Cognitive styles x game performance

TrAiDoS

Germany204 Posts

June 06 2025 07:01 GMT

Hello friends,

Cognitive styles can predict better performance in sports. But what about esports? It should right(?), since gaming, for sure, is a cognitive activity. Let's see what the science says. Let's hear what science has to say about it.

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Have a great week,
Christian

_fool

Netherlands680 Posts

June 09 2025 20:13 GMT

Is there a causal relationship between playing more and achieving a higher rank?

I can imagine that players with below-average results in a game (any game, but in this case: LoL) will stop playing after a while. I'm guessing that the player base that is still in wood league after playing for 10 years/thousands of matches is relatively small, because those players move on to some other game. As a result, the majority of player you find that have many years of experience/a lot of matches played, probably have at least a modest talent in LoL (or they would have quit). And players with a higher talent will, rightfully, end up at a higher rank.

So I'd agree that years of experience/matches played is a predictor for higher rank. But in my opinion that does not necessarily validate your closing statement that "[...] nothing beats experience, I guess (for now)—just play and train."

TrAiDoS

Germany204 Posts

June 10 2025 07:58 GMT

Good question. First off, a causal relationship no - at least I'm not aware it. In general, there are very few studies that go all the way to show a causal relationship. The majority of studies is "just" correlation and associations between measures/variables, e.g. health and performance, or experience and performance etc.

I think the majority of players are a) long-time players and b) still stuck in lower leagues. If you look at the distribution of players, the majority is somewhere in the middle Silver/Gold/Emerald. However, these are also the people who play for 5+ years and have money to spend on the game. They have accounts that existed for years and have now grown up, making money, playing occasionally and spend some bucks on the game - keeping it alive.
Regarding the question of why they aren't getting better: it's the same as everywhere in life:
- some don't have the capacity (e.g., IQ, skills etc.)
- they lack skills and don't bother actually training
- they just wanna relax from a stressful day at work (if you're tired and/or it's late in the day, you'll never be able to show your peak performance)
- LoL is a team game; you're dependent on others. One person inting and the game is essentially over.

That being said, experience (playing more games) is important to learn the mechanics, strategies etc. But at some point, playing one additional game doesn't benefit you much anymore. Instead you should focus on getting your mind and body into better shape (e.g., better sleep, better food, and exercising). This, in the long run, will benefit you more than playing 1-2 additional games a day - that's what the pros do btw. They also analyze more, train specific moves/tactics etc. That's exactly why I said "just play and TRAIN".

Cheers

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