winrate, cat0

i.e.: p/f( finite# correct actions )

e.g.: FF-X, DK Country; game completion %

note:

time is irrelevant

capped?

yes; success is pass/fail

winrate, cat1

i.e.: correct actions / time

e.g.: Mario Kart 64, Mortal Kombat PvE; difficulty rating

note:

gameplay against AI at preset competency reinforces a canon of skills; time invested provides no/little gameplay advantage inherently. AI difficulty may have little relation to PvP play and encourages playstyle for win-condition instead of max APM or system-mastery (e.g.: Civilization)

capped?

yes; success vs given difficulty is pass/fail

winrate, cat2

i.e.: correct actions / time / time

e.g.: WoW Classic PvP Rating, LoL Ranked Play; player rankings ladder

note:

players are tested against other humans while normalizing for time; games require near-monogamous play to compete at the top levels. players at their progression rating must spend more time to maintain rank versus climbing players, and along with RNG elements, encourage play even when players are no longer improving

capped?

no; time-played results in <linear gain of rank

preexistent conditions

i.e.: adjustment to winrate based on out-of-game factors

e.g.: powerups purchasable for $$, sensory/processing advantages, userinterface/gameconsole quality

note:

all out-of-game limitations to competitive play influence the pre-game analysis. Socio-economic class is a heavy influence. Like musical instruments, standard devices may hinder based on sex, handedness, colorblindness, deafness. Lack of social support during skill acquisition can discourage players.

capped?

no

player-physical-mental-status (PPMS)

i.e.: player’s health vs theoretical max

e.g.: hunger, fatigue, drunkenness

note:

this changes minute-to-minute while preexistent conditions are relatively stable.

capped?

yes; PEConditions.

data-stream-parsing / pattern-recognition

i.e.: ideas memorized / ideas read

note:

minimizing time required for data-acquisition leaves flops available for decision-making

capped?

yes, by PPMS

system-mastery

i.e.: pct-rules-known

e.g.: advanced rules correlate to winrate in pen&paper RPGs, keeping up with the patchnotes in LoL

note:

‘hidden’ rules expand time required to understand environment constraints by constructing a non-public ‘meta(strategy)’, or approach that has higher chance of success. Contributes to, but does not depend upon, winrate

capped?

yes, though changing content in patches raises the threshold of mastery.

player’s input-bandwidth

i.e.: game-information learned / time

e.g.: create and memorize data-quanta both during-game and pre-game

note:

skill increases with time-played, ability to sort relevant and irrelevant information. Produces a gamestate-matrix on which player bases future decision

capped?

yes, data-stream-parsing

next-action-synthesis

i.e.: creation-rate of desired actions

e.g.: deciding to auto-attack a minion OR auto-attack a champ OR use an ability

note:

highly dependent on system-mastery and game-state-matrix. Action-attempt produces data that guides future correct vs incorrect judgement

capped?

yes, by PPMS

user-interface-mastery

i.e.: accuracy( executed action / desired action )

e.g.: DDR and other music games

note:

upon system-mastery and effective-rate next-action synthesis, player is able to reduce decision-action lag to near zero. Some games continually change UI to force skill acquisition. Others allow modable UI, though often not in competitive play. Advanced players memorize menus and additional keybinds to speed UI traversal

capped?

yes; approaches parity with player’s theoretical max

brain-body reallocation / “focus”

i.e.: pct of brain’s flops relative to theoretical max currently devoted to problem-solving

e.g.: sorting relevant from irrelevant data both in-game (ignoring toxicity, memory of past failures) and out-of-game (housemates, body aches)

note:

part of what helps pro gamers perform competively is related to their innate ability to focus on skill acquisition, and is improved further by providing an environment conducive to game success. High UI mastery reduces flops dedicated to physical-input-barrier

capped?

no? probably degrades with age but based on excessive caching. Probably possible to mitigate aging effects with training

player-avatar-sync / imagination-assisted-empathy

i.e.: impact of player emotion on focus

e.g.: choosing Peach over Mario because girl, judging game-elements by irrelevant out-of-game standards (i.e. I dislike athletic sport thus I do not identify with Dunkmaster Darius and feel less commited to winning when I get him in ARAM)

note:

Maintaining an emotional separtion from in-game avatar. LoL ‘skinvantage’ refers to a player’s perception, accurate or not, that they perform better on a champion concept to which they relate. Prejudice against character concepts invokes emotional response that competes with input-bandwidth

capped?

