Grinding to a Halt: The Effects of Long Play Sessions on Player Performance in Video Games

An increasing number of people spend considerable amounts of their leisure time on video games. For aspiring eSports athletes and professionals alike, playing for ten to fourteen hours per day to gain proficiency has become the norm. Consequently, musculoskeletal pain and injuries are common among eSports athletes, while the increased risk for various health issues connected to prolonged sitting is often considered to be a necessary sacrifice for mastery. However, studies that show a decrease in player performance due to prolonged task execution have already emerged. These studies use rough estimates of player performance, such as overall win rates or kill-death-assist-ratio (KDA), and are often restricted to a rather modest number of participants. In this paper, we present an observational study that uses nuanced and individual performance metrics to measure performance in a large sample (n = 5, 000) of League of Legends players. Significant decreases in individual performance relative to the number of consecutively played matches are found and presented. Moreover, a considerable decline in the win rate is observed. This study highlights the potential improvement that the exploration of structured training methods could have on training efficiency and overall health in eSports enthusiasts.