Team efficiency and network structure: The case of professional League of Legends

Abstract

Teams can be defined by their interactions and successful performance rests on their members’ behaviour. Although this topic has been studied both in sports and management, research on computer mediated team interactions, communication, cooperative work and efficiency in online competitive environments is scarce. In this article, networks will be used as a novel approach to understand how League of Legends professional players assist each other during a competitive match and to link their computer mediated behaviour and social interactions to their team's performance. Starting from a dataset consisting of 453.386 kill assists, the network structure and efficiency is assessed over 7.582 matches in total. After controlling for potential mixed-effects, such as the quality of the involved teams or their geography, this study reinforces previous research showing that team efficiency in the League of Legends professional scene is positively affected by the intensity of their interaction while centralization of resources is detrimental. Networks with high intensity and low inner centralization are, therefore, related to a higher performance as a team not only in traditional sports but also in computer mediated contexts.