no? focus can combat faulty pattern-recognition and dismiss irrelevant data

player’s self-evalution

i.e.: executed action ?= correct action

e.g.: comparison of self vs measurable standards, e.g. FPS accuracy-rate, winrate in gradient AI modes, comparison to others in pseudo-cooperative settings (ranking on a damage meter in WoW) and competitive settings (K/D/A, lane winrate in LoL)

note:

as game-data and time-played increase, so will the data available to judge correct vs incorrect action. A fast but wrong reaction may contribute more to winrate than a slow but correct one

capped?

yes, by input-bandwidth and system-mastery

twitch-response

i.e.: correct actions / time

e.g.: esp FPS and strategy, also platformers, action-RPGs, and puzzle games

note:

virtually useless in turn-based RPGs, to being the essential skill of FPS, this is one of the strongest-scaling skills in all of gaming

capped?

yes, by focus and PPMS, and degrades with age

player confidence / fear mitigation

i.e.: time twitch-response is delayed while self-evaluating

e.g.: APM increases with confidence, esp while minimizing feedback; a string of undesirable results from self-evaluation provokes as little emotional response as possible

note:

inaction is the game-killer. Overcoming instinct involves turning system-mastery (i.e. looking away from the ball makes it harder to catch) into correct-action (watch the ball, then move hands to capture it) and eventually muscle-memory (practice catching the ball reduces focus required to repeat the task in the future)

capped?

yes, by twitch-response and player-avatar-sync

game-state caching

i.e.: quality of game-state matrix

e.g.: MMORPG support role (esp PvP), card-counting, Overwatch, LoL

note:

awareness of environment and application of data to personal decisions. Related to reading UI elements (e.g. minimap) and to interpreting and extrapolating based on combat events (e.g. knowing in LoL that an enemy’s ability X is on cooldown because he used it ~3s ago and it has a 15s CD)

capped?

yes, by system-mastery and input-bandwidth

RNG

i.e.: impact of randomly-generated events on player behavior

e.g.: Yoshi’s Island spawns enemies with set variations as player progresses; battles in Baldur’s Gate become unwinnable with bad rolls

note:

many competitive games minimize RNG in-game but do not completely eliminate it (dragons in LoL are of a random type but spawn at predictable times), while increasing its impact out-of-game to increase time engaged with the product, whether through lootboxes, currencies, achievements, or through the chaos of matchmaking in ranked play

capped?

yes, but only by player perception of fairness; RNG must never correlate to winrate more closely than system-mastery

player versus player modeling (PvPM)

i.e.: accuracy of player to predict actions of other players

e.g.: aiming a LoL skillshot to where player will be instead of where player is, WoW druid shapeshifts to pre-empt a mage’s polymorph

note:

player behavior is pseudo-random but within predictable bounds. Game-state caching improves PvPM

capped?

yes, by pattern-recognition, player-input-bandwidth, and twitch-response

win-condition synthesis

i.e.: accuracy( desired action / correct action )

e.g.: every LoZ:OoT boss is defeated by the weapon acquisition that preceded it, identifying weaknesses in enemy team in LoL

note:

strategy synthesis depends first on system-mastery and secondly on game-state caching. Understanding what the player must do to win is the first step to executing it. RNG and player behavior are additional impediments.

capped?

no, improvements to virtually all basic skills as well as time-played will improve the accuracy of predictions

pathing / tactic-synthesis

i.e.: judge game-state vs win-condition and adjust current action to increase winrate

e.g.: choosing in LoL to gank or jungle-farm based on game-state, threat-priority in multi-target arena, applying studied sequences of moves to chess

note:

win-conditions must be almost fully understood to accurately choose path. instinct must be fought and harnessed with proper system-mastery

capped?

yes, by RNG, fear-mitigation, and win-condition synthesis

teamplay / leadership

i.e.: ability to extend pathing to suggest correct-action for multiple cooperating players

e.g.: kill-participation %, winrate independent of personal K/D/A

note:

probably the highest-level derivative skill where limiting emotional response is paramount to skill-acquisition. Player self-evaluation must be based in fact and compared to other players. Once skill-acquisition begins to plateau, strengths and weaknesses are evaluated and players must place themselves among the team to maximize winrate

capped?

yes, by win-condition-synthesis and tactic-synthesis