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Observer Expectancy Effect (How it applies to League)

Electric Buyers··71 votes·3,834 views

For those of you that don't know, the Observer Expectancy Effect (Hence fourth referred to as OEE) is the idea that, when somebody mentions something, it becomes more noticeable. Case in point, if you buy a particular car, or are looking at said car, you will notice more of that car on the road. The number of similar cars has not changed, but since you have been looking for that car you see it more.

This applies to League in a few ways. Say for example, you surf the boards and see all kinds of hate on Dynamic Queue (There is plenty of that. Afterward, you play ten games of League. Say three of those game, you get camped mid and feed and your team flames you (We have all been there). Then you remember what you saw on the boards that day. Someone complaining about how busted dynamic queue is and how you shouldn't get camped as a mid laner, etc. Upon seeing this, a conclusion is made... it has to be Dynamic Queue's fault!

Do you think you would have blamed the same reasons before you read the board posts? Suppose nobody was complaining about Dynamic Queue, would you still internalize it the same? Don't get me wrong, I am in favor of Solo queue, and prefer its return to Dynamic Queue. But since it's here, I got to thinking... "Do I get camped at mid, or 4 man dove in bot lane because they have a premade and Dymaic queue is to blame? Or because I am doing well, and they don't want me taking over the game?" When I looked back at my match history in games this happened, it turned out to be the latter.

It was then, that I had no choice, but to attribute my more difficult games, to becoming a better player, and being put up against more skilled opponents. Once I realized, it was because I was seeing success, I immediately started to play better, more focused. I was warding more to prevent getting camped, I was watching the minimap more, and going under turret when all the lanes were missing (Let's be honest, laners don't always ping MIA).

My point is that if you just focus on the game at hand, instead of worrying about how they might be a premade, then you will play better. As I have said, I am in favor of Solo Queue, but since that is not an option, I will use getting put up against better opponents as a test of my skill. Because at least if I don't carry, I can try not to feed. If I am Mid and get put up against a mid/jung premade, and leave laning phase 0/0/0 and ping all my MIAs... I did alright, I am improving. Don't let something out of your control affect your play.

TL;DR: I dislike Dynamic Queue, but don't blame it when I do poorly in game.

Edit: Confirmation Bias REMOVED Observer Expectancy Effect ADDED

Got the order a little backwards and some sticklers were upset. Patched it up, sorry for the confusion!

68 Comments

Wheatloaf8 votes

How many different excuses have League players tried to find for "my team always sucks but the enemy is always better"?

Electric Buyers3 votes

I don't have that many fingers.

Gnart Even Close3 votes

maybe the fact that there are 4 allies and 5 enemies, but the complainer is the one dragging down their own team has something to do with it? of course, that would be too difficult for most league players to understand, wouldn't it? =p

BloodyTompon1 votes

Exactly 8.

Tobias Brackner7 votes

Don't let something out of your control affect your play.

YO RITO! CAN THIS BE IN THAT CHAMP TIPS THING?

Like goddamn this is golden.

Gnart Even Close7 votes

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! It pisses me off so much when people blame everything on Dynamic Q, especially since both teams are supposed to have the same advantage. Can you also make a post about friction against change? People tend to oppose pretty much any change, even if it is for the better in the end. Don't necessarily have to tie it to DQ, since you and many others are against it, but maybe tie it to some of the preseason changes or something?

Electric Buyers4 votes

That would be something to post about sure. I think it would get down voted into the ground, especially since Dynamic queue hate has been going on for months now (Longer than most other complaints I'm sure.) But it's something to look into!

Thanks for reading!

Gnart Even Close2 votes

I hope it wouldn't be downvoted since it's an important topic, but you know the boards will be the boards. Anyways, I can tell you that you would certainly have my upvote!

Dantone6 votes

"Better bring back solo queue" is the new "Better nerf Irelia":

  • 3-man tower dive at 4 minutes? Better bring back solo queue
  • Jungle camping my lane? Better bring back solo queue
  • I win lane but the rest of the team feeds? Better bring back solo queue.
  • QSS doesn't remove Zed ult? Better bring back solo queue.
Gnart Even Close1 votes

pretty much

DeathBurst1 votes

Do you mind if I post that as a whole thread of his own?

Dantone1 votes

Not at all, but you should make some spicy memes to go with it. I don't think the joke carries itself.

Dat cool kid6 votes

OEE basicly defines the boards :)

Aeszarck4 votes

Very well written! Thanks for the read.

Electric Buyers2 votes

Thanks for reading!!

Feathermane4 votes

Dynamic queue slept with my wife, stole my car and burned my toast. True story.

Milodic Mellodi1 votes

Oh no, not the toast! Anything but the toast! NOOOO!!!

Cursed Aegis3 votes

Kinda like getting stabbed in the face all day, you stop noticing it until someone points it out to you once you become used to it. Gee, I DO seem to be getting stabbed in the face a LOT. There's a nice DQ analogy for you.

