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I don't think improving is essentially possible.

BluePolarizer·3/28/2017, 8:55:10 AM·5 votes·2,140 views

Without being genetically disposed for League of Legends intellectually (in terms of pattern recognition, emotional stability and extrapolation based on limited information) you pretty much aren't going to improve very much.

Most people in the world are mediocre and they stay mediocre for their entire lives. Most people in the US are lower middle class or below, with 50% of the wealth being held by the top 1%. Only 25% of the US population has a bachelor's degree. Now having a college degree may put you in the top 25% of educated people nation wide, but surprisingly, knowledge is distributed much like the elo scale: a bachelor's degree is merely the entry point, and if you want to become someone who creates new knowledge, you need a masters and PhD. The knowledge level of the typical masters graduate is far greater than that of a bachelor's in the same field: the difference in knowledge between a masters and a bachelors, is roughly like the difference between a middle schooler and a bachelor's. The difference between a doctor and a bachelors, is the same as the difference between an elementary school student and a bachelor's.

This is exactly like the elo scale. Being gold is great, you are among the top 25% of the ladder, but in terms of skill, you are like a college graduate and just scratching the surface. Most people are bronze and silver. They want to improve, and don't know how... but that might be because there IS no way to improve. It'll be like asking a high school dropout, why are you poor, why don't you just go to college? why don't you just pick up a book? Why are you so lazy? The truth is, they might not have the ability to do so.

What about the people who go from bronze to diamond in a few months? Who are they? Well, they're people who are genetically predisposed for greatness in league but just got off to a bad start and established bad habits, just as elite families who lost everything in a crisis often rebound.

What about those who rise and then tilt back down? In my opinion, that's like the people who got rich from the stock market then lost everything in a crash. They weren't good at stocks, they were bad, but lucky.

What does this mean? There's no point in trying to improve. You'll naturally be at a certain level after a certain number of games and then you're done. If that happens to be bronze/silver, you might think its elo hell. But it's not. You'll just have hit your natural genetic limit.

Just remember: most of the people in challenger now are the same people who were in challenger back in season 3. Do you really think improving beyond your limits is possible?

18 Comments

Randomonium3/28/2017, 12:11:02 PM4 votes

There are genetic limits but they're not near as severe as you seem to think. A lot of it just comes down to time and dedication. People don't have the time or dedication in order to improve at something.

I've learned and grown immensely as a person. I've improved in more ways than I can count and I still haven't reached my limits. When I don't do well at something it's not because I can't do it, it's because I didn't spend the time or effort in order to be successful.

What you are essentially saying is that our lives are predetermined and we shouldn't bother trying at anything.

Starcraft243ver3/28/2017, 10:17:55 AM2 votes

What about the people who go from bronze to diamond in a few months? Who are they? Well, they're people who are genetically predisposed for greatness in league but just got off to a bad start and established bad habits, just as elite families who lost everything in a crisis often rebound.

What about those who rise and then tilt back down? In my opinion, that's like the people who got rich from the stock market then lost everything in a crash. They weren't good at stocks, they were bad, but lucky.

What does this mean? There's no point in trying to improve. You'll naturally be at a certain level after a certain number of games and then you're done. If that happens to be bronze/silver, you might think its elo hell. But it's not. You'll just have hit your natural genetic limit.

There is a small genetic factor. I admit it.

Now lets take my story :

But. I've managed to reach the top 1% (or 0.01% for some) of any game i was dedicated to. (Warcraft 3, Starcraft 2, LoL, Guild Wars 1, Ogame ... ) Whereas I never went far in the games I wasnt dedicated to (CS, Battlefield, WoW, Dota, Halo3, DoW).

I know how to learn. I also know that i can play for ages without improving if I'm not putting effort in it. For example I know how I could improve easily in league of legend, but I'm not that interested in doing so, since I prefer improving in my IT skills for example. And I do not have any goals for LoL except having some fun time with friends from time to time.

Same goes with starcraft 2 for example, my goal was to reach grandmaster (top 200 NA). I did it twice, I was happy with it and then switched less than a year later. One of my friend who started Sc2 at the same time was like : I wanna earn money and go pro. And he did for 2 years, making some money while studying (well, some ok money actually ~70k$ while traveling for free).

While I was half trainning, half having fun, doing stupid shit that popped in my head, he was really trainning and that's the difference. The difference was ambition. Once you have a goal you have to : set up the actions to take to reach this goal, actually perform these actions, note the result, keep what is good, make adjustments, repeat.

