Analyzing the changes in the psychological profile of professional League of Legends players during competition

Abstract

The objectives of the research were to analyze the differences in the pre- and post-game mood of players as a function of the outcome; to establish the differences in anxiety and self-confidence as a function of the outcome, the opponent's ranking and the outcome of the previous game; and to determine the relationship between performance variables and post-game mood of professional LOL players. The participants were the players of the starting League of Legends team of UCAM esports. Data collection was carried out during eighteen games belonging to the spring split of SuperLiga Orange. POMS and CSAI-2 questionnaire, and Polar H10 HR sensors were the instrument used to obtain information about the players during the matches. The statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS statistical package (v.25.0) and a value of p < 0.05 was established to determine significant differences. The results show significant differences in all mood states when comparing pre and post values when the game was lost (p < 0.05), and in anger (p = 0.04) and fatigue (p < 0.001) when the game was won. In addition, significant differences were found in post-game values of depression (p < 0.001), anger (p < 0.001), vigor (p < 0.001), and confusion (p < 0.001), as a function of whether one won or lost.