be a specific sequence of actions that allows it. A skilled player can quickly and accurately devise such sequences. This ability is known as macromanagement.
5. Execution. After choosing an appropriate action or making a plan, the player must carry it out. This skill is called micromanagement.

We have examined five player skills. No single one can be deemed the most important. All of them hold equal significance:

• Without effective grouping, the player will miss essential aspects of the model’s state.
• Without knowing the patterns, the player will not understand the events occurring and will miss out on potential opportunities.
• Without knowledge of the appropriate actions for each pattern, the player will not be able to plan and respond correctly to events.
• Without good execution skills, the player will fail to capitalize on the opportunities that arise.

1.2 Barriers to learning

League of Legends meets all the criteria for deliberate practice. However, less than a third of players actually engage in it. Only those players who do so effectively learn and develop their skills.

Statistics show that around 75% of all players consistently find themselves in the bottom four ranks: iron, bronze, silver, and gold. This means that the majority of players are stuck below the middle of the rankings. Why are not they learning and growing? Let us explore this question.

1.2.1 Willpower

The primary barrier to effective learning is a lack of self-control and discipline. While these concepts are closely related, there is a subtle difference between them. Self-control enables you to resist undesirable behaviors, like avoiding dessert at night. Discipline empowers you to pursue desired behaviors, such as going for a morning jog. Both qualities are closely tied to the concept of willpower.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, American psychologist Roy Baumeister conducted a series of experiments to study human self-control abilities. He published his findings in the book “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength”.

Roy Baumeister’s experiments showed that all types of effort (cognitive, emotional, and physical) draw on a common and limited resource. The scientist called it willpower. Any effort depletes this resource, just like physical exertion tires out muscles. Willpower is essential for various forms of self-control, including managing attention, focusing on challenging tasks, resisting temptation, and so on.

Participants of experiments performed various tasks that depleted their willpower. For example, they were instructed not to eat the chocolate buns on the table. Instead, they had to consume bitter radishes. This task required significant self-control. After completing it, the participants were asked to solve challenging puzzles. Those who had previously resisted the temptation to eat the buns gave up on the puzzles more quickly than the control group. Roy Baumeister proposed that the first task exhausted the participants’ self-control resources. He called this phenomenon “ego depletion”.

In his book, Roy Baumeister explores the problem of a lack of self-control and discipline in detail. He provides practical advice for developing these qualities:

1. Regularly focus on altering your habitual behaviors. For example, this could involve paying attention to your posture or using your non-dominant hand for everyday tasks (such as brushing your teeth or using a computer mouse).
2. Good habits. The scientist claims that being disciplined in one area of life positively impacts all others. This means that habits like regular cleaning and exercise can boost self-control during gaming sessions.
3. Clear and simple rules help to constrain impulsive behavior. For example, a rule to stop a gaming session after two consecutive losses.
4. Motivation. You need to clearly visualize the purpose and final result of some activity. This helps you consistently invest energy into it.
5. Keep your willpower at a healthy level and prevent ego depletion. You can achieve this by getting sufficient rest and proper nutrition.

Building willpower enables a player to learn more effectively and avoid burnout. It is crucial because deliberate practice becomes impossible in a state of exhaustion.

1.2.2 Self-control

In League of Legends, players frequently encounter factors that drive them to make impulsive decisions. Here are some of those factors:

1. Cognitive distortion loss aversion. It leads to the desire to recoup rating points after a loss.
2. Element of randomness in the game: unpredictable team compositions, the inability to calculate the consequences of all decisions, unforeseen situations, etc.
3. Tilt is a state of intense frustration or anger that negatively affects a player’s performance.
4. Unrealistic expectations regarding the player’s progress and the quality of games. This is one of the leading causes of tilt.
5. Emotional swings after alternating victories and defeats. It affects game quality and interferes with decision-making.

Impulsive decisions seriously interfere with the learning process. A typical example is the decision to continue a gaming session while in the state of ego depletion. In this case, the player lacks the energy to concentrate and operates on autopilot. This leads to a decline in gameplay quality and makes deliberate practice impossible.

Self-control can protect a player from impulsive decisions. However, it does not work in a state of ego depletion, when the willpower resource is gone. Thus, players must prioritize conserving this resource.

There are several ways to use willpower more effectively.

First, a player needs to organize his approach to the game properly. Coaches recommend scheduling a series of gaming sessions throughout the day. Each session should include 2-3 games and last no more than 3 hours. Once a session ends, the player must take a break, regardless of the outcome. The break should last at least 15-20 minutes.