I trainned a lot with him at some time, and one of his trainning part was, for example : if I do one single mistake before the 8 min mark : i leave the game (starcraft is not like LoL since it was 1v1, you can leave the game and conceed the victory at any point of the game).

He didnt care about winning, or losing, he was trainning, and he ended up having constant PERFECTLY optimised begining of game.

If you want to translate this in LoL : start a Custom game and try to CS. If you miss one CS, just start again. Now train lane control : freeze a lane for 45 minuts without any interruption. Train 50 time each hard flash spot. Do every possible jungle clear : notice the fastest. Notice the one which let you enough HP to gank. Notice where you are at which timing with this clear. Now you know exactly what clear you have to do : to invade : to gank any lane at any timing : to just play a calm early and powerfarm for the fast level 6.

Tl;Dr

With ambition, time, and good process, you can get anywhere. But not anyone is ambitious in LoL (and it's perfectly understandable), not anyone has a lot of time to spend, and not anyone has been taught how to improve.

But none of these point has anything to do with genetics.

Cocho3/28/2017, 11:03:23 AM1 votes

People dont know the secret to life

Just play annie Annie

It's like a GED

tbh I feel like any bronze/silver player that gets coached will improve. They can point out flaws and what they should've done.

In real life, thats like well. **You should've finished highschool XD and quit hanging out with those kids. **

SwiftKitten883/28/2017, 12:38:13 PM1 votes

genetic potential IS a really big issue, but NOT due to intelligence.

Mechanical skill, aka reaction time, APM and click accuracy are the biggest culprits. you can find idoits who have no idea how to play the game properly even in diamond but can still win because they just have better mechanical skill.

it also make it exemely hard for though who HAVe all the skill required know EXACTLY what to do, what obectives to pressure when.. how to take advatnages.. but frankly cant pull it off do the the physical limitations of their human body. there is ZERO way i can keep track off everything going on in a 5 man teamfight. even in the teamfight breakdown i have to re-watch some of the more intense ones even though they are in slow motion. they reaosn i cant ADc to save my life is i do NOT have the click accuracy or the apm. landing skillshots for me is stupid easy. but being able to clink on a champion in the middle of a minion wave isn't.

any idoit and put the time in to lern how to play thier champion properly, anyone can learn the basics of the game. what objectives to take and when. when to push when to freeze. when to split push in a 1/3/1 when to group as 5. and how to make a good team comp... ANYONE can learn that.

but u cannot exceed the mechanical limitations of the body you were born in.... sorry people.. i wasn't born korean.

Taliyah Rocks3/28/2017, 1:10:38 PM1 votes

It's not that people CAN'T improve. More like they DON'T KNOW how to improve, and/or don't care to.

I'll take myself as an exemple: I'm an artist and i make some money out of drawing. Sadly no matter how hard i can try, it's almost impossible to improve by myself. I must keep on seeking out tutorials, getting inspired by others' art, having people point out my mistakes, just so i can improve a tiny little bit at a time.

It is true that some people are naturals and quick learners. I've seen artists in their pre-20's that were just as good if not better than some artists in their 30's that studied for years. It sure is always optimal to be born with an innate ability for a skill, but it is in no way a limitation on how someone can improve (unless you've got some kind of handicap)

sobi9993/28/2017, 8:59:14 AM1 votes

Genetic does limit your potential if there is limited time but i think humans have infinite potential as long as they have infinite time. Most of us don't even make use of the limited time we have. For me perseverance, passion and patience are key to success. The 3P's lel

Vekkna3/28/2017, 4:54:05 PM1 votes

Adaptability is also a major overlooked factor, and I don't know why it's ignored so often. I started in season 5 and got gold, then plat in season 6. I managed that by spamming one or two champs for a few hundred games each.

In both seasons, I got stuck in silver until after mid-season balance shook out, then climbed very quickly in the last few patches before world's. Last season I went from mid silver to mid plat in about 5 weeks, and the only change I made was banning Jhin.

My issue is that I'm virtually incapable of adapting to balance disruptions before there's another patch with a new set of disruptions. By the time we're getting to world's, Riot shifts away from pointless tinkering and focuses on creating a stable competitive environment. The second they take a break from fucking around, I steamroll through silver and gold before slowing down.

llIllIllIllIll3/28/2017, 9:00:33 AM1 votes

You can improve at anything through drilling and building up perfect muscle memory. For instance if you went into a custom game and just focused on getting perfect CS for hours it'll massively improve your CS skill in ranked too.

You can improve your awareness by forcing yourself to glance at your minimap every 8 seconds or so until its natural, etc etc.

It really comes down to whether you truly have a mindset for improving

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