Electric Buyers7 votes

So are you telling me, that every game, for every person, ends with them getting totally annihilated with nothing they could have done?

SirSmokeysAlot3 votes

Plus one brother. Huge DQ supporter here as a solo/duo player. Live the way you rationalize. Preach on!

BluePolarizer2 votes

I dunno, I get massively fed in my games (check record) as a former plat 1 now playing in plat5/high gold.

But my team somehow manages to feed opponents that missed multiple waves, are underleveled and have less items than them, to the point where they now have an item advantage.

They also manage to not listen to objectives calls because I'm not in their premade while the enemy premade coordinates perfectly.

You tell me that's not because of dynamic queue, that a plat 1 is now stuck in plat 5, despite the KDA in my games showing that mechanically I'm clearly not a plat 5 player?

Electric Buyers12 votes

After checking your history, it seems that in your most recent ranked games (The past 6 all of which you played in one sitting I would assume) the gold difference is actually pretty even up until around the 15 - 20 min mark, where the winning team pulls ahead.

BluePolarizer1 votes

that is team gold. my team is feeding like crazy, how could they possibly get gold while feeding after an advantage in lane? i am the only one who actually is getting gold.

Electric Buyers12 votes

As a jungler (Who usually has less gold anyway), who is getting enough gold to make up for his feeding team, how can you not push an advantage for a lane that would be advantageous for your team?

BluePolarizer2 votes

you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.

I'm curious, since you are bronze 4, what makes you think that it is that easy to force feed lanes in this elo? I am not used to their absolutely horrendous decision making and I can't be everywhere on the map. Of course I also have no idea what it's like in bronze, i'm shuddering at playing with golds as is.

Electric Buyers17 votes

I will say that your ELO is more toxic than mine. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

Also, me being Bronze 4 has nothing to do with where you are as a player.

In any case, the point is that I personally do not see Dynamic Queue as the one holding me back, as much as it is my mentality after I visit the boards.

BluePolarizer1 votes

high gold/low plat was and is a cesspool of toxicity and mediocrity. That was why I was so happy to escape it last season and why I'm so bummed about being stuck here. I honestly think that I'd rather be either gold 3 or plat 3, than plat 5. At least in gold 3, everyone sucks so we just have fun and nobody takes it too seriously. Instead in plat 5 everyone is either a gold 1/2 tryhard premade or a plat 5 boosted silver that doesn't know wtf they're doing.

Electric Buyers3 votes

Notice how the toxicity cutoff is RIGHT below where you capped?

I wonder if Diamond V players say that about Plat 1 (nvm I don't wonder, they do say that, I know a few.)

BluePolarizer1 votes

Plat 1 is also a cesspool though. I'd much rather be plat 3 than plat 1 but I tried to climb to diamond regardless. You think I'm a hypocrite or something?

Akeydel1 votes

Thats the joke, its a cesspool all the way down (or up i guess?) At least, it is if you say it is.

DeathBurst1 votes

No, he thinks that "ELO Hell" is always just below where you actually belong, whatever your actual level. Because that's when you can't solo-carry anymore, but you're still better than most people around you, and it gets frustrating... or as a lot of people put it, "toxic".

BluePolarizer1 votes

its not toxic for being bad. I am fine with being bad. Everyone has bad games. Not everyone has to intent feed, yell at their teammates in chat, etc.

DeathBurst1 votes

Ok, I'll rephrase: Electric Buyers didn't imply you were hypocrite or anything.

What Electric Buyers implied with his question "Notice how the toxicity cutoff is RIGHT below where you capped?" is the following:

Most people will find the few divisions just below their actual rank toxic. This is not because they are actually more toxic than the rest of the ladder. But it is the level where someone cannot solo-carry anymore (too close of their actual level), but where they are still better than the majority of players. It produces frustrating defeats, and the frustration makes people misjudge this level as toxic. But this level changes for everyone.

BluePolarizer1 votes

there are a few elos where it is especially toxic though.

  1. g1/p5 This is where alot of tryhards and boosteds congregate.
  2. p1/d5. See above.
  3. silver 1/2. Oh my fucking god I am glad I never had to see that cesspool again after I left it the first time. Silver 2 is hell.

Outside these danger zones, toxicity isn't as bad. Even in bronze, from what I see, people are just bad. Nowhere NEAR the malicious toxicity of these tiers.

DeathBurst1 votes

I'm currently in Silver2, and I didn't notice anymore toxicity than in S3/S4. My worst experience was S5, and my guess is because I was with people stressed by a potential demotion, the contrast with B1 was staggering. In B1, people where chill and all. But I didn't stay in S5 for long, so my sample size is too small to claim anything definitive.

Tobias Brackner15 votes

Also, me being Bronze 4 has nothing to do with where you are as a player.

Thank you for saying this. I feel that there is an underlying thought in a lot of Gold+ that "I am high rank, any rank beneath me has no right to question my plays."