The player should assess the results after each game. If he notices a decline in his performance, he should stop the gaming session immediately and refrain from playing any more ranked games that day. The goal is to extend successful sessions while shortening unsuccessful ones.

Secondly, it is essential to avoid emotionally charged communication during and after the game. This helps a player conserve willpower by not wasting it on unnecessary emotions.

The game offers the following types of communication:

1. Verbal communication during a game:
   • General chat – both allies and opponents can write there.
   • Team chat – only allies can write there.
2. Visual communication:
   • Enemy emotion icons.
   • Ally emotion icons.
   • Ally pings.
3. Verbal communication after a game:
   • General chat – both allies and opponents can write there.

The most informative communication type is pinging teammates. All other options should be disabled in the game settings, as they are generally uninformative. Players often use verbal communication and emotion icons to vent their frustrations.

Teammates’ pings can convey an emotional tone when they are spammed. In this situation, the player should mute the specific teammate individually.

Thirdly, playing with friends lowers the quality of games. The amplification of emotions in groups is a well-known psychological phenomenon. Some concepts confirm it as emotional contagion, the crowd effect, collective effervescence, and others. Experiencing intense emotions depletes willpower. This interferes with self-control and may lead to impulsive actions.

Fourth, the player should replenish his willpower during and after the gaming session. Research by Roy Baumeister indicates that consuming glucose can mitigate ego depletion. He recommends foods with a low glycemic index, which are digested slowly. Additionally, the scientist highlights the importance of getting adequate sleep. Lack of sleep disrupts the body’s overall glucose metabolism and can negatively impact self-control.

1.2.3 Repeatable context

Another barrier to learning is the conditions that the player creates for himself.

League of Legends provides a repeatable context for learning. But there is one problem. The game is so complex that a player cannot master it completely. We can break down the game into five distinct disciplines. Each discipline corresponds to a specific role on a team. Each role is suited to a particular set of champions. We can compare these champions to specializations within each discipline.

Let us draw a parallel between the training of a player and an expert. Each role in a team represents a distinct field of activity, similar to music or carpentry. Each champion is a tool for working in a chosen field, like a violin or a piano in music.

A beginner player often does not realize that each role in the game is a distinct discipline. As a result, he frequently switches between roles. Therefore, the player completely changes the context of his learning. It is similar to attempting to master music and carpentry at the same time. That is possible, but it requires much more effort and time.

The need for a repeatable context leads to the following rule:

The higher a player’s specialization, the faster he will learn and progress. In League of Legends, high specialization means selecting only one role and only one champion.

Usually, a player changes his role and champion because of a lack of self-control.

1.2.4 Feedback

The final barrier to learning is a lack of feedback. Feedback is as essential to deliberate practice as repeated context.

A player may invest a significant amount of time in ranked games, but that does not necessarily mean he is actively learning. Instead, the player could execute the same actions on autopilot. In this case, he does not reflect on his decisions or learn from his mistakes.

Let us examine autopilot from the perspective of the CHREST architecture. In this state, a player simplifies all possible game situations to a minimal set of rough patterns. For each of these patterns, the player considers only one specific course of action. For example, the jungler chooses the same path for the first clear in every game.

League of Legends is a complex game. Therefore, the player should perform some basic actions, such as executing combos, on autopilot. This reduces cognitive load, allowing the player to concentrate on more critical aspects of the game. However, there is one pitfall. Autopilot tends to permeate all player actions and decisions gradually. This interferes with the ability to perform his role in the team effectively.

Feedback solves the autopilot problem. It allows the player to correct ingrained habits that lead to mistakes. There are two ways to obtain feedback: coaching and self-coaching.

High-quality coaching is not a lecture or a video guide from an expert. Instead, it involves analyzing a player’s game replay or his actions in the current game. The coach identifies mistakes and explains the proper course of action for each situation. This way, the coach corrects the player’s faulty cognitive patterns and his reactions to them.

Self-coaching involves three steps:

1. Gathering information about the game.
2. Analyzing your game replay.
3. Correcting mistakes.

First, the player learns a new concept or game mechanic. The source of information can be anything: a video guide, a recording of a coaching session, an article, a book, etc. Afterward, the player reviews his own game replay. He identifies when and why his actions deviate from the recommended ones. By recognizing his mistakes, the player can work on correcting them in the next game. The player repeats the self-coaching process until the concept is fully mastered.

A lack of self-control and discipline often results in a lack of feedback. When a player continues a session while tired, he lacks the energy to think actively. In this state, he tends to play on autopilot. This is a problem with self-control. When a player cannot bring himself to analyze his mistakes, this is a problem with discipline.