Why are players worse around the AM?

Mid Faker·10/28/2014, 6:54:06 PM·1 votes·842 views

Average game during the day: http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1608806026/210139937

During AM meaning 3am - 9am: http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1609254751/210139937 and http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1609235238/210139937

I played a second match just to verify that it's just during these hours where people are sneaking on their computers and jumping off when they hear their parents.

I also did a test like this a week ago and now im never playing around this time again.

5 Comments

JJI74410/28/2014, 7:29:34 PM5 votes

2 things.

First, 3-6 matches is no where near enough data to draw conclusions from with any amount of certainty.

Second: your AM games have a number of players doing well roughly equal to the non-AM games. The first game you linked has 7 players with reasonable scores with 3 really bad scores. The second has 6 reasonable scores, 2 really bad ones, and 2 passable scores.

Drunk Rummate10/28/2014, 6:56:57 PM3 votes

Unemployed people, kids sneaking out of bed, or foreign people with high ping.

Also consider if you're awake that late you're probably really tired and your reflexes are worse for it. Or your circadian rhythm is off and you're leading an unhealthy lifestyle which leads to poor reflexes and decision making.

hOrnn10/28/2014, 7:42:41 PM1 votes

honestly i agree they are, and its because the kids are either in school or getting ready for school, its older players around that time.

67chrome10/28/2014, 7:45:27 PM1 votes

You should really have a bigger sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions. Statistical analysis usually requires 30~40 tests to draw any meaningful conclusions, otherwise outlier data can massively throw off your results.

That said - during off-hours less people are likely to play, which means matchmaking is going to have a tougher time finding equal-skilled opponents to place together. If your wait time is increasing, matchmaking gets less and less picky to find opponents of equal skill - so you can run into issues where gold I players are matched with Bronze V players.

In other MOBAs this is a lot more noticeable as the player base is notably lower, leading to situations where 2am matchmaking endeavors are going to lead to extremely 1-sided games due to a very clear miss-match of skill.