Dispelling the Myths of ELO Hell (How the System Can Push You)
Many of you don't believe in ELO Hell, many of you do, but this thread isn't a debate about whether or not ELO Hell exists. There are many threads that debate that endlessly. Regardless of what you believe, you have to understand two very important things:
- The player experience is different at each rank.
- It's not RIOT's fault.
This post is here to help you try to understand one of many factors that affects your experience at lower ranks. Hopefully, you will realize that this particular effect occurs regardless of who you get matched with or against and that there is nothing you (or RIOT) can do about it.
First of all, what happens in a ranking system? Players play games and their MMR (match making ratio) changes depending on whether or not they win or lose. This affects who they get matched with in their next game and the process repeats. Players are gradually sorted up or down based on how they perform in the games they play. Over time we get a distribution of players according to their ranking that resembles this.
Myth One: it takes all players the same number of games to reach their proper ranking. Challenger players have been known to reach challenger again a few days after the start of a new season. Diamond Players have been known to reach Diamond again after a hundred or so games. Many players reach their proper ranking after playing 200-300 games. Some players have to play many more.
To understand this further lets return to what the distribution of players looks like in a ranking system. For simplicity we can think about this distribution as a bell curve (the exact curve isn't as important as the properties of the curve I am about to observe). We can observe that most of the players are in the middle of the distribution and there are fewer players at either end (high and low).
Myth Two: all the players in the middle of the distribution (Bronze and Silver) are roughly equal skill. The players near the middle of the distribution have to play more games to arrive at their proper ranking than players at the extremes. When a ranking system starts out, players enter the middle and over time migrate up or down.
Let's look at what happens to the distribution over time. Over time the distribution spreads out. New players enter somewhere near the middle of the distribution and migrate up or down. This creates one of the most intriguing phenomena: a pushing effect. If you are below center, then you literally have an up hill climb against the curve. If you are above center, then you are literally moving down hill. This is because players experience a pushing effect away from center as the system tries to sort players to their proper ranking. Players may struggle to climb out of low ELO or may find themselves pushed up and playing with players much better than them at higher ELO. The system will gradually correct over time but it is important to note this effect is the result of the system slowly sorting all the million+ players where they belong. That means that even if you play a thousand games and get placed very very near your proper ranking you will still experience this effect because the system a still sorting all the other players. This effect has nothing to do with where you actually belong in the rankings. Let's return to the linked distribution of players by rank. It's fairly straight forward to observe that the center of the distribution is in Silver - probably in Silver V or IV. If you are around Bronze III, then you have the most difficult experience climbing. If you are around Silver III, then you have the least difficult experience climbing. To understand this further realize that in most tiers (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond): the number of players in Division V > players in Division IV > players in Division III > players in Division II. But in Bronze: the number of players in Division V < players in Division IV < players in Division III < players in Division II. The reason for this is that when you are in Bronze IV through Bronze II you are climbing against the system. The matchmaking system itself is actually pushing against you as the system tries to sort players down, but when you are in Silver III through Silver I, the system is pushing with you as it tries to sort players up.
At this point some of you are nodding your heads and others of you are like: "I don't understand: how can the system push against you? Your wins and losses determine whether you advance or not so who cares where the other players are?" The reason is that linear progress is an illusion. There is a curve to the distribution and the actual value of wins and losses depends on how much progress you make relative to other players in the distribution. The value of wins and losses isn't measured by LP (or even ELO gasp). Remember, the players you play with or against are still getting sorted by the system. When you play with or against players in Silver it doesn't mean that they actually belong in Silver. It just means that that's where the system has put them until it gets enough information to sort them. When you are ahead of the curve a loss doesn't put you that far behind the other players you lost to. When you are behind the curve, a win doesn't place you that much farther ahead of the players you just beat. This is how the system can push you.
Conclusion: Bronze Tier and Silver Tier are not like the other tiers in terms of how players experience their climb to the next tier. The experience isn't comparable to Gold Tier and above. However, do not take this analysis to mean that RIOT should do something to "fix" their matchmaking system. The system isn't "broken". To understand ranking systems requires a lot of study and experience. This analysis isn't the reason you can't climb out of Bronze or achieve your desired ranking. This analysis highlights one of many reasons that the player experience is different at each rank.
Common Fallacies:
- I can easily climb out of Bronze, therefore the player experience in Bronze is not significantly different from the experience in other tiers.
- I have a hard time climbing out of Silver, therefore the player experience in Silver is not significantly different from from the experience in other tiers.
- There are four other players on your team and five other players on the enemy team. Therefore climbing in Bronze or Silver is just like climbing in any other tier.
- ELO Hell is just a mental frame of mind. As long as you don't believe it exists, it can't affect you.
Some things RIOT has done to improve the player experience at low ranks:
- AFK detection and busting
- bonus wins on promos for Bronze and Silver
- /remake RIOT has done many things to improve the player experience at low ranks and they deserve thanks for the work they've done to improve the player experience. Keep up the great work!
TL;DR: Understanding ranking systems takes long hours of study and experience (get a Math or Statistics degree) but... You aren't crazy. The system is working against you. There is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing RIOT can do about it. Now STFU and git gud.
