MMR Calculation Updates
We all see plenty of complaints about match-making, MMR, and the like here. I instead have a question: What happen to the proposed improvements to MMR calculation to consider player performance? I'm referencing the discussion from the Blizzcon State of the Game panel. While I certainly realize that this was pegged as a 2016 change anyway, some new information/update/discussion of this would be nice.
Personally, I believe that basing MMR on more than simply wins or losses would make a huge difference. Currently people are punished for several things out of there control: getting matched with trolls (which empowers trolls to troll since they actually effect things beyond one game), a teammate with some internet problem, a crap match in the first place (due to huge skill difference or an unwinnable comp), etc. If MMR reflected the actual performance of the player (how often did they die, how much damage did they do, how much xp, etc) it would take the sting out of these uncontrollable situations and encourage people to play well, regards of comp. In an ideal would it may even kill the 2 min gg call, because you could still improve from a loss if playing well. Most important, this would make the comp question of matching making easier, because if you get an unwinnable QM comp it would be such a punishment.
Does anyone have further information on MMR calculation updates? What negatives am I overlooking here?
Posted Jan 10, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC
The entire point of MMR is that it's only affected by how often you win and lose.
First of all, there's the statistical component of it. The big question, when given a data set, is how you objectively quantify skill. Does a higher XP share mean more than a higher KDA? What about their damage taken number? There are way too many factors that are impossible to quantify. MMR is supposed to work around that and present something completely "objective". It is a predictor of how likely a player is to win a given match, so objectively it should be completely based on whether you won or not. There's a lot of complex math behind getting MMR to work and be "objectively" fair, and introducing irrelevant ingame stats just doesn't work. (Note that we don't actually know exactly how Blizzard calculates MMR, because we don't have access to their game's source code. But it's almost certainly a derivative of the TrueSkill algorithm, which my statements apply to.)
Secondly, making MMR affected by other statistics introduces a conflict of interest. Currently the only way to increase MMR is to win, which means that if you want to increase your MMR have to try and win the game. This is good. If instead, your MMR was affected by your ingame stats, you may have people playing to "preserve their stats" instead of playing to win. This might include actions such as split pushing instead of joining objective fights, because split pushing inflates your XP stat and also if you join fights you run the risk of dying. Or a player might be incentivized to play overly cautious and retreat as soon as possible so that they have a perfect KDA, when the correct action is to sacrifice yourself for the good of the team.
Basically, their are too many problems with introducing other components that affect MMR. Not only do you have to make sure your introductions are statistically sound (most of your ideas wouldn't be), but also you have to make sure there is no conflict of interest.