The Similarities between ELO Hell and Dynamic Queue

Elo hell is not real.

This has always been the commonly accepted position among league players. Obviously some people will still believe that elo hell exists, but the majority does not, or at least is indifferent to the concept. I'm sure most people have had a bad game or a losing streak and considered the possibility, but in the back of their minds they still generally accept that elo hell doesn't actually exist.

So lets look at the reasons why elo hell does not exist.

1. Riot has no reason to make you lose games. Millions of people play this game, so to think that Riot is intentionally holding back some random silver player is laughable. Obviously there may be automated matchmaking variables that could get adjusted by reports or account standing, but that also seems unlikely, and would be a separate issue anyway.

2. Bad players, boosted players and trolls exist. However, as long as you are not one of these, then there is only 4 chances they end up on your team and 5 chances they end up on the opposite team.

3. Random variance and bad luck will eventually even itself out. Basic statistics. If you have a large enough sample size, random variance has only a minor affect on the outcome. Play enough games and you will get enough good teams to balance against the bad ones.

Simple math. However, all these arguments where under the assumption that matchmaking is entirely random/fair under the solo/duo queue system. Both teams were equally likely to have a single duo (and could only have one) so it had no affect on solo players from a statistical perspective.

So lets look at these same conceptual arguments as they apply to dynamic queue.

1. Riot does seem to have a reason to promote team play. All their actions recently have been to add incentives for group play: from team rewards, IP boosts, dynamic queue, etc. From a business perspective I can only assume that they have data to suggest that groups of players are more likely to spent money than solo players (seems logical that friends would buy things for other friends at a higher rate if they are actually playing together). So Riot does, theoretically, have a reason to make you lose games as a solo player (to encourage group play and thus increase profits). To be clear, I'm not saying that this IS their intention, or that it would be their only intention, but just that it is a possibility.

2. Solo players exist. However, as long as you are not one of these, then there is at most 3 chances and potentially 0 chances (5 person queue) they end up on your team, and up to 5 chances they will end up on the opposite team.

3. Random variance and bad luck will eventually even itself out. Basic statistics. If you have a large enough sample size, random variance has only a minor affect on the outcome. Play enough games as a multi-queue and statistically, you will play with significantly fewer solo players on your team than on the opposing team.

Psychologically speaking, all players will seek reasons for failure. Some people will only look to other's mistakes and blame concepts like elo hell. Self-reflecting people will only find their own mistakes and improve. The majority will be somewhere in between to varying degrees.
What Riot has managed to do, likely unintentionally, is to create a reason for players to abandon self-reflection and blame forces outside of their control for their failures. Even though they will deny the existence of elo hell, the vast majority of players still look externally when they have bad games (if only temporarily). The fact that elo hell did not actually exist under the solo/duo system was, at the bare minimum, a subconscious reason to keep playing and improving, despite having the feelings and snap justifications that all people jump to when they try to excuse failure. Dynamic queue is helping to remove that subconscious reassurance that allows ranked players to continuously seek improvement. Players have always been seeking reasons outside of their own play to excuse failure, and unfortunately, for the first time, those reasons are becoming legitimate.