Marshbouy3 votes

so true "xin zhao is easy to fight and he isnt strong you just suck at the game"-platinum player right after the xin zhao buffs

Gnart Even Close3 votes

xin does have counterplay if you pick the right champions. if you don't, well then have fun killing the laser guided nuclear warhead

Marshbouy3 votes

he was one shotting people and soloing turrets without minions...

Gnart Even Close2 votes

that had to do with some bugs in his healing ratios, but yeah...

Wimbledofy1 votes

Just because he seems to be toxic or more toxic than normal doesn't mean the elo he is in is more toxic in general. Toxicity is pretty much the same across all elos.

Supreme Senpai691 votes

I don't watch your games but my high elo friend had a similar problem. He would completely win lane and have an absurdly high KDA on a champion, but had something near a 20% win rate with it. Whereas his other champions didn't play as well, but he won more games. The only advice I can think to give is play champions with better late games or teamfights instead of early games/laning phases. That way you can carry your allies when they inevitably feed instead of trying to transition an early lead into a mid game victory.

Probably not your problem, but still

BluePolarizer1 votes

I play Hecarim jungle mostly. Decent early, peaks mid-game, decent late. Never really weak and is a strong teamfight engage tank. But how can you carry allies who are 0-7 in lane AND simultaneously don't listen to your calls, since I'm not their premade? You can't. If it was solo, sure. They'd be smart enough to listen to the fed jungler. But when they have multiple friends ganging up on you for telling them to play safer, just farm and wait for ganks.

It doesn't even matter what I play. I've seen my allies get rekt late game by a Volibear, who has the power curve of Shaco and Lee Sin. How? Well, if a season 5 plat Volibear is up against a season 5 silver, this season "plat" ADC, you know what's gonna happen.

I've played Kha'Zix (late game assassin) and experienced the exact same thing - allies don't want to end or take an objective because I'm not part of their premade, they listen to their buddies instead of the fed jungler, and inevitably, the other team either gets lucky in a teamfight or outscales, gg.

This is not a problem solvable by picking a different champ. I bet if I was playing even an OP champ like Nidalee, Ekko or Graves it'd be the exact same thing; you can't take every objective solo, you can't solo push lanes without being collapsed on.

I don't think it's me not knowing how to end either. I'm apparently #1 points Hecarim NA with 320K mastery points (http://league-mastery.com/leaderboard/120), 300+ ranked games over 2 seasons and consistently 57-60% win rate over 2 seasons. I've played with diamonds as well as golds, and the gold games are harder by FAR than the diamond games.

Electric Buyers2 votes

Trying to figure out how is part of the challenge! :D

LatetotheRace2 votes

"When I looked back at my match history in games this happened, it turned out to be the latter." How do you figure? Did you look at their clan tags? Riot removed the functionality of seeing premades a while back from popular sites like Lolskill Op.gg and even Lolnexus. They did this for a reason, to keep suspicion at a low.

They are trying to protect the "legitimacy" and "balance" of DQ without sharing the actual data and statistics on it.

So as far as OEE goes, no I don't believe it has any actual effect in this situation. I knew damn well what the problem was before I even went to the forums on this one.

Electric Buyers2 votes

I am saying that in the games that I got camped or tower dove, it was because I was doing well up to that point and that was probably the reason the enemy team reacted that way. It was me not blaming them possibly having a premade, and instead blaming myself for not paying attention.

Mylon Requiem1 votes

Personally the only reason I hate dynamic queue is that it hasn't done what it's supposed to do: give you your preferred role(s). I couldn't carry less about whether I'm being matched with or against premades, because my experience with solo queue has been too similar to dynamic queue (that being, 4 out of 5 people can and will be toxic

I select Mid/Bot (Marksman) every game, and get Marksman (secondary role) 90% of the time. Unfortunately, as these are the most contested roles (at least in my ELO), I get the one that's slightly less contested more often than not. Personally I would prefer to play the role with the greater consistent impact (Mid) over the role (AD) that is guaranteed to get (1) camped, (2) dove, (3) and targeted every fight.

Electric Buyers1 votes

I sympathize entirely. I select Mid/Jungle and get Jungle just about every game. And then wouldn't ya know it? When I get mid, someone dodges. It's a tough queue out there for sure. The problem is, that I cannot suggest an alternative that I believe would better this particular situation. What I mean when I say that, is that Riot has a lot of hefty decisions to make when it comes to changing things like that. They have to consider things that we don't even realize are a factor. I totally agree with you, but can't think of a way to make it better myself.

Asriel Memester1 votes

Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with dynamic q. What you're talking about is the new champ select.

This is the official page about NCS: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/site/2016-season-update/new-champ-select.html

Im Impotent1 votes

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, would be what you're looking for.

The Observer Expectancy Effect is something completely different, it's basically where your belief in a result would affect the subject in a way that may possibly warp the actual results.

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