Player Skill Decomposition in Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas

Texas A&M University-Commerce Affiliation PLAYER SKILL DECOMPOSITION IN MULTIPLAYER ONLINE BATTLE ARENAS 2 Abstract Successful analysis of player skills in video games has important impacts on the process of enhancing player experience without undermining their continuous skill development. Moreover, player skill analysis becomes more intriguing in team-based video games because such form of study can help discover useful factors in effective team formation. In this paper, we consider the problem of skill decomposition in MOBA (MultiPlayer Online Battle Arena) games, with the goal to understand what player skill factors are essential for the outcome of a game match. To understand the construct of MOBA player skills, we utilize various skill-based predictive models to decompose player skills into interpretative parts, the impact of which are assessed in statistical terms. We apply this analysis approach on two widely known MOBAs, namely League of Legends (LoL) and Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA2). The finding is that base skills of in-game avatars, base skills of players, and players' champion-specific skills are three prominent skill components influencing LoL's match outcomes, while those of DOTA2 are mainly impacted by in-game avatars' base skills but not much by the other two. PLAYER SKILL DECOMPOSITION IN MULTIPLAYER ONLINE BATTLE ARENAS 3 Player Skill Decomposition in Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas Introduction Recently a unique type of sports, namely electronic sports (eSports), emerges as a popular genre of computer games, in which human players compete with one another in online, simulated environments governed by rules and regulations similar to those found in traditional forms of sports. A recent report released by SuperData (2016) showed that the worldwide market for eSports, by the end of 2015, has reached approximately 748 million dollars and is expected to grow to 1.9 billion dollars by 2019. Each team consisting of five players has a base to defend and the goal is to attack the opposite teams' champions and ultimately destroy the opponent